GANGNEUNG -- Korea finished ninth after four short programs of the figure skating team event Sunday at the ongoing PyeongChang Olympics.

The host country is not eligible to participate in the free programs of the team event to be held later in the day and Monday, while only the top five countries of Canada, the Olympic Athletes from Russia, the United States, Japan and Italy will compete in the medal-deciding sessions.

Korea's teenage skater Choi Da-bin performed a clean program to gain her personal best of 65.73 points and ranked 6th out of eight competitors in the ladies' singles short program in Gangneung Ice Arena on the second full competition day of the 17-day Winter Games.

Two-time world champion Evgenia Medvedeva placed first, as expected, with 81.06 points, followed by Italy's veteran skater Carolina Kostner and Canada's Kaetlyn Osmond.

Choi's ranking added five points to the country's total of 13 points.

Cha Jun-whan in the men's singles also finished 6th to bring five points and the pairs team of Kim Kyu-eun and Kam Kang-chan and the ice dance duo Min Yu-ra and Alexander Gamelin earned one point and two points, respectively.

In the ladies' short program, Korean Choi jumped a flawless triple lutz and triple toe loop at the beginning of the program, which gave her 10.80 points, followed by a set of fluid spins and step sequences.

She also landed a clean triple flip and a double axel in the latter part of the program and wrapped up her first Olympic performance with a layback spin.

"I tried to feel free on the ice. I'm surprised with the higher-than-expected scores," said the 18-year old skater. "After landing the first triple-triple jump, which I've struggled with for months, I was relieved."

Her short program music, "Papa, Can You Hear Me?" composed by Michel Legrand, was a tribute to her mother, who passed away last year.

"I had depended on my mom a lot. I could stand on Olympic ice as she had believed in me and waited for me," she said with tears in her eyes.(Yonhap)