# Seo Min-kyu

Seo Min-kyu (Korean: 서민규; born 14 October 2008) is a South Korean figure skater. He is a three-time South Korean national medalist (2023–25).
On the junior level, he is the 2024 Junior World champion, the 2025 Junior World silver medalist, the 2024–25 Junior Grand Prix Final silver medalist, a five-time ISU Junior Grand Prix medalist (including gold at the 2023 JGP Turkey and the 2024 JGP Czech Republic), and the 2022 South Korean junior champion.
Seo is the first South Korean man to both medal at and win the World Junior Championships.

## Personal life

Seo was born on October 14, 2008, in Daegu, South Korea.

## Career
### Early years

Seo began skating in 2011 at the age of four. Initially skating recreationally, he later became inspired to pursue competitive figure skater after witnessing Cha Jun-hwan's achievements. His mother, Kim Eun-ji, is one of his coaches. Although most top-level Korean figure skaters that move to city of Seoul to train, Seo elects to train at the rink in his hometown of Daegu despite its lack of competitive environment.
Seo's first international competition was the 2019 Asian Open Trophy in advanced novice, where he finished in sixth place. He won the national junior gold medal at the 2022 South Korean Championships.

### 2022–23 season: Junior international debut

Making his international junior debut on the Junior Grand Prix at the 2022 JGP Czech Republic in Ostrava, Seo finished first in the short program after a clean skate, where he scored 74.39 points. He cleanly landed most of his jumps in the free skate, only to fall at the triple Salchow-double Axel sequence and edge calls on two Lutz jumps. He finished fourth overall. In early October, he competed in his second event on the circuit, the 2022 JGP Poland II in Gdańsk. He ranked fourth in the short program and third in the free, winning the bronze medal. He was named the third of three alternates for 2022–23 Junior Grand Prix Final. He would subsequently compete on the senior level at the annual South Korean Ranking Competition, where he won the bronze medal.
In January, at the 2023 South Korean Championships, Seo placed fourth in the short program. He placed second in the free skate, 11.17 points behind Cha Jun-hwan, and won the bronze medal. Seo was named the first alternate for the 2023 World Junior Championships in Calgary.

### 2023–24 season: World Junior champion

In late July, Seo competed at the 2023 South Korean ISU Junior Grand Prix Qualifiers, where he won the gold medal, thus earning two assignments on the Junior Grand Prix circuit. He placed fifth at the 2023 JGP Thailand. At his second, the 2023 JGP Turkey, he won both segments of the competition and took the gold medal. As well, he successfully landed a triple Axel for the first time in international competition, which he cited as a point of pride. With these results, Seo was named as the second alternate for the 2023–24 Junior Grand Prix Final.
He went on to compete on the senior level at the annual South Korean Ranking Competition, winning the silver medal. In January, he competed at the 2024 South Korean Championships, where he won his second consecutive bronze medal. With this result, Seo was selected to represent South Korea at the 2024 World Junior Championships.
Competing at the World Junior Championships in Taipei, Seo won the short program with a clean skate. He was narrowly second in the free skate after singling one of his planned triple Axels, finishing 1.54 points behind Japan's Rio Nakata, but remained first overall by 1.44 points and claimed the gold medal. This was the first Junior World medal for a South Korean man. Seo said that he viewed the result as a vindication of his belief in importance of program components in addition to the technical elements.

### 2024–25 season: JGP Final silver and World Junior silver

Seo began his season by winning gold at the domestic ISU Junior Grand Prix Qualifiers and was given two Junior Grand Prix assignments as a result of his placement. At the 2024 JGP Czech Republic, Seo placed third in the short program and second in the free skate but managed to accumulate enough points to win the gold medal. He went on to take bronze at 2024 JGP Poland after placing eleventh in the short program but winning the free skate. With these results, Seo qualified for the 2024–25 Junior Grand Prix Final.
In late November, Seo competed on the senior level at the annual South Korean Ranking Competition, where he won silver for a second consecutive time.
At the Junior Grand Prix Final in Grenoble, France, Seo placed fifth in the short program after falling on a triple flip attempt. He would, however, go to deliver a clean free skate, winning that segment of the competition and moving up to the silver medal position overall. Going on to compete at the 2025 South Korean Championships, Seo won the silver medal behind Cha Jun-hwan.
Assigned to compete at the 2025 World Junior Championships in Debrecen, Hungary, Seo won the short program, scoring a new personal best in the process. During the free skate, he fell on his second triple Axel attempt but otherwise skated the rest of the program cleanly. He placed second in that competition segment and won the silver medal overall behind Rio Nakata of Japan. Following this, he said, "I was very nervous about today’s performance, overall it was a happy day. I had many competitions this season and I am happy to end it with a medal at the Junior World Championships... For next season I really want to work on my quads. I see Rio with his quads and I really want to do it as well."

