Sunghoon of ENHYPEN is drawing strong international attention for his journey from figure skater to K-pop artist and Olympic torchbearer.
On February 5th local time, he participated as a torchbearer at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy. His global popularity drew large crowds of fans, prompting major overseas media outlets to spotlight his appearance, including the official Olympic news platform Olympics.com. Interviews with non-athlete torchbearers are uncommon there, highlighting the level of international interest surrounding him.
In its interview article, Olympics.com described his story by noting
“A boy who fell in love with figure skating while watching the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics later turned the world into his stage beyond the ice.”
The outlet also explained that he successfully carried the Olympic torch through Milan, energizing the city and helping signal the opening of the world’s largest winter sports festival.
During the interview, he shared that
“Since I trained for the Olympics for nearly half my life, I came to Milan with great anticipation. It’s a huge honor to be here as a K-pop artist.”
He additionally recommended “Chaconne” from the mini album ‘DARK BLOOD’ as potential background music for a figure skating program, explaining that
“It has a darker mood that evokes the image of a black swan while still featuring a beautiful melody.”
Speaking about his goals for the year, he said that
“After achieving the grand prize we had hoped for over five years since debut, the members and I are discussing new goals together. Personally, completing the torch relay safely was a major task, so I feel I’ve already accomplished about half of this year’s goal.”
The U.S. newspaper The New York Times also followed his activities in Milan and reported that
“He attracted massive crowds wherever he went,” while noting that young volunteers at the Olympic Main Press Center watched his interview with visible excitement.
Italy’s leading daily La Repubblica covered his torch relay surrounded by global fans, and ELLE highlighted his torch relay fashion, makeup, and hairstyle, praising the look as perfectly suited for the Winter Olympics.
Meanwhile, ENHYPEN continues connecting K-pop and sports at the Winter Olympics. Their track “SHOUT OUT” from the mini album ‘MANIFESTO : DAY 1’ has been selected as an official cheering song for Team Korea, helping energize the national athletes.
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