Ice skating glides from Milan Olympics success toward reelecting its president Kim

GENEVA (AP) — Ice skating’s governing body is gliding into a presidential election Friday, free of the turmoil that just gripped its Olympic sibling skiing.

Jae Youl Kim is set to be reelected unopposed by International Skating Union members for a second four-year term. It comes just months after he also was elevated to the International Olympic Committee’s executive board representing winter sports.

The United States-educated Samsung executive’s first election win of 2026 was on the eve of the Milan Cortina Olympics that proved a clear success on the ice.

Milan was a stage for the compelling personal stories of U.S. figure skating stars Alysa Liu and Ilia Malinin — albeit with very different results — and Dutch speed skater Jutta Leerdam.

“Milan was a huge success, we couldn’t ask for anything better,” Kim told The Associated Press in an interview. “Venues were good and our skaters were incredible.”

He is now skating’s first representative on the IOC board for 18 years, and could stay through the 2034 Utah Olympics and what shapes to be a dynamic review of Winter Games sports and events.

Kim earned the trust of the eight-sport Winter Olympic Federations group against campaigning by Johan Eliasch, who was ousted Thursday as president of the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS).

A bruising FIS election was won by a single vote after a campaign that exposed disquiet in the ski family about its finances and future strategy.

The ISU member federation has met in calm for their congress meetings in Tenerife capped with a presidential election.

Kim’s family helped found and run a storied daily newspaper, and he arrived in sports as a fan who grew up skating on frozen lakes and ponds in Seoul.

“I want to make sure that skating remains as inspiring to as many people as it was to me,” he said in an interview at ISU headquarters in the Olympics’ home city Lausanne, Switzerland.

He studied politics and business at universities in the U.S. — Wesleyan, Johns Hopkins and Stanford — before working at Samsung. He later led the Korea Skating Union, and joined the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games organizing committee.

Respect for athletes guides his presidency, Kim suggests, and he cites being among Leerdam’s 2.5 million followers on Instagram even before she met and got engaged to Jake Paul, the boxer and YouTube influencer.

“Jake Paul is a very interesting man, very clever,” said Kim, of speed skating’s best-known fan in Milan.

On the figure skating rink, Kim found joy in Alysia Liu’s stunning Olympic title — “she is one of a kind” — and admiration for how Ilia Malinin handled a brutal fall out of the medals, setting up a potential redemption at the 2030 French Alps Olympics, likely in Lyon.

“I’m amazed how he carried himself after the free program,” Kim said. “He told me he’s going to be in Salt Lake City (in 2034), he’s determined.”

“They (the athletes) are the only assets that we have and we ought to make sure that we provide everything we can to make them the star.”

ISU aims to light arenas more theatrically for athletes and allowing use of official video and images for their social media. It also means more money.

This week ISU pledged to more than double its prize money fund for next season, to $11.1 million from $5.4 million. Member federations also will share a $2.1 million raise in help for travel costs.

ISU let Russian athletes try to qualify for and compete at the Olympics in Milan, though their exclusion from other championships is now in a fifth year during the full military invasion of Ukraine.

“That discussion took a long time because there’s a lot of European perspective, which I understand,” said Kim, who in 2022 became the ISU's first non-European head after 130 years.

Russian skaters' full return was not on the agenda in Tenerife though a freshly composed ISU Council, Kim said, will be “looking at the right time to make the decision.”

It hints at a guiding principle. “I want to be able to look back at ISU 20 years from now and then I want to be able to say, ‘Hey, we did the right thing.’”

AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

FILE - International Skating Union President Jae Youl Kim address media during the ISU Skate to Milano figure skating qualifier in Beijing, China, on Sept. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A., File)

GUADALAJARA, Mexico (AP) — Hwang In-beom scored a goal and set up another as South Korea rallied to defeat the Czech Republic 2-1 in the second match of the 2026 World Cup on Thursday night.

After a lackluster first half in which both teams were jeered as they left the field, the Czech Republic took the lead in the 59th minute on a header by captain Ladislav Krejci after a long throw-in into the penalty area.

South Korea equalized in the 67th, when Hwang scored after faking a shot with a nifty move to clear two Czech players. The midfielder who plays for Dutch club Feyenoord then made the cross from the right flank for Oh Hyeon-gyu's decisive strike in the 80th in a match played in front of hundreds of empty seats at Guadalajara Stadium.

The South Korean squad celebrated with its fans behind one of the goals after the final whistle. Players later posed for a photo with the fans behind them.

“It was our first game and a very difficult one,” South Korea coach Hong Myung-bo said. “The win itself makes me happy, but what’s even more positive is that our boys won by not giving up. I knew that we were more than capable of winning, so at 1-1, I told the boys to keep playing the way we’ve been playing.”

It was South Korea's first opening World Cup win since it beat Greece in 2010 in South Africa. South Korea beat European opponent in the tournament for a third straight time, following wins over Portugal in 2022 and Germany in 2018.

Let by star forward Son Heung-min, South Korea controlled possession and outshot the Czechs, who were making their first World Cup appearance since 2006. The Koreans, ranked 25th by FIFA, had most of the significant scoring chances against the 38th-ranked Czechs but failed to capitalize early.

Son was looking to become South Korea’s top goal scorer at the World Cup and the Asian player with the most goals in the tournament. The 33-year-old former Tottenham star, who now plays for Los Angeles FC of Major League Soccer, entered Thursday having scored three goals over three prior World Cups.

Appearing in his fourth World Cup, Son had a couple of good opportunities to add to his tally but missed wide in the first half and had a close-range shot saved in the second.

The Czechs thought they had retaken the lead with another set piece in the 77th, but Tomas Soucek was ruled offside on his header.

Czech Republic coach Miroslav Koubek said “probably the better team won.” But he said his team could have had a better outcome if it weren’t for “some mistakes.”

“We played very well, it could have been a draw and we could have won as well,” Koubek said.

The announced attendance was 44,985 at the 45,664-capacity Guadalajara Stadium, a crowd that included FIFA President Gianni Infantino. Sections in the middle of the stands had many unoccupied seats and there were other empty seats scattered across the stadium.

South Korea is making its 11th straight World Cup appearance and 12th overall, the most of any Asian country. Its best result was a fourth-place finish at the tournament it co-hosted with Japan in 2002. Since then, the South Koreans have never gone beyond the round of 16.

In the other Group A match on Thursday, co-host Mexico defeated South Africa 2-0 in the tournament opener in Mexico City.

AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-world-cup

Fans look on during the World Cup Group A soccer match between South Korea and Czechia in Zapopan, near Guadalajara, Mexico, Thursday, June 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

South Korea players celebrate after the World Cup Group A soccer match between South Korea and Czechia in Zapopan, near Guadalajara, Mexico, Thursday, June 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

Czechia's Ladislav Krejci reacts after scoring against South Korea in Zapopan, near Guadalajara, Mexico, Thursday, June 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)

South Korea's Hwang In-beom gestures to the crowd as he is substituted during the World Cup Group A soccer match between South Korea and Czechia in Zapopan, near Guadalajara, Mexico, Thursday, June 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

South Korea's Hwang In-beom, right, shoots and scores a goal against Czechia goalkeeper Matej Kovar during the World Cup Group A soccer match between South Korea and Czechia in Zapopan, near Guadalajara, Mexico, Thursday, June 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)