## Programs

| Season | Short program | Free skating | Exhibition |
| 2024–2025 | Moonlight Sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven choreo. by Elizabeth Chan, Patrick Chan | Singin' in the Rain (from Singin' in the Rain) by Gene Kelly choreo. by Shin Yea-ji | |
| 2023–2024 | Flower Dance by DJ Okawari performed by LAYERS CLASSIC choreo. by Elizabeth Chan, Patrick Chan | Le temps des cathédrales (from Notre-Dame de Paris) by Luc Plamondon & Riccardo Cocciante performed by Josh Groban choreo. by Elizabeth Chan, Patrick Chan | Snow Globe by Forestella |
| 2022–2023 | You Are My Destiny by Paul Anka choreo. by Elizabeth Chan, Patrick Chan | Cinema Paradiso by Ennio Morricone, Andrea Morricone choreo. by Elizabeth Chan, Patrick Chan | Human by Rag'n'Bone Man choreo. by Patrick Chan |
| 2021–2022 | Eye of the Tiger by Survivor performed by FJØRA, Tommee Profitt choreo. by Elizabeth Chan, Patrick Chan | Cinema Paradiso by Ennio Morricone, Andrea Morricone choreo. by Elizabeth Chan, Patrick Chan | |
| 2019–2020 | Moonlight Sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven | Jeon Woo-chi by Lee Pil-ho | |

## Competitive highlights

International :
| Event | 21–22 | 22–23 | 23–24 | 24–25 |
| World Junior Championships | | | 1st | 2nd |
| Junior Grand Prix Final | | | | 2nd |
| JGP Czech Republic | | 4th | | 1st |
| JGP Poland | | 3rd | | 3rd |
| JGP Thailand | | | 5th | |
| JGP Turkey | | | 1st | |
| National |||||
| South Korean Championships | 1st J | 3rd | 3rd | 2nd |

## Detailed results

ISU personal best scores in the +5/-5 GOE System :
| Segment | Type | Score | Event |
| Total | TSS | 231.30 | 2023 JGP Turkey |
| Short program | TSS | 86.68 | 2025 World Junior Championships |
| Short program | TES | 46.90 | 2025 World Junior Championships |
| Short program | PCS | 39.78 | 2025 World Junior Championships |
| Free skating | TSS | 155.63 | 2023 JGP Turkey |
| Free skating | TES | 77.15 | 2025 World Junior Championships |
| Free skating | PCS | 78.62 | 2025 World Junior Championships |

### Junior level

2024–25 season :
| Date | Event | Level | SP | FS | Total |
| February 25–March 2, 2025 | 2025 World Junior Championships | Junior | 1 86.68 | 2 154.77 | 2 241.45 |
| January 2–5, 2025 | 2025 South Korean Championships | Senior | 5 79.18 | 2 167.60 | 2 246.78 |
| December 5–8, 2024 | 2024–25 Junior Grand Prix Final | Junior | 5 69.68 | 1 152.46 | 2 222.14 |
| September 25–28, 2024 | 2024 JGP Poland | Junior | 11 57.18 | 1 138.68 | 3 195.86 |
| September 4–9, 2024 | 2024 JGP Czech Republic | Junior | 3 77.08 | 2 147.70 | 1 224.78 |
| 2023–24 season ||||||
| Date | Event | Level | SP | FS | Total |
| Feb. 26 – Mar. 3, 2024 | 2024 World Junior Championships | Junior | 1 80.58 | 2 150.17 | 1 230.75 |
| January 4–7, 2024 | 2024 South Korean Championships | Senior | 6 73.72 | 2 158.90 | 3 232.62 |
| September 6–9, 2023 | 2023 JGP Turkey | Junior | 2 75.67 | 1 155.63 | 1 231.30 |
| August 23–26, 2023 | 2023 JGP Thailand | Junior | 5 67.40 | 4 128.72 | 5 196.12 |
| 2022–23 season ||||||
| Date | Event | Level | SP | FS | Total |
| January 5–9, 2023 | 2023 South Korean Championships | Senior | 4 76.90 | 2 159.00 | 3 235.90 |
| October 5–8, 2022 | 2022 JGP Poland II | Junior | 4 72.36 | 3 134.31 | 3 206.67 |
| Aug. 31 – Sept. 3, 2022 | 2022 JGP Czech Republic | Junior | 1 74.39 | 4 135.20 | 4 209.59 |
| 2021–22 season ||||||
| Date | Event | Level | SP | FS | Total |
| January 7–9, 2022 | 2022 South Korean Championships | Junior | 1 61.21 | 1 126.12 | 1 187.33 |