Diclaimer: please be advised that though inspiration has been drawn from real-life figures, Yang Nayoon is fictional, set in a fictionalised world of figure skating, and the below profile is merely a by-product of that world.
⁽ᵃ⁾ Yang Nayoon was born on January 31, 2000 — at the age of three, in 2003, she started skating.
────────────────── categorised among South Korea's female figure skaters in the category of female single skaters.
⁽ᵇ⁾ At the age of thirteen, in 2013, Yang became known as Miss Axel for her ability to jump and land her axels ("A")¹ , but most famously the triple axel ("3A")², to near perfection — it is the consistency of her triple axel ("3A"), however, that marked her career.
At the age of twenty-one, in 2021, Yang was recorded to have landed the most triple axels ("3A's") in the ladies' category, out of which eighteen ("18") were produced in the short program³ and thirty-three ("33") in free skate⁴, totaling an amount of fifty-one ("51").
Moreover, Yang's skating was not merely marked by her axles ("A"), or, triple axels ("3A's"), but by its seamlessness, speed, step sequences ("StSq")⁵, and spins (layback ("LSp")⁶, haircutter⁷, Biellmann spins⁸...).
────────────────── (notable...) coaches: Kim Yookyung⁹, Kwang Katherine
────────────────── (notable...) choreographers: ████ █
⁽ᶜ⁾ At the age of twenty, in 2020, Yang was awarded the International Skating Union ("ISU") Figure Skating Award in the category of Most Valuable Skater.
⁽ᵈ⁾ Yang was peculiar, albeit particular — she did not wear white skaters without skate covers, ideally nude, preferring the whiteness of the skate not be visible.
Nevertheless, Yang did only train in (pale, pastel...) blue.
Her, usually, self-selected outfits on ice, however, varied, though black was preferred.
⁽ᵉ⁾ Her programs, on one hand, existed on the edge of elegance — its artistry carefully crafted to evoke deep emotion in her audience. This effect was all the more striking given Yang’s own restrained demeanor — she rarely displayed overt emotion, save for shows of gratitude.
On the other hand, her performance at the Olympic Exhibition Gala, in 2018, marked a sharp departure from that signature style. It was unorthodox—playful but laced with provocation—and stood in contrast to the emotional gravity of her competitive programs. The routine sparked discussion online and offline, with some netizens even interpreting it as, potentially, politically charged.
Since 2018, however, her style has evolved — it, deliberately, became a fusion of the two. A dark, albeit emotionally resonant core heaped with moments of daring, expressive playfulness.
⁽ᶠ⁾ In 2017, Yang won the title of World Champion in the World Figure Skating Championships in the category of ladies' with a score of two hundred seventy-seven and twenty-two hundredths ("277.22"). The title, and the record-breaking score it produced—being the highest ever recorded by a female figure skater in competition, surpassing her own previous record of two hundred seventy and two hundredths ("270.02") set the year prior at the World Junior Figure Skating Championships—catapulted her to an unprecedented level of fame for a figure skater, amassing a nine point nine ("9.9") million followers on Instagram by the end of 2017.
⁽ᵍ⁾ During her free skate in 2018, Yang was showered in a show of arctic fox plushies — most of which were donated, some of which were kept. The whole ordeal, subsequently, became known as her "Arctic rain".
⁽ʰ⁾ In the aftermath of the 2018 Winter Olympics, Yang was recognised as one of South Korea’s most influential figures and was dubbed an “It Girl” — a label typically reserved for K-pop idols.
