Choi Da-bin competes in the women's free skating event at the ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Helsinki, Finland, Saturday. / Reuters-Yonhap



By Baek Byung-yeul

Korean figure skater Choi Da-bin secured two PyeongChang Winter Olympics spots for her country after a top 10 finish at the world figure skating competition, Saturday.

At the International Skating Union (ISU) World Figure Skating championships in Helsinki, the 17-year-old earned 62.66 points in the ladies' short program Thursday and added 128.45 points in the free skate to finish 10th overall. Evgenia Medvedeva retained her world figure skating title with 233.41 points and two Canadians Kaetlyn Osmond and Gabrielle Daleman took the silver with 218.13 points and the bronze with 213.52 points, respectively.

Both results were Choi's personal records and with overall points of 191.11, Choi became Korea's second figure skaters to reach over 190 points in the singles following former Olympic champion Kim Yuna. As the Helsinki Championships serve as the qualifiers for the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics, Korea secured two berths in the ladies' single figure skating in its first-ever Winter Olympics. Countries earn two or three entries in the Olympics by earning points through their skaters' placements at the previous year's world championships. Skaters finishing within the top two at the world championships earn three entries in the Olympics while those finishing from third to 10th each earn two.

"I am pleased to exceed my own expectations," Choi said. "Before the short program, my goal was to earn one Olympic spot. I struggled early in the season, but I am really happy to end the season on a high note."

This year has been an unforgettable season for Choi. At the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in Korea, February, she finished fifth, posting her personal best total score of 182.41 points. Later in the month, she broke the record with 187.54 points to win the gold medal at the Sapporo Asian Winter Games.