Lee June-hyoung (Korean: 이준형; born October 28, 1996) is a South Korean former competitive figure skater. He is the 2014 JGP France champion and a three-time South Korean national champion (2013, 2015, 2016). He is the first South Korean male figure skater who stood on the podium and won gold at ISU events. Also, he is the first Korean male skater to qualify for the ISU Junior Grand Prix Final.[1]
Personal life
Lee June-hyoung was born in Seoul, South Korea.[2] His mother, Oh Ji Youn, is a figure skating coach.[3][4][5]
Career
Early years
Lee was coached by his mother from the age of seven to 14.[3] He started working with Chi Hyun-jung as his coach in 2010.[6] Lee placed 3rd at both the Korean Junior Grand Prix qualification trials and the Korean Nationals.
2011–2012 season
The 2011–2012 season was Lee's breakthout season.[7] He included five different triple jumps in his program and improved jump consistency.[6] In August, he was selected to represent Team Korea by placing second at the Korean Junior Grand Prix qualification trials. At the Asian Trophy, he took silver in the junior category.
Making his Junior Grand Prix (JGP) debut, Lee placed 4th at the 2011 JGP event in Latvia. At his second assignment, in Milan, Italy, he won bronze and became the first South Korean male figure skater to medal at an ISU event.[8] He won the Korean Ranking competition in November[7] and placed 4th at the Winter Youth Olympics. He placed 18th at the World Junior Championships.[9]
2012–2013 season
Lee started his season with a new free program, "Queen medley", but returned to his previous season's free program, "The Barber of Seville", at his first Junior Grand Prix event. He won South Korean Nationals, but could not compete at the senior World Championships because he did not meet the minimum technical score requirement for the event. He placed 13th at the World Junior Championships. In February, he landed a triple Axel jump during the short program segment at the Four Continents Championships.
2013–2014 season
In the middle of the season, he changed his free skating from "The Planets" to "The Phantom of the Opera", which was shown at the Korean Nationals. At the nationals, with total score of 206.88, Lee became the first Korean male skater who scored over 200 points in domestic competitions.[citation needed] In February, he placed 14th at the 2013 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in Taipei. In March, he placed 16th at the World Junior Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria.
2014–2015 season
Competing in the 2014–15 JGP series, Lee won gold at his first event, JGP France, with overall score of 203.81.[10] This accomplishment made him the first South Korean male figure skater to win an ISU event.[11] By obtaining bronze at JGP Croatia, he became the first Korean male skater to qualify for an ISU Junior Grand Prix Final.[10][12][13] In December, at the ISU Junior Grand Prix Final in Barcelona, Spain, he placed fifth in the short program and sixth in the free skating to place sixth place overall.[14]
In January, Lee beat his rival, Kim Jin-seo, to win his second national title.[15] He was nominated to the South Korean team for the 2015 Four Continents Championship. At the competition, he placed fifteenth in the short program and nineteenth in the free skate to place eighteenth overall.[16] He placed 19th at the 2015 World Championships.[9]
2015–2016 season
During the summer, Lee was involved in a traffic accident as a passenger. A car driven by his mother was struck from behind by another car. After this incident, Lee started having back problems.[17]
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Lee could not participate in skating events during the 2020–2021 season. At the end of the season, he started a new career in musical theatre.[24]
^고, 동욱 (October 12, 2014). 피겨 이준형, 남자 최초 주니어 그랑프리 파이널 진출(종합) [Figure Skater Lee June Hyoung, the first Korean male to qualify for the ISU Junior Grand Prix Final] (in Korean). Yonhap. Archived from the original on October 8, 2015.
^ ab박, 세훈 x (August 24, 2014). 남자피겨 이준형, 평창 기대주로 ‘금빛 점프’ [Men's singles figure skater Lee June Hyoung, promising athlete 'golden jump' toward PyeongChang] (in Korean). Kyunghyang Shinmun.
^김, 현정 (August 28, 2014). '男피겨 첫 골드' 이준형 "목표는 평창 금메달" ['First gold medal' men's singles figures skater Lee June Hyoung, my aim is gold at PyeongChang]. CBS 노컷뉴스 (in Korean).
^김, 희선 (January 19, 2013). '피겨 소년소녀' "김연아와 한 무대, 영광이었다" ① [Young figure skaters, it was an honor for us to skate with Kim Yuna. Part I]. OSEN (in Korean).
^ ab조, 영준 (November 29, 2011). 스케이터 이준형, '어머니의 이름'으로 성장하다 [Skater Lee June Hyoung, growing by his mother's name] (in Korean).
^ ab고, 동욱 (November 25, 2011). 男 피겨 '신성' 이준형 "스케이팅이 즐거워요" [New male figure skating star Lee June Hyoung, I enjoy figure skating] (in Korean). Yonhap.
^'남자피겨 최초 국제대회 우승' 이준형 "이제 시작" [First win at an international men's singles competition, Lee June Hyoung, "This is the beginning"]. Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (in Korean). Yonhap. August 25, 2014. (Though not clear in the title, the article stated that Lee is the first person who won an ISU event in men's singles.)
^박, 영진 (October 11, 2014). 이준형, 한국 남자피겨 최초 주니어 그랑프리 파이널 진출 [Lee June Hyoung, the first Korean men's singles figure skater to qualify for the ISU Junior Grand Prix Final]. OhmyNews (in Korean).
^김, 희선 (May 3, 2021). [캐스팅보드] 스케이트 벗고 무대로… 이준우, "뮤지컬 배우 꿈, 가족들도 몰랐죠" [[Casting board] Taking off his skates and going on the stage... Lee June-hyoung, "My dream of becoming a musical actor, even my family didn't know"]. 서울자치신문 (in Korean).
^Always June (Official Daum Fan Cafe) [@alwaysjune1028] (January 10, 2016). "오늘 이준형 선수의 갈라" [Lee June-hyoung's gala today] (Tweet) (in Korean) – via Twitter.
