South Korea's Lee Hae-in placed eighth in the women's singles figure skating at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, with a total score of 210.56 points, marking her season-best performance. She earned 140.49 points in the free skate during her Olympic debut. Fellow Korean skater Shin Ji-a finished 11th.
At the Milano Ice Skating Arena in Milan on February 19, Lee Hae-in, a 20-year-old South Korean figure skater, delivered a strong free skate to Georges Bizet's "Carmen Suite No. 1." She opened with a clean double axel-triple toe loop combination, landing all jumps successfully and earning maximum Level 4 grades on her three spins and step sequence. Lee scored 74.15 points in technical element score (TES) and 66.34 in program component score (PCS) for her free skate of 140.49 points, contributing to her total of 210.56 and eighth-place finish.
Reflecting on her performance, Lee said, "I was even more nervous today than in the short program, but I want to pat myself on the back for keeping it together." She smiled throughout her program, noting, "While I was skating, I felt this was completely my time and my time only. I wanted to savor it and cherish it as much as I could." After finishing, Lee lay on the ice in relief, explaining, "I felt so relieved, and I couldn't believe I'd skated so well."
Lee achieved season-best marks in both the short program (70.07 points) and free skate, though she acknowledged, "My performances in both programs were not perfect. But I still feel like I showed everything I could, and I am happy with the way it worked out." Looking ahead, she added, "I just want to skate as long as I can. My goal now is to take it one day at a time, but if an opportunity comes up, I'd love to test myself at another Olympics."
Shin Ji-a, the other South Korean competitor, placed 11th with 206.68 points, including a personal-best 141.02 in the free skate to Franz Liszt's "Liebestraum No. 3 in A-Flat Minor." She had a wobbly triple loop but clean jumps otherwise, scoring TES 75.05 and PCS 65.97. Gold went to Alysa Liu of the United States with 226.79 points, silver to Japan's Kaori Sakamoto with 224.90, and bronze to Japan's Ami Nakai with 219.16. For her first Olympics, Lee also took time to enjoy Milan's sunset, saying it helped her relax and perform better.