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, and he finished 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 on home ice as a teenager at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games, where he placed 15th. It was the highest Olympic placement by a South Korean male figure skater, and Cha broke his own record four years later in Beijing by finishing in fifth place. Now 24 years old, Cha will be traveling to Italy on the heels of a season challenged by ankle issues and struggles to adjust to new skating boots.
After securing his Olympic ticket, Cha shared that he had gone through at least a dozen pairs of skates over a three-month period last month. "I went through one pair a week during that time, but nothing really fit," he said. "But I am kind of used to the pair I wore today. If possible, I will stick with this at the Olympics. I am happy to be returning to the Olympics after all the skate problems I've had."
These challenges led Cha to remove difficult quadruple jumps from his programs during his Olympic qualifying campaign, opting for a safer route to Milan. He has previously 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 both the short and free programs. Cha expressed optimism about regaining his form, saying, "What I need now is more strength. I will continue to put in the work and build programs that I can execute well."
In Milan, Cha will be joined by the 19-year-old Kim Hyun-gyeom, who earned 235.74 points over the weekend at Mokdong and 467.25 points after the two Olympic qualifiers. Kim, the 2024 Winter Youth Olympics champion, will be making his senior Olympic debut. "Even though it will be my first Olympics, I've had a lot of international experience over the years," Kim said. "So I will try to stay relaxed and put on a good performance. My primary goal is to qualify for the free skate."
The Olympic figure skating competition will be open only to skaters who were at least 17 years old by July 1, 2025. Seo Min-kyu, who turned 17 in October, finished second overall in total points with 532.15 but is not eligible for the Olympics. The team of Hannah Lim and Quan Ye will represent South Korea in ice dance in Milan. They were the only team competing Sunday and scored 188.29 points.
Lim, born in Toronto to Korean parents, holds dual citizenship and has chosen to represent South Korea with Quan. Quan, born in Iceland but raised in Canada, earned his South Korean citizenship through the special naturalization process in December 2024. This will be their first Olympics together. "I am happy to have realized my childhood dream," the 21-year-old Lim said. "We will work on some technical elements before the Olympics so that we can have our best performance. Since this will be our first Olympics, we want to enjoy the experience rather than worry about results." The women's singles competition will wrap up later Sunday.