Cha Jun-hwan did it at the 'Short Season High' Olympics! 6th place in free skating, "Olympic medal, dream I didn't give up" [Milan Olympics]

*This content was translated by AI.

Cha Jun-hwan (25, Seoul City Hall), a Korean figure skating star, made the best short program at the Olympics this season.

Cha Jun-hwan received a total of 92.72 points in the men's single short program for figure skating at the 2026 Milan-Cortina D'Ampezzo Winter Olympics held at the Ice Skating Arena in Milan, Italy on the 11th (Korea time) with 50.08 points in technical score (TES) and 42.64 points in artistic score (PCS). As a result of all the competitions since then, Cha Jun-hwan ranked sixth among 29 participants to qualify for the free skating, which is given to the top 24 players.

This is the highest point of the season. The previous record was 91.60 points in the short program of the fourth ISU Figure Skating Grand Prix held in November last year.

According to News 1, Newsis, Cha Jun-hwan said after the game, "Right now, at this moment, I've thrown everything so much that I don't have a single regret. "I really did my best," he said. "It's the highest point of the season, but I'm disappointed that it's lower than the score set so far. But I came out after doing everything I could. That's how much I poured out my whole heart into the game," he said.

Cha's short program peak was 101.3 points in ISU World Team Propy 2023 and his Olympic peak was 99.51 points in Beijing 2022. However, he stood firm, recalling the slump caused by skate boots that did not fit his feet this season and the team's mistakes that took place earlier.

In the team short program, Cha Joon-hwan scored 0 points by running only one round of triple axels, which required three and a half rounds. Cha Jun-hwan said, "I made a mistake as my condition fell a little bit in the team event. After that, I took a break and my condition came up. That experience helped me more in the individual exhibition," he said.

"I had a lot of problems with skating until the general championships, but I'm playing with skate boots that I can practice with confidence," he said, adding, "I only had a month, but I was able to prepare for the Olympics by quickly improving my condition."

Cha Jun-hwan, who is participating in the third Olympics after Pyeongchang in 2018 and Beijing in 2022, is aiming for his first medal in the free skate on the 14th. It finished 15th in the individual competition in 2018 and 5th in 2022.

Cha Jun-hwan said, "Of course, my dream of winning a medal remains. He said, "Olympic medals are a dream that I haven't given up on," but added, "But there is also a sense of achievement that you get when you do your best. If you enjoy it like today, the results will follow," he said with strength.

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*This content was translated by AI.