────────────────── (notable...) competitions:
South Korean Figure Skating Championships ⁽²⁰¹⁰⁾, in the category of "Junior Ladies" ⁽¹⁾
South Korean Figure Skating Championships ⁽²⁰¹¹⁾, in the category of "Junior Ladies" ⁽¹⁾
South Korean Figure Skating Championships ⁽²⁰¹³⁾, in the category of "Junior Ladies" ⁽¹⁾
International Skating Union ("ISU") Junior Grand Prix ⁽²⁰¹³⁾/⁽²⁰¹⁴⁾, in the category of "Junior Ladies" ⁽¹⁾
World Junior Figure Skating Championships ⁽²⁰¹⁴⁾, in the category of "Junior Ladies" ⁽¹⁾
International Skating Union ("ISU") Junior Grand Prix ⁽²⁰¹⁴⁾/⁽²⁰¹⁵⁾, in the category of "Junior Ladies" ⁽¹⁾
International Skating Union ("ISU") Junior Grand Prix ⁽²⁰¹⁵⁾/⁽²⁰¹⁶⁾, in the category of "Junior Ladies" ⁽¹⁾
World Junior Figure Skating Championships ⁽²⁰¹⁶⁾, in the category of "Junior Ladies" ⁽¹⁾
South Korean Figure Skating Championships ⁽²⁰¹⁷⁾, in the category of "Ladies" ⁽¹⁾
Four Continents Figure Skating Championships ⁽²⁰¹⁷⁾, in the category of "Ladies" ⁽¹⁾
World Figure Skating Championships ⁽²⁰¹⁷⁾, in the category of "Ladies" ⁽¹⁾
International Skating Union ("ISU") Grand Prix ⁽²⁰¹⁷⁾/⁽²⁰¹⁸⁾, in the category of "Ladies" ⁽¹⁾
South Korean Figure Skating Championships ⁽²⁰¹⁸⁾, in the category of "Ladies" ⁽¹⁾
Olympic Winter Games ⁽²⁰¹⁸⁾, in the category of "Ladies" ⁽²⁾
World Figure Skating Championships ⁽²⁰¹⁸⁾, in the category of "Ladies" ⁽¹⁾
International Skating Union ("ISU") Grand Prix ⁽²⁰¹⁸⁾/⁽²⁰¹⁹⁾, in the category of "Ladies" ⁽¹⁾
South Korean Figure Skating Championships ⁽²⁰¹⁹⁾, in the category of "Ladies" ⁽¹⁾
International Skating Union ("ISU") Grand Prix ⁽²⁰¹⁹⁾/⁽²⁰²⁰⁾, in the category of "Ladies" ⁽²⁾
South Korean Figure Skating Championships ⁽²⁰²⁰⁾, in the category of "Ladies" ⁽¹⁾
World Figure Skating Championships ⁽²⁰²⁰⁾, in the category of "Ladies" ⁽¹⁾
International Skating Union ("ISU") Grand Prix ⁽²⁰²⁰⁾/⁽²⁰²¹⁾, in the category of "Ladies" ⁽¹⁾
South Korean Figure Skating Championships ⁽²⁰²¹⁾, in the category of "Ladies" ⁽¹⁾
────────────────── up to date, Yang has never finished off of the podium.
¹ The only rotational jump counted as a jump element that starts with a forward approach. An Axel jump has an extra half rotation, one hundred eighty ("180") degrees, and is landed with the skater gliding backwards.
² A jump with three full rotations, one thousand eighty ("1080") degrees, in the air. The triple Axel requires the skater to complete three point five ("3.5") revolutions, one thousand two hundred sixty ("1260") degrees.
³ The first and shorter of the two programs performed at a competition. This program has certain required elements that must be completed.
⁴ Also known as the free skate, free program. The second of the two programs performed at a competition is unofficially known as the long program. Historically, a term for the segment of a figure skating competition that was not compulsory figures.
⁵ A series of footwork and field moves.
⁶ An upright spin position in which the back is arched and the head is dropped back, with the free leg bent behind, and the arms often stretched to the ceiling or arched overhead.
⁷ A catch-foot layback spin where the free leg is brought up to head level, but not above. In some cases, the head is dropped back, and it appears that the skate blade is in a position to cut the hair of the skater performing the spin.
⁸ A catch-foot position where the free leg is pulled above the head from behind. Can be either a spin or a spiral position. By regulation, a spin becomes a Biellmann at the moment the skate passes over the level of the head.
⁹ Kim Yookyung is a former South Korean figure skater and a three-time World Champion, having won the title in the World Figure Skating Championships in the category of Ladies in 1966, 1968, and 1969. Yookyung is the paternal grandmother of Yang Nayoon. In 2009, Yookyung became Yang's legal guardian.
────────────────── sources: ████ █, ████ █
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