Young You: “Last year, when I had to take a break, I realized even more how precious and happy figure skating is to me, and I wanted to express my desire to regain that meaning.”
Young You on her performance at the NHK Trophy
original source: mfocus.kr dd. November 7th 2025 by Lee Min-jung / mfocus.kr dd. November 9th 2025 by Lee Min-jung
Korean figure skater Young You on her clean and confident short program at the NHK Trophy, overcoming recent injuries and earning her season-best score. Here’s a translation of her comments posted on MFocus.
Asked about her overall impressions in the mixed zone, Young You said, “I had bad memories at this rink, but today I was determined to overcome them. The ice condition was good, and I felt my own condition was fine.” She added, “I wanted to skate cleanly overall, and I’m happy my performance was much better than at the Grand Prix de France. I think some of the practice I did showed up today. Today I focused on skating cleanly without mistakes, and I feel I did much better than last time. I’m satisfied with my score.”
Young You also spoke about her comeback process: “It’s been so long since my last competition that it didn’t feel real, and I was very nervous. After going through tough times, just standing on the ice again was difficult. But thanks to the fans who supported me, I made it this far, and I want to keep improving and overcome my fears.”
Regarding her preparation, she said, “I trained in the U.S. for three weeks, working a lot on skating and axel jumps. After returning to Korea, I trained with coach Choi Ji-eun while attending school. There were times I thought about quitting because it was hard, but coach encouraged me not to give up, so I was able to keep working hard.”
Asked to describe her short program, Young said, “It’s a lively, Middle Eastern-style piece. The structure is similar to music I’ve used before, but it feels more mature and light, so I think it’s music the audience can enjoy with me.” On what she focused on, she explained, “The music gets faster and there’s a timing when the audience claps along. I pay special attention to my steps at that part.”
In the free skate she performed to the soundtrack from the film “Titanic.” Combining her short program score of 67.66 with a free skate score of 130.16 points she got a total score of 198.82 points, finishing fourth overall.
Immediately after her performance, Young You said in the mixed zone, “During warm-up, I suddenly didn’t feel well. I’ve never fallen here before, but I fell on the triple flip for the first time and my other jumps were shaky. Still, I pulled myself together and finished the program without major mistakes, so I’m relieved.” Regarding her jump layout, she explained, “I rearranged the jumps in the second half to get more bonus points. Compared to the last competition, I moved the triple lutz to the second half to score higher.”
On the concept of her self-choreographed free skate, she said, “Like the main character in ‘Titanic,’ who finds the will to live after meeting someone she loves, my program is about rediscovering lost meaning in life. Last year, when I had to take a break, I realized even more how precious and happy figure skating is to me, and I wanted to express my desire to regain that meaning.” She added, “The final choreographic sequence is the musical highlight, so I put special emphasis there, and overall I aimed for an elegant and mature feeling.”
Discussing changes from her previous free skate, Young You said, “At the first competition in France, I was very nervous and not fully prepared. This time, I trained a lot with my coach in Korea, focusing on steps and choreography to improve my component scores. My stamina isn’t perfect yet, so the second half was tough, but I’m satisfied that I finished both the short and free programs without major mistakes.” She also described working with former national ice dancer and current coach Rebecca Kim, saying, “We refined the steps and choreography together. When I return to Korea, I’ll focus more on stamina training so I can show better steps even in the second half.”
“I finished without major mistakes, but I couldn’t show 100% – maybe about 70–80% today. Still, landing all my jumps was a big comfort to me,” she said. “This rink brings back memories of 2020. I wasn’t at my best then, but today was much better, which means a lot. My coach always encouraged me not to give up, and thanks to her, I was able to get back up whenever things were tough,” she added, expressing gratitude to Coach Ji-eun Choi. Looking ahead, she said, “I’ll continue training in Korea and plan to enter more domestic competitions to regain my competitive edge.”
Young You plans to compete at the National Figure Skating Ranking Competition in Mokdong, Seoul, in two weeks, followed by the 107th National Winter Sports Festival.
Related topics: NHK Trophy, Young You
Leave a Reply