Choi Da-bin

Choi Da-bin (born January 19, 2000) is a South Korean figure skater. She is the 2017 Asian Winter Games champion and a 5-time South Korean national medalist (three silver, two bronze). She has placed in the top ten at the 2018 Winter Olympics, the 2017 World Championships, the Four Continents Championships (2016, 2017, 2018). Earlier in her career, she won two bronze medals during the 2015–16 ISU Junior Grand Prix series in Austria and Latvia. She has placed in the top ten at the World Junior Championships (2014, 2015).

Personal life
Choi was born on January 19, 2000, in Seoul. She attended Suri High School as a student, same as fellow skater Kim Yuna.

Choi's mother died on June 26, 2017, while battling cancer. Choi has said that her mother was her biggest supporter and fan. Her 2017-18 season short program 'Papa Can You Hear Me?' was dedicated to her.

She currently studies Sports Psychology at Korea University Graduate School.

Early years
As a nine-year-old, Choi won the novice silver medal at the 2010 South Korean Nationals. Competing on the senior level, she won bronze medals at the 2012 and 2013 Nationals.

2013–2014 season: Junior international debut
In the 2013–14 season, Choi debuted on the ISU Junior Grand Prix series, finishing fourth and fifth at her two events. At the 2014 World Junior Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria, she placed ninth in the short program, sixth in the free skate, and sixth overall, setting a new personal best score of 162.35 points.

2014–2015 season
In the 2014–15 season, Choi finished fourth and fifth at her JGP events in France and Japan. At the 2015 South Korean Nationals, she placed second in both programs to win silver behind Park So-youn. At the 2015 World Junior Championships, she placed ninth in both programs and ninth overall, thus securing two spots for her country at the 2016 edition.

2015–2016 season: Two JGP medals and senior international debut
In the 2015–16 season, Choi won her first JGP medals, taking bronze in Riga, Latvia, and Linz, Austria. Making her senior international debut, Choi finished eighth at the 2015 CS Tallinn Trophy. At the 2015 KSU President Cup Ranking Competition, she won her first gold medal at a national competition. At the 2016 Four Continents Championships in Taipei, Taiwan, she placed 8th with personal bests in the free skate and total scores.

2016–2017 season: Winter Asian Games champion
Making her senior Grand Prix debut, Choi placed 7th at the 2016 Skate Canada International and 8th at the 2016 NHK Trophy. She placed fourth at the 2017 South Korean Championships. She changed her short program music from Qué rico el mambo into Steven Universe and La La Land in the middle of the season. She also changed coaches, deciding to join Lee Eun-hee. She placed fifth at the 2017 Four Continents Championships in Gangneung, South Korea, improving her personal best scores in all categories.

Called up to replace the injured Park So-youn at the 2017 Asian Winter Games in Sapporo, Japan, Choi won her country's first-ever figure skating gold medal at the event. South Korea also selected Choi to replace the injured Kim Na-hyun at the 2017 World Championships in Helsinki, Finland. She would place tenth in Finland, allowing her country to send two ladies' single skaters to the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang and 2018 World Championships in Milan.

2017–2018 season: 2018 Winter Olympics
Choi began the season competing at the 2017 CS Ondrej Nepela Trophy, placing fourth. At the first of her two assignments on the 2017-18 Grand Prix circuit, the 2017 Cup of China, she placed a disappointing ninth, hampered by a foot injury. She subsequently withdrew from her second Grand Prix event at the 2017 Skate America as a result of the injury.

Choi and Kim Ha-nul were selected to compete at both the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, and the 2018 World Figure Skating Championships in Milan, Italy. They were joined by Park So-youn for the 2018 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in Taipei, Taiwan.

At the Four Continents Championships, Choi missed the podium, coming in fourth just behind Japan's Satoko Miyahara. Choi reverted to her Doctor Zhivago free skate program for this and all subsequent competitions for the season, citing the difficulty in performing its replacement to the standard she desired.

Choi received a standing ovation for her short program at the Olympics, including from South Korea's Yuna Kim. She set personal bests in both the short program and free skate and finished seventh overall. Her short program for the season, set to "Papa, Can You Hear Me?" was dedicated to her mother, who had died shortly before the South Korean qualifying event. Choi commented following her performance in the team event: "I am very thankful to my mother, who is watching me from Heaven."

After skating the short program at the 2018 World Championships, Choi was compelled to withdraw due to equipment failure.

Following the season, Choi made a coaching change from Lee Eun-hee to Shin Hea-sook.

2018–2019 season
Although assigned to compete at 2018 Ondrej Nepela Trophy, 2018 Skate Canada, and 2018 NHK Trophy, Choi withdrew from all three events due to continued boot problems. She didn't compete for the rest of the 2018–19 figure skating season.

During the off-season, Choi participated in the 2019 All That Skate show.

2019–2020 season
Returning to international competition, Choi began the 2019–20 figure skating season with a seventh-place finish at 2019 CS Nebelhorn Trophy. She then went on to finish fourth at the 2019 Denis Ten Memorial Challenge and twelfth at 2019 CS Warsaw Cup. Choi did not compete at the 2020 Korean Championships.

2021–2022 season
Despite not competing for the first half of the 2021–22 figure skating season, Choi was assigned to compete at 2021 Winter Universiade, however, the event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Choi announced during a guest appearance on South Korean TV show, Sporty Sisters 2, that she would likely retire from competitive figure skating following the season, citing her struggles with boot problems and ankle injuries as the main reason behind the decision.

2022–2023 season: Return to competition
Despite Choi's previous intention to retire from competitive figure skating, she decided to return to competition for the 2022–23 figure skating season, stating that her goal was to compete at 2023 Winter University Games.

Choi began her season with a bronze medal and eighteenth-place finish at the 2022 CS Denis Ten Memorial Challenge and 2022 CS Ice Challenge, respectively. She went on to finish fourteenth at the 2023 Korean Championships, after placing twelfth in the short program but fourteenth in the free skate.

Choi was selected to compete at the Winter University Games, where she placed sixth in both the short and free program, finishing in sixth place overall.

2023–2024 season
Appearing on the Challenger circuit, Choi finished fifth at the 2023 CS Autumn Classic International. She then went on to win silver at the 2023 CS Denis Ten Memorial Challenge.

Choi went on to finish fifteenth at the national ranking competition and thirteenth at the 2024 South Korean Championships.

Programs




2013–14 to present
GP: Grand Prix; CS: Challenger Series; JGP: Junior Grand Prix

Senior level
Current personal best scores are highlighted in bold.

At team events, medals are awarded for team results only.

Junior level



 * Personal bests highlighted in bold.