Lee Hae-in of South Korea performs her free skate during the women's singles figure skating event at the Winter Olympics at Milano Ice Skating Arena in Milan on Thursday. (Yonhap)
Lee Hae-in of South Korea performs her free skate during the women's singles figure skating event at the Winter Olympics at Milano Ice Skating Arena in Milan on Thursday. (Yonhap)

While preparing for Thursday night's free skate at her first Winter Olympics in Italy, figure skater Lee Hae-in tried to stop and smell the roses, instead of just having tunnel vision on the task at hand.

A sensitive type who enjoys drawing and jotting down her thoughts throughout the day, Lee looked out the window of her shuttle bus taking her back to the village after a training session Thursday afternoon and fell in love with the sunset in Milan.

"I took pictures and wrote how pretty the sunset was," Lee said, after scoring her season-best 210.56 points overall to finish in eighth place at Milano Ice Skating Arena. "I felt relaxed after that. I know it's really important to focus on the competition and not get distracted. But at the same time, this is a great opportunity to be at an Olympics, and while I am here, I didn't want to just keep my head down. I thought if I saw the sights around me and felt more comfortable, then it would help me perform better on the ice too."

She accomplished just that. Lee scored her season high of 140.49 points in the free skate. Although she was called for an incorrect edge on both of her triple lutz jumps and lost points for an under-rotation of her landing of a triple flip, Lee otherwise avoided major mistakes. And Lee earned full Level 4s on her spins and step sequence.

"I was even more nervous today than in the short program, but I want to pat myself on the back for keeping it together," the 20-year-old said. "I hope I've created some fond memories for people who were watching."

Throughout her program, set to "Carmen Suite No. 1" by Georges Bizet, Lee kept a smile on her face. She said she didn't have to force it.

"While I was skating, I felt this was completely my time and my time only," she said. "I wanted to savor it and cherish it as much as I could."

As soon as her free skate ended, Lee lay down on the ice on her back, her arms and legs stretched out. It was another bit of natural reaction on her part.

"I felt so relieved, and I couldn't believe I'd skated so well," Lee said. "I didn't think I'd react that way, though.

Lee said her goal was to establish new season-best marks in both her short program and free skate here, and she checked both boxes this week.

"My performances in both programs were not perfect," Lee said. "But I still feel like I showed everything I could, and I am happy with the way it worked out."

Lee said she wasn't yet ready to look ahead to the next Olympics in 2030.

"I just want to skate as long as I can," she added. "My goal now is to take it one day at a time, but if an opportunity comes up, I'd love to test myself at another Olympics." (Yonhap)