Seoul: Figure skater Cha Jun-hwan will compete at his third consecutive Winter Olympics next month in Italy. Cha won the men's singles title at the 80th National Figure Skating Championships at Mokdong Ice Rink in Seoul on Sunday with a total score of 277.84. Cha had 97.5 points in Saturday's short program and earned 180.34 points in the free skate Sunday. The nationals doubled as the second leg of the Olympic trials.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the Korea Skating Union (KSU) determined its Olympic-bound skaters based on combined results from two competitions. The KSU President's Cup in November was the first Olympic qualifying event. Cha had finished second at the November event with 255.72 points, concluding with 533.56 points overall after his two events.

Cha is the second South Korean figure skater to compete at three Winter Olympics in a row, joining Jung Sung-il, who did so in 1988, 1992, and 1994. Cha made his Olympic debut at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games, where he placed 15th, the highest Olympic placement by a South Korean male figure skater at the time. He broke his own record four years later in Beijing by finishing in fifth place.

Now 24 years old, Cha will be traveling to Italy after a challenging season plagued by ankle issues and difficulties adjusting to a new pair of boots. After clinching his Olympic ticket, Cha revealed he had gone through at least a dozen pairs of skates over a three-month period last month. Despite these challenges, he expressed happiness at returning to the Olympics.

Due to his skate issues, Cha removed difficult quadruple jumps from his programs during the Olympic qualifying campaign, opting for a safer route to Milan. In the past, he has included up to two quadruple jumps in the short program and up to three in the free skate. For the Olympic trials, he attempted just one quadruple in each program.

Cha stated he is on his way back to landing multiple quadruple jumps in competition, emphasizing the need for more strength to execute well. Joining Cha in Milan will be the 19-year-old Kim Hyun-gyeom, who earned 235.74 points over the weekend at Mokdong and 467.25 points overall. Kim, the 2024 Winter Youth Olympics champion, will be making his senior Olympic debut.

In the women's singles, Shin Ji-a and Lee Hae-in will make their first Olympic appearances. Shin won the national title with 219.89 points overall, while Lee finished fifth at the national championships, earning a combined 391.80 points in her two competitions.

The team of Hannah Lim and Quan Ye will represent South Korea in ice dance. They were the only team competing Sunday and scored 188.29 points. Lim, who holds dual citizenship, will represent South Korea with Quan, who earned South Korean citizenship through a special naturalization process. This will be their first Olympics together.