Nineteen-year-old figure skater Li Yu-hsiang on Saturday made history for Taiwan at the Winter Games in Milan, Italy, finishing 23rd in the men’s competition.
Li, the first Taiwanese figure skater to qualify for and compete in the Winter Olympics in 28 years, finished 23rd out of 24 in the men’s singles category, with a combined score of 214.33 (72.41 in the short program and 141.92 in the free skate).
Li is the first figure skater representing Taiwan, competing in the Olympics under the name “Chinese Taipei,” to qualify for the Winter Olympics since David Liu in 1998, and the first to advance to the free skate portion since Liu did in 1992.
Photo: AFP
Unlike Liu, who was born in Taiwan before moving to the US at age six, Li is the first figure skater based and trained in Taiwan to qualify for the Winter Games.
After finishing the men’s singles event, Li, a flag bearer for the Taiwanese delegation in Milan, said he was happy to successfully land a quad toe loop in Saturday’s free skate.
The last time he landed the quad toe loop was nearly a year ago at last year’s Asian Winter Games in Harbin, China, he said.
Photo: Reuters
He said he had been unable to find the right timing to perform it until Saturday.
After finishing his free skate routine, Li lay on his back on the ice.
“I was showing respect to the ice rink,” he said.
Photo: Reuters
The teenage skater said he felt extremely grateful for the journey that ultimately brought him to Milan.
“Figure skating never fails to amaze me,” he said.
He called himself “a flower ready to bloom on the ice,” as he is preparing to compete in next month’s World Junior Figure Skating Championships in Estonia.
Fellow flag bearer Lin Sin-rong, who competed for Taiwan in luge in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, last night was 2.79 seconds behind the leader, Switzerland’s Debra Annen, after the first two heats of the women’s monobob.
Lin was 24th as of press time last night, with the second two heats scheduled for tomorrow.
She is also to compete in the two-women bobsled as pilot with brakeman Lin Song-en and alternate brakeman Liang Yu-chieh. They start official training for the event tomorrow.
Speedskater Chen Ying-chu was this morning to compete in the women’s 500m.
At last year’s Asian Winter Games, Chen won bronze in the women’s 100m, becoming the first Taiwanese athlete to medal at the Asian Winter Games since Taiwan started participating in its second iteration in 1990.
Earlier in the Games, Taiwanese-American cross-country skier Sophia Tsu Velicer, the first to represent Taiwan in the sport at the Olympics, finished 64th, 52nd and 52nd in the women’s 10km interval start free, women’s 10km + 10km skiathlon and women’s sprint classic respectively, placing first among Asian competitors in each race.
Taiwan is represented by a record 10 athletes across seven sports at this year’s Winter Olympics, including the country’s first-ever women’s bobsled team.
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