50 Facts About You Young

You Young is the first Korean woman to successfully land a triple Axel in an international competition and the first Asian woman to win the gold medal in Figure skating at the Winter Youth Olympics.

You Young currently holds the fourth highest technical element score in the short program and the ninth highest technical element score in the free skate.

You Young remains the first and only female skater to have landed the triple Axel at the Youth Olympics.

You Young is the third child and only daughter of her father, You Il-jin, who ran a business in Indonesia, and mother, Lee Sook-hee.

You Young moved to Indonesia at age two because of her father's business and spent her youth in Singapore.

You Young enrolled in Bukit Timah primary school and attended school for a year before she returned to South Korea.

You Young began skating after watching Yuna Kim's victory at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

On his advice, You Young returned to South Korea with her mother in March 2013 to further her development as the training environment is better.

In January 2016, You Young won the gold medal at the 2016 South Korean Figure Skating Championships, becoming the youngest-ever national champion of South Korea at age 11, surpassing the previous record set by Yuna Kim who won at age 12 in 2003.

In November 2016, You Young won the silver medal at the novice level of the Tallinn Trophy behind Alena Kanysheva of Russia.

You Young debuted on the Junior Grand Prix series in September 2018, placing fourth at JGP Croatia in Zagreb.

In March, You Young finished ninth at the 2018 World Junior Championships.

You Young then placed fourth at JGP Canada in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada.

You Young opened her season at the 2019 Philadelphia Summer International, where she won the gold medal.

You Young debuted on the Challenger series, winning the bronze medal at the 2019 CS Lombardia Trophy behind Russians Anna Shcherbakova and Elizaveta Tuktamysheva after she placed second in the short program and third in the free program.

One week later, You Young won the silver medal at another Challenger, the 2019 CS US Classic, winning the free skate by scoring over 140 points for the first time.

You Young noted that this was a moment she had been working toward for three years.

You Young entered the 2020 South Korean Championships as the defending champion and, given her success on the international circuit, was favored to repeat her title.

You Young was assigned to the Korean teams for the 2020 World Championships along with Kim, and the 2020 Four Continents Championships with Kim and Lim Eun-soo.

You Young then won the free skate by over 12 points and won the title overall, landing eight clean triples in the free skate for the first time, including a triple Axel and two triple Lutz combinations.

In February, You Young returned to the senior level for the 2020 Four Continents Championships.

You Young placed third in the short program behind Rika Kihira and Bradie Tennell after a mistake on her triple Axel and an unclear edge call on her triple flip.

You Young landed all jumps cleanly, with the exception of one under rotation on her triple flip.

You Young's combined total was a personal best, and she moved up to narrowly take the silver medal behind Kihira and ahead of Tennell.

You Young expressed satisfaction with her performance overall, for landing the triple Axel, and for overcoming the pressure of performing for a home crowd, remarking that she became the first Korean skater to medal at Four Continents since Olympic Champion Yuna Kim won the event in 2009.

You Young was assigned to make her senior World Championship debut in Montreal, but these were cancelled as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

You Young was initially without a Grand Prix assignment but was added to the 2020 NHK Trophy roster once it was clear she could travel to Japan.

You Young was the lone non-Japanese entrant at the NHK Trophy and the only South Korean skater to compete on the Grand Prix that season.

You Young called it "a really weird performance" and attributed it to a failure of nerves.

You Young placed fifth in the free skate, landing the triple Axel this time, and rose to seventh place overall.

In February, You Young competed at the 2021 South Korean Championships.

You Young placed narrowly first in the short program despite under-rotation calls but fell twice in the free skate, including on her triple Axel attempt, and dropped to fourth place overall.

You Young began the season at the Skating Club of Boston's Cranberry Cup event, where she won the silver medal, 30 points behind champion Alysa Liu.

You Young next went on the Challenger series to compete at the 2021 CS Autumn Classic International, where she was considered by many to be the gold medal favourite but ultimately took silver behind surprise winner Marilena Kitromilis of Cyprus.

You Young did not land a clean triple Axel at either event.

You Young landed her opening triple Axel in the free skate, albeit deemed a quarter short on rotation, and placed second in that segment despite a few other minor jump issues.

You Young finished with the bronze medal overall, 0.34 behind silver medalist Daria Usacheva.

At her second event, the 2021 NHK Trophy, You Young failed to land her triple Axel in either segment, but still placed third in the short program and second in the free skate to take her second bronze medal of the Grand Prix season.

You Young entered the 2022 South Korean Championships as the title favourite and placed first in both segments to win the gold medal.

You Young struggled at the event in Tallinn, botching the triple Axel attempt in both segments and finishing sixth overall, behind both Lee and Kim.

You Young later revealed that her father had died while she was competing at these Olympics and, as a result, declined the invitation to skate in the Olympic Gala.

You Young opted not to attempt a triple Axel in the short program due to feeling uncertainty about it on the morning of, and performed a clean double Axel instead, albeit receiving quarter under rotation calls on two of her triple jumps.

You Young finished fourth in the segment, 0.47 points behind third-place Mariah Bell of the United States.

You Young began her season by winning a silver medal at the 2022 US Classic behind teammate Kim Ye-lim.

You Young underrotated three jumps in the free skate, placing fourth in that segment, but won the bronze medal.

You Young managed to skate a solid free program placing third in that segment of the competition after completing six clean triple jumps and moving up to fourth-place overall.

In January, during the 2023 South Korean Championships, You Young suffered a back injury and finished the competition in eleventh-place after placing ninth in the short program but fifteenth in the free skate.

At the 2023 Challenge Cup, You Young placed thirteenth in the short program after falling on a planned triple flip and failing to perform a jump combination.

You Young finished fifth at the 2023 CS Nepela Memorial to begin the season.

You Young would go on to finish eighth at the national ranking competition and seventh at the 2024 South Korean Championships.