Great first. On the last day of its 58th annual congress, the International Skating Union (ISU) chose a new president on Friday June 10. He is Asian. The South Korean Jae Youl Kim, 53, became the 12th president of the body in Phuket, Thailand, the first non-European. He succeeds the Dutchman Jan Dijkema, who had chaired the ISU for the past six years, but chose not to seek a new mandate. Jae Youl Kim (photo above) was elected very largely in the first round of voting, obtaining 77 votes. He was clearly ahead of the three other candidates: the American Patricia St. Peter (24 votes), the Finnish Susanna Rahkamo (13 votes), the Serbian Slobodan Delic (5 votes). The new president of the ISU presented his program for the next four years. It is structured around five priorities: growth, opportunism, innovation, security and unity. In short, develop all skating disciplines through a forward-looking approach, by conquering a new audience and new markets, while preserving the athletes and unity between members. Jae Youl Kim chaired the South Korean Skating Federation between 2011 and 2016. He had been a member of the ISU Council since 2016. During the same election, Norwegian Tron Espeli was appointed first vice president, in charge speed skating. Canadian Benoit Lavoie, for his part, will occupy the position of vice-president for figure skating. Finally, for the first time since the creation of the ISU, a representative of the athletes' commission will sit on the Council: the Canadian Eric Radford, president of the commission, elected with 74 votes.
