In the pantheon of ‘coming in hot’ on the World Skateboarding Tour, there are three debut performances which jump out in the memory.

First was a tiny Chloe Covell (AUS) at World Street Skateboarding Rome back in 2022, switch boardsliding her way into 7th place at the first time of asking.

At the time, we said she seemed certain to be the Next Big Thing, and lo: it came to pass.

The other two both came in the 2022 Park World Championships in the UAE, where future Olympians Augusto Akio (BRA) and Hinano Kusaki (JPN) came from relative obscurity- Hinano was sponsorless beyond 187 Pads at the time- to take 2nd and 4th in their divisions respectively.

None, however, seemed to have the singleness of intent which we witnessed from Korea’s Jiyul Shin as she finished up 4th at WST Kitakyushu last November.

Making it into the finals of a World Skateboarding Tour stop the first time you enter is much more than just beginner’s luck: through qualifiers, quarterfinals and semifinals you have to deliver on three days back-to-back before you even go up against seven very serious people- at least four of whom have been here and done it before now.

Now consider Jiyul’s finals in Japan- her highest-scored 45-second Run included: frontside bluntslide shove-it out on a handrail; kickflip back lip on the rainbow rail; flatbar frontside feeblegrind; backside tailslide over the driveway gap and a tail slide to fake on the hubba ledge.

IN 45 SECONDS.

Add in two out of three made attempts in Best Trick (kick flip front board the handrail as a banker, kick flip back tail shove out over said driveway gap) and you have a ridiculously assured first performance from the 14-year-old Korean; it will surprise no-one at all to learn that she has since signed with Yuto Horigome’s agency.

It may well be that Korea has come up as a skateboarding force within Asia in the slipstream of Japan, but come up they most assuredly have.

A new flame has caught fire on the WST, best believe.