3 Things You Didn’t Know About Malaysia’s First Olympic Figure Skater Julian Yee

Saturday, 30 September 2017 was a special day for Malaysians, especially 20-year-old Julian Yee Zhi-Jie.

He became the first ever Malaysian figure-skater to qualify for the upcoming 2018 Winter Olympics, which is scheduled to take place in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

The 2017 SEA Games gold medalist managed to place third in the free skate routine at the 49^th CS Nebelhorn Trophy in Germany with a total of 148.7 points, which earned him a ticket to the coveted Winter Games. He placed sixth overall in the competition.

Yee is the second Malaysian who will be competing in the Winter Olympics after 18-year-old Jeffrey Webb qualified for the slalom event.

In an interview with The Star, he said that he was “shocked and happy” and it has been a long journey, so there were a lot of tears of joy in the end.

So, who is Julian Yee? Here are three interesting things you might not know about our winter Olympian.

#1 Malaysian Book of Records Holder

Julian Yee is a five-time Senior National Champion since 2013, which earned him a spot in the Malaysian Book of Records.

#2 Skated His Way to Success From a Very Young Age

The KL-born lad started skating his way to his figure-skating career from the age of four! He has two brothers, Ian and Ryan who are also ice-skaters. They were introduced to the sport by their mother, who is the former vice-president of the Malaysian Ice Skating Association.

#3 Youngest Junior Ice-Skating Champion

In 2011, Julian competed in Ice-Skating Institute (ISI) sanctioned competition and went on to win gold in the Junior Men’s category making him the youngest skater in history to win at the age of 13 years 10 months and breaking the record that was previously held by his brother, Ryan.

Fun fact: Julian enjoys vlogging his journey as a figure skater so be sure to check out his YouTube channel here.