Does Sunghoon from ENHYPEN practice skating? When did Park Sung-hoon begin skating?

On the latest episode of ENHYPEN’s ‘EN-O’CLOCK’ aired on December 16, Sunghoon (Park Sung-hoon) returned to the ice rink for the first time since his debut as a K-Pop idol!

Sunghoon from ENHYPEN returns to the ice rink

As many fans know, ENHYPEN’s Sunghoon has an impressive career history as a pro Junior League figure skater, having retired in 2020 shortly before appearing as a contestant on Mnet’s ‘I-Land’. In fact, before switching career paths to music, Sunghoon competed in the top-tier (Rank 8) group and was well on track to become a South Korean national representative in figure skating!

But since his debut as a member of ENHYPEN, fans have not had a chance to see Sunghoon ice skating again… that is, until today!

On this latest episode of ‘EN-O’CLOCK’, all of the ENHYPEN members paid a visit to the ice rink, where they got to witness Sunghoon skating in real life. The members then also gave ice skating a try themselves, playing various games and having a good time.

Before diving into the fun and games, though, Sunghoon decided to treat fans to a surprise, impromptu figure skating routine to his own song, ENHYPEN’s “Given-Taken”!

Here’s How Figure Skating Gave ENHYPEN’s Sunghoon An Edge As A K-Pop Idol, According To Sunghoon Himself

Before he was a K-Pop idol, ENHYPEN‘s Sunghoon was an award-winning figure skater. He had a podium finish in international competitions such as the Asian Figure Skating Trophy and the Lombardia Trophy, quickly gaining a legion of fans who admired his graceful performances on the ice.

When he made it into the lineup of ENHYPEN in 2020, he ended his decade-long career in figure skating and became a full time singer. The two jobs may be vastly different, but Sunghoon was able to take his learnings from one and use it for the other! He explained just how he did so in an interview with Weverse Magazine.

When the interviewer commented, “All your experience as a figure skater must have been a lot of help for your performances and facial expressions,” he readily agreed.

What does he say about it?

Skating allowed him to get used to expressing himself while moving along to the music. I wasn’t really good at facial expressions when I figure skated, but I remember feeling the melody and I did a lot of sentimental acting, which I think helped.

He was also able to naturally gain a dance style that was clean and attractive. When it comes to dancing, one can rarely fault him in any way.

And because I figure skated for so long, I’ve become pretty athletic, so even though I haven’t learned much, say, acrobatics, I could do it right away. People say I have a clean dancing style and that I don’t have any bad habits, and that there’s a soft, pretty tone to my dancing.

Finally, figure skating helped Sunghoon put on a consistently great performance on stage. Practicing on the ice and not in a practice room was the tougher way of doing things, but it definitely paid off.

And people usually practice their dance moves in front of the mirror and get used to that, but when I was figure skating I never really did that. I think not having to rely on the mirror makes my performances on stage and on camera look just as good as when I practice.

Looking at Sunghoon’s performances as a member of ENHYPEN, it’s easy to see how figure skating gave him an edge!

ENHYPEN’s Sunghoon Reveals Which Is Harder: Being A Gold Medal Figure Skater Or Being A K-Pop Idol

you may know Sunghoon as a member of I-LAND‘s ENHYPEN, but before he sang and danced for fans of stage, he had another talent: figure skating. But while racking up skating medals like Sunghoon did can’t be easy, is it harder than being an K-Pop idol? Sunghoon weighed in on his double life in a new interview with Teen Vogue.

Sunghoon—better known as Park Sunghoon in the figure skating world—began training in the sport when he was a young boy. With an immense level of talent, he made his competitive debut at the age of just eight years old.

In the Skating Championships, he took home the silver price

Sunghoon’s first trophy came at the 2013 South Korean Figure Skating Championships, where he took home the silver price in the Novice category. And from then on, he only continued to rise.

At the age of 14, he competed in the 2015 Asian Open Trophy, where he won his first gold prize for 1st place in his age group. Later that year, the young figure skating star jetted off to Italy for the 2015 Lombardia Trophy and won yet another gold medal.

Over the years, Sunghoon participated in figure skating contests across the world, graduating to the senior category when he was 15 years old. Coached by world champion skaters like Chi Hyun Jung, Sunghoon was likely on the pathway to Olympic stardom—until he made the decision to become an idol.

Winning figure skating medals is no easy feat. In Sunghoon’s case, it required years upon years of training.

Competitive skaters need a combination of flexibility, power, balance, and endurance, which is why many add weight training and aerobic exercise to their practice schedules. The typical aspiring Olympian will often train for several hours a day, five to six days a week.

On top of that, professional figure skaters must put themselves in front of judges over and over again, setting themselves up for the grueling possibility of failure at every competition. With all that in mind, you might think that becoming a K-Pop trainee would be easy in comparison.

But in a new interview with Teen Vogue, Sunghoon revealed the opposite. He said that while competitive figure skating “is by no means easy“, personally he thinks the life of a trainee is harder.

That’s because figure skating only requires training in one set of skills—athletic skills. To be an idol, on the other hand, Sunghoon says “you need to be versatile in everything“. While dancing may have come easily to a skater like Sunghoon, he also needed to show off singing and rapping skills as part of his stint on I-LAND.

However, Sunghoon did say there are some similarities between his figure skating life and his idol life. For one, both require a lot of practice to achieve perfection. And Sunghoon definitely practiced hard for I-LAND, improving his performance skills enough to receive 1,088,413 votes in the finale.

And, on top of that, both appeal to Sunghoon’s love for artistic expression—something fans can’t wait to see more of when ENHYPEN debuts.

ENHYPEN’s Sunghoon says he had no intention of becoming an idol

“I joined the dance group, thinking it would help out my figure skating skills”

ENHYPEN member Sunghoon has revealed that he originally had no intention of becoming a K-pop idol.

During an interview with Korean-American singer Eric Nam on his podcast K-pop Daebak Show, the boyband member – who is a former professional figure skater – talked about how he transitioned from being an athlete to a K-pop idol.

He admitted that, although he had been scouted by Big Hit Entertainment (now HYBE), he had only joined because he thought the dance training would help his figure skating career.

“I was a figure skater previously, but then I got scouted by Big Hit Entertainment,” he said. “I joined the dance group, thinking it would help out my figure skating skills. I joined, but I didn’t really have any intentions of becoming an artist.”

However, after joining the South Korean agency, the singer soon found a new love for the K-pop industry and idol life, feeling inspired by senior group BTS and his fellow trainees. “It was motivating watching BTS and the other trainees training hard. I got friendly with them, and that’s when I wanted to become an idol,” he noted.

Sunghoon eventually trained under Big Hit Entertainment for two years before appearing on the Mnet reality TV competition I-LAND, through which ENHYPEN were formed. The boyband released their sophomore mini-album ‘Border: Carnival’ in April, alongside a video for the title track ‘Drunk-Dazed’.

ENHYPEN also recently took part in ELLE magazine’s popular ‘Song Association’ video series where they sang hits by TWICE, Justin Bieber and Dua Lipa, as well as cuts from ‘Border : Carnival’ and their debut single ‘Given-Taken’.

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