Hello and welcome back to HallyuTones — always focused on sound, stage and substance.
Filming for the 2025 Chusok Idol Star Athletics Championships (ISAC) – Chuseok Special officially started this week, on August 25th. The competition is a gathering of various idol groups, and soloists where they get to show off some of their off-stage skills. Many idols are known for athletic abilities like Jackson Wang (from China) who was training to be a fencer in the Olympics when he was scouted, and newly, Seok from 1VERSE who was a professional soccer player before pivoting towards music as a full time career.
Some of the groups invited to participate in this year’s events are: KIIRAS, n.SSign, NEWBEAT, You Dayeon, Primrose, MEOVV, LUN8, Candy Shop, ARrC, SAY MY NAME, tripleS, The Wind, KickFlip, RIIZE, Kep1er, 8TURN, ICHILLIN’, 82MAJOR, Double One, NEXZ, ifeye, POW, NCT WISH, NOWZ, XODIAC, E’LAST, ILLIT, TEMPEST, CRAVITY, BADVILLAIN, and many, many more.
This year, the main MC’s for the competition were announced to be Jonathan, Lee Eunji, Changsub from BTOB and Jun Hyunmoo. Various idols have also been appointed MC’s so far such as K and Fuma from &TEAM. While ISAC is only scheduled to air during the Chuseok Holidays, the prerecording of the events has started and fans have shared their excitement for many of the interactions between stars, and athletic results so far.
Stars’ appearance at the competition allows for fans to get to know them beyond the music, but it is also an opportunity for fans to see their favourite artists interact. One of the most shared interactions thus far, is the moment between… the Hanbin’s? Song Hanbin and Park Hanbin have had to clarify which Hanbin people are speaking to since their days together on the survival show Boys’ Planet. Fans took the opportunity to tease the two when they were spotted chatting while standing next to each other.
Another wholesome moment fans have shared is between MNET’S Universe Survival Show alums, Jin Hyeonju of UNIS and Cha Woongki of AHOF. The latter having recently debuted, fans of both groups and artists have been looking forward to interactions between the two groups as their shows (Universe Ticket and Universe League respectively) are essentially siblings and were streamed by fans of both.
Some of the events fans can expect to see include: archery, shooting, relay, sprints, Korean Wrestling (ssireum) and much more. One event many fans were excited for was dance sport. A mixture of different types of dance, fans have looked forward to the event admittedly to see Xiaoting of Kep1er tear up the stage. The idol has a long dance career behind her and has proven time and time again that she is a dance machine.
In previous years, idols like Nana of WOOAH and Tsuki of Billlie have also garnered a lot of attention for their frankly unbelievable dance capabilities. This year, a new powerhouse arrived in the shape of Nova from X:IN. Being her group’s main rapper, it would take a more dedicated fan to know that Nova, too, spent many of her adolescent years training and performing as a professional dancer. Which is why it came with little surprise for her fans, Readys, when Nova clinched first place with an amazing score of 29.3, she was followed by Xiaoting in second place with 26.5 and in third, still with an impressive 25.8 points was ICHILLIN’S E.JI.
While the results for some other events are available online, fans can watch the full stream and all the results in October when the ISAC 15th Anniversary Chuseok Special airs. In the meantime, readers will have to enjoy the show through snippets of action shared by fans across social media.
HallyuTones 
Leave a comment