Cha Jun-hwan (25·Seoul Metropolitan Government), the face of South Korean men's figure skating, left regrets in the team event, the first hurdle on his journey toward an Olympic individual medal.
Cha Jun-hwan competed in the men's singles short program of the figure skating team event at the 2026 Milan-Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Olympics at the Milano Ice Skating Arena in Italy on the 8th (Korea time), recording a technical score of 41.78, a program components score of 41.75. With a total of 83.53, he placed eighth among the competitors.
The flow of the performance itself was not bad. He cleanly landed the first element, the quadruple salchow, gaining a 2.91 positive GOE, and then stably executed the triple lutz-triple loop combination jump. The flying camel spin was also handled at the highest difficulty, level 4, carrying the program firmly in its early stages.
However, a variable occurred on the triple axel. The takeoff timing was slightly off, the rotation was not completed sufficiently, and it was ruled a single axel, so he did not receive the points for that element. Because it was a jump that he did not often miss, the regret was greater. In particular, the fact that the mistake came immediately after successfully landing the most difficult jump left a lingering impression.
After that, Cha Jun-hwan did not waver. He finished the change foot combination spin, the step sequence, and the final combination spin all at level 4, wrapping up the performance. As a result, Korea recorded a total of 14 points in the team event and finished seventh. Cha Jun-hwan contributed 3 of those points.
The day before, ice dancers Lim Hae-na and Kwon Ye placed seventh for 4 points, and women's singles skater Shin Ji-ah earned 7 points for fourth place, but because Korea did not enter the pairs event, it had to compete with the disadvantage in score calculation. Even so, Korea achieved a meaningful result by placing ahead of some countries that competed in all four disciplines. However, it did not reach qualification for the free skate and free dance, which are awarded only to the top five teams.
According to Newsis, Cha Jun-hwan, met in the mixed zone after the match, said, "I did my best in the competition. The mistake on the third jump (the triple axel) is disappointing. It's a mistake I don't usually make, so the regret is greater. The timing on the takeoff didn't match well. I want to think of it as a preventive shot before the individual event. I'm satisfied with the other elements as they came out as I had practiced. Now I'll make up for it in the individual event."
About the cause of the jump mistake, he said, "There was a bit of nervousness. Still, the jump mistake wasn't because of being nervous. I think a certain level of nervousness is necessary. It was a pleasant nervousness," and explained, "It seems the timing loosened up when I took off."
This is the first time Korea has participated in the Olympic figure skating team event in eight years since the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. Cha Jun-hwan, who was the youngest at the time, skated in this tournament as the team's oldest member and captain. He said, "It is an honor in itself to be able to continue to participate in the Olympics. Competing in the team event I received a lot of good energy from the juniors. I learned a lot from their attitude."
The team will now focus on the individual events. The ice dance rhythm dance will be held on the 10th, the men's singles short program on the 11th, and the women's singles short program on the 18th. Cha Jun-hwan said, "Since there is time until the individual event, I want to focus on recovery and show a better performance."
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