SUNGHOON was a figure skater from the time he was nine years old up until February of 2020, shortly before he debuted as ENHYPEN. During that time, had also been a candidate for the national team. Figure skating was his everything in his childhood; he even continued skating for two years while simultaneously training to be an idol for two years, right up until his debut. For that reason, we sat down with SUNGHOON in the lead-up to the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics to hear his thoughts on figure skating. In his words, we could sense his deep affection for the days he could be deeply immersed in something and his respect and admiration towards the athletes still taking to the ice.

Figure skating is a fusion of technique and art

SUNGHOON: What I think makes figure skating so appealing is that it’s a sport that feels like a combination of two different disciplines: art and athletics. The whiteness of the rink makes it seem like a stage, and even a graceful, flashy art form, depending on how you look at it. But it’s also a sport, and they score you while watching your technique, like your jumps and spins. So it’s full of things to watch for.

Good things to know

SUNGHOON: The major events are divided up as singles, pair skating and ice dance, and each category has a different skill set, so it’s fun to watch for the differences between the techniques and highlights. And I think another fun part is how the outcome can change from tiny differences in the scores, like if someone wins the free skate but loses the short program, since the final score is the total of the points for the short program and free skate together. Not to mention the athletes’ nerves or any issues they have with the rink can have a subtle effect even if they practiced to perfection to iron out any mistakes. So I hope people keep rooting till the very end, even if someone makes a mistake. They might feel like it’s a big deal if they fall or something in the middle of the program, but it can be made up for later, so it’s nothing to get all worked up about.

My first experience with figure skating

SUNGHOON: I remember the first time I figure skated, I went to the ice rink just to try it out and I borrowed someone else’s skates. I already knew how to skate because I played ice hockey before that and did short track speed skating occasionally, so I was comfortable with it right away—it just felt completely different. Not only is there skating, but you show off different movements and techniques, too, and it feels a lot lighter without all the equipment on, so I started to feel like it suited me better. My parents asked me later that day how I liked it and I said it was fun and wanted to try it out a bit more, so they signed me up for classes right away, and that’s how I got started. I got better quickly after that, thanks to already knowing the basics, so I was able to advance to the athlete class, then after I finished every level I started going to competitions.

Falling for figure skating

SUNGHOON: I wasn’t always that serious about figure skating—just doing it for fun. As people already know, one of the reasons I first did hockey was to improve my social skills, but it was also because I always went inline skating near Hangang River with my dad since I was little. That’s when I started skating for the fun of it, and then, after I won gold at the National Winter Sports Festival for the first time, that’s when I kept thinking, I could keep doing this; I want to be even better. In the beginning it was fun, plus my teacher was scary (laughs) so I felt a little like I was doing it without really thinking it through, but I think once I started to compete I began to feel like I could do it well all on my own. And once I competed, I could easily see the fruits of all the training I did. Whenever I did well in a competition and got a good score I was so proud of myself and felt really good all day. There was also the fun of picking up different techniques one by one. Learning a new skill is actually a very difficult process, but when I can’t do something and then finally nail it after a bunch of practice, it feels amazing. It’s thrilling. I think that’s why I kept at it.

Knowing your own body

SUNGHOON: When I first learn something, I’m grasping every detail one by one, down to the pose. But once my body’s all used to it and I go to jump or something, sometimes I can’t plan it out in my head or really control it because everything’s happening in a split second, so I have to stick to muscle memory and rely on my senses. So it’s easy to lose that feeling in a hurry, even after just a short break. In my case, I started to feel sluggish and lost a lot of that sense after I took even one day off and it took a bit of time to get it back. There were times when I didn’t notice while I was taking a break, but then when I went to skate again I suddenly couldn't do it right for some reason. It’s so important to know your body that even growing taller or gaining weight can have an effect. Your body will jump based on your old height after you’ve had a growth spurt even though you’re actually a few centimeters taller. I think it causes issues sometimes. That’s why it’s just as important to exercise off the ice as on. You have to work on your core strength, sense of balance and agility, and you have to do cardio exercises for your physical strength, too. It was like I was hardening up my body off the rink and learning new techniques on it. I never hurt myself too badly since I’m in relatively good shape, but there was the occasional time where I had to take a long break after I hurt my pelvis or twisted my ankle after performing a jump. And actually, it’s possible for one thing to cause you to get hurt really badly, but more often you continuously overexert yourself and it builds and builds and you get hurt that way.  So I always stretched a lot before skating, then put on ice packs after even if I didn’t get hurt. And I had to keep my foundation in check by building up muscle to protect my bones. You have to treat your body well.

Crayons in My Mind was the biggest downer of my skating career

SUNGHOON: Generally speaking, I had a smooth time figure skating without much fluctuation, but I was in absolute crisis when I was on the SBS show Crayons in My Mind. (laughs) Fighting with my parents a lot and getting angry and annoyed when I couldn’t do the moves I wanted. I realized that actually made me do worse. Practically all I did every day was practice. I tried exercising with greater intensity, learning with a different trainer, pulling myself together, all in the hopes of quickly returning to peak physical form. Thinking about it now, I have no idea how I kept doing just one thing for so long like that. (laughs) I think I was taking on more back then than I am now, even though I was younger.

Yuna Kim and Stéphane Lambiel.

SUNGHOON: One time I was a flower kid at Yuna Kim’s ice show. I even saw the skater Stéphane Lambiel there and he was so cool. He was really expressive and amazing at skating, and he was so cool, so he became my role model. I still remember one of Kim Yuna’s programs, “Homage to Korea,” and how amazing it was. I love the way she used the traditional Korean song “Arirang” for it.

February 2020, my swan song

SUNGHOON: When I was deep into practicing to get onto I-LAND, I knew it would be my last competition. I was a little sad to see it go since I had been doing it for 10 years, but I had a new dream now and thought I should see it off the best I could. When I think of my childhood, the only memories I have revolve around figure skating, to be honest. I have so many memories of all the spectacles I saw while skating and I probably still have some muscle memory ingrained in me whether I realize it or not, and lots of people say it’s like I’m skating no matter what I’m doing. And I agree—I think I naturally have a figure skating aura about me. Even though I don’t do it anymore, I think it’s an inseparable part of me. I’ll always feel a little sad when I think about it, but it’s a wonderful memory.

The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics

SUNGHOON: It was my dream to be in the Olympics when I was little, so I have a lot of respect for the athletes who made it. I think I would’ve wanted to be there too if I were still figure skating. I skated with JunHwan Cha and Sihyeong Lee on the same rink before and we all trained to be national representatives. I wish them a lot of luck. They’re both incredibly talented. I thought JunHwan Cha was especially good at jumping and incredibly expressive. He’s the very best out of all the top Korean male figure skaters as far as I know. So I’m really looking forward to his performances. I know that the athletes have been practicing vigorously right up until it starts, and I know how much energy it takes to skate for four or five minutes straight and every single time they have to jump. They look sunny and graceful on the outside but it’s a lonely struggle inside so I hope they have a lot of people rooting for them.