Korea's leading women figure skaters, Lee Hae-in (21, Korea University) and Shin Ji-a (18, Sehwa Girls' High School), completed their first Olympic appearances.
Lee Hae-in scored a technical element score (TES) of 74.15 and a program component score (PCS) of 66.34 for a total of 140.49 in the women's singles free skate at the 2026 Milan-Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Olympics at the Ice Skating Arena in Milan, Italy, on the 20th (Korea time).
With this, adding the 70.07 she received in the earlier short program, Lee Hae-in recorded a total of 210.56 and finished eighth among 24 competitors. Having achieved a season-best score in the short program and rising to ninth, she also recorded a season-best total and improved her placement to eighth.
Although she did not reach the podium, she achieved a satisfactory result in her first Olympic appearance. This score fell slightly short of Lee Hae-in's free skate personal best of 148.57 and total personal best of 225.47 recorded at the 2023 World Team Trophy, but there was no problem entering the "top 10."
Lee Hae-in took to the ice 16th that day. She began her program to Georges Bizet's opera "Carmen," the free skating background music, and cleanly executed the first jump element, a double Axel–triple toe loop combination.
After that, Lee Hae-in showed some instability on the combination jump of triple loop–double toe loop–double loop, but she successfully landed the triple Salchow and triple loop. She performed the flying camel spin at the highest difficulty, level 4, and the choreo sequence was graded level 1.
In the second half of the program, which carries a 10% bonus, Lee Hae-in cleanly completed the triple Lutz and the triple flip–double Axel sequence. She finished the program with both the final flying change foot combination spin and the step sequence and change foot combination spin graded level 4. After leaving the ice, with seven skaters remaining she rose to third in the interim standings and secured a top-10 finish.
The gold medal went to Alysa Liu (United States), who recorded a total of 226.79. She was third in the short program but succeeded in overturning the result in the free skate. Sakamoto Kaori (Japan) took silver with 224.90. Nakai Ami (Japan), who was first in the short, managed only 140.45 (ninth) in the free and took bronze with a total of 219.16.
Shin Ji-a, who skated earlier than Lee Hae-in, set a personal best in the free skate at the Olympic Games. She earned TES 75.05 and PCS 65.97 for a total of 141.02.
This is Shin Ji-a's personal best in the free skate. It is 2.07 points higher than the 138.95 she received at the 2024 International Skating Union (ISU) World Junior Championships. Adding her short program score of 65.66, she recorded a total of 206.68. She finished 11th overall.
That day Shin Ji-a skated to Franz Liszt's "Love's Dream." She cleanly executed a double Axel followed by a triple Lutz–triple toe loop combination jump and performed the triple Salchow without error. However, her grade of execution was slightly reduced after a shaky landing following the triple loop.
Afterward, Shin Ji-a was limited to level 2 on the flying camel spin, but she cleanly handled the latter half jumps and completed the program without major mistakes. As a result, she succeeded in setting a personal best in the free skate. Although she missed entering the top 10 by a narrow margin, she shook off the disappointment of the short program jump mistake and looks forward to the next Olympics.
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