Kim Jin-seo

Kim Jin-seo (born November 29, 1996) is a former South Korean figure skater. He is the 2012 and 2014 South Korean national senior champion, the 2012 ISU JGP Austria bronze medalist and the 2014 Ondrej Nepela Trophy silver medalist.

At the 2014 World Championships, Kim became the first Korean men's singles skater to pass the 200-point total mark.

Personal life
Kim was born on November 29, 1996, in Seoul, South Korea.

In August 2022, Kim announced that he was engaged to longtime girlfriend, Park Seon-kyung, and she was pregnant with their first child. They married in the summer of 2023.

Their son, Kim I-an, was born in October 2022.

Early career
Kim started skating at the age of 11 as a means of physical therapy for his health. Within a few months, his then-teacher recognized Kim's potential and suggested skating seriously to try to make the Korean national team. He began competing in 2009. In the 2010–11 season, he won the junior men's title at the 2011 South Korean Championships.

2011–12 season: First senior national title
In June 2011, Kim sustained an injury to his left eardrum after falling on a rainy day during an outdoor practice session. The fall resulted in 80% of his left eardrum being torn and the need for surgery to replace the lost tissues. Despite being only partially recovered from the injury, Kim participated in the qualifying event for the ISU Junior Grand Prix (JGP) series but was unsuccessful. A few months later, in January 2012, he competed in the senior men's event at the 2012 South Korean Championships. He delivered two nearly-clean programs which brought him a national title for the first time in his career with a total of 186.44.

Kim joined 2010 Olympic ladies champion Yuna Kim in an ice show, the All That Skate Spring 2012, held in Seoul, South Korea on 4–6 May 2012, along with other skaters such as Shen Xue / Zhao Hongbo, Patrick Chan, and Stéphane Lambiel.

2012–13 season: Junior Grand Prix debut
Kim won his country's JGP selection event, held in August, earning two spots for the Junior Grand Prix. He made his junior international debut at the JGP Austria, where he won the bronze medal after being placed tenth in the short and second in the free skate with a total of 175.87. At this event, he surpassed the minimum TES for the Worlds in his nearly-clean free-skate. At the JGP Croatia, Kim had a few mistakes in the short placing in eighth, but again rebounded in the free skate to place second in the free skate. With a total of 176.43, he placed in the fourth position. After two JGP events, he competed at the NRW Trophy to get the minimum TES for the short program. He skated a clean short program and qualified for the 2013 World Championships in London, Ontario, Canada. In the short program, he landed a clean triple axel and triple lutz with connecting steps and stepped out of his triple toe-loop triple toe-loop combination. He placed 26th in the short and just missed qualifying for the free skate by a point and a half.

2013–14 season
Kim started the season at a JGP event in Riga, Latvia, where he placed 6th. After the event, at the 2013 Nebelhorn Trophy which was the qualifying event for the 2014 Winter Olympics, Kim placed 20th in the men's event. A few weeks later, Kim placed 6th in the JGP in Tallinn, Estonia, with total of 184.53. At the Korean Nationals, Kim had a clean short program and headed into the free skate as the leader. In the free skate, he also had an almost-clean programme. With the total of 209.35, he became a two-time Korean national champion, which meant he also qualified for the 2014 World Championships. At the World Championships, he had his new personal best in short, free skate and total and placed in 16th place. Earning a total of 202.80 points, he became the first Korean male skater to cross the 200-point mark.

2014–15 season: Grand Prix debut
Kim was assigned to the 2014 NHK Trophy. At the 2014 Ondrej Nepela Trophy, Kim became the first Korean male skater to break the 70-point mark in the short program with the score of 71.44. He placed in 9th place at both his Grand Prix assignments. At the 2015 World Junior Championships, he placed fourth in the short programs, 11th in the free skate, and ninth overall, thus securing two spots at the 2016 Junior Worlds.

2015–16 season
Kim began his season at the Ice Star, where he won the gold medal. He was assigned to the 2015 Skate Canada and the 2015 Trophée Éric Bompard in the 2015–16 ISU Grand Prix season.

At the Skate Canada in Lethbridge, Alberta, he placed 9th overall. At the Trophée Éric Bompard in Bordeaux, France, he placed 9th in the short program before the free skate was cancelled due to the November 2015 Paris attacks.

At the 2016 Korean Championships, Kim won the silver medal behind Lee June-hyoung, and was named to the 2016 Four Continents Championships team, where he finished tenth.

2016–17
Kim opened the 2016–17 figure skating season with a silver medal at 2016 Asian Open and a sixth-place finish at 2016 CS Lombardia Trophy.

At the 2017 Korean Championships, Kim won the silver medal before Cha Jun-hwan, who wasn't age eligible to compete at the 2017 Four Continents Championships or the 2017 World Championships, thus Kim was named to both teams.

Competing at the 2017 Winter University Games, Kim finished in eighth-place.

At the Four Continents Championships, Kim placed seventeenth. Kim then went on to finish seventh at the 2017 Asian Winter Games.

Kim finished twenty-sixth in the short program the World Championships, failing to qualify for the free skate segment of the competition.

2017–18
Kim began the 2017–18 figure skating season with a tenth-place finish at the 2017 CS Ondrej Nepela Trophy.

At the 2018 Korean Championships, Kim once again placed second to Cha Jun-hwan. Due to their being only one spot for Korean men's singles at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, the spot was ultimately awarded to Cha, however, Kim was given the spot to compete at the 2018 World Championships.

Kim finished thirty-third in the short program segment of the World Championships, failing to qualify for the free program segment.

On the advice of his doctor, he retired from competitive figure skating following the season due to a back injury.

Coaching career
Following his retirement, Kim began working as an assistant coach to his former coach, Chi Hyun-jung.

His current students include:
 * Kim Hyun-gyeom
 * Yun Ah-sun
 * Kim Seo-young
 * Shin Ji-a
 * Kwon Min-sol
 * Kim Yu-jae
 * Kim Yu-seong
 * Lim Ju-heon
 * Park Eun-bi

Competitive highlights
GP: Grand Prix; CS: Challenger Series; JGP: Junior Grand Prix

Senior
Personal bests are highlighted in bold.

Junior level