Cha Jun-hwan secures third straight Winter Olympics ticket 작성일 01-04 19 목록 <div class="ab_photo photo_center ab_zoom"> <div class="image"> <span class="end_photo_org"><img src="https://imgnews.pstatic.net/image/640/2026/01/04/0000082556_001_20260104182910693.jpg" alt="" /><em class="img_desc">Cha Jun-hwan competes in the 80th Korean Figure Skating Championships at the Mokdong Ice Rink in western Seoul on Jan. 4. [YONHAP] </em></span> <span class="mask"></span> </div> </div> <br> Cha Jun-hwan secured his third straight Winter Olympics ticket by winning the 80th Korean Figure Skating Championships on Sunday, but the figure skating star left the Mokdong Ice Rink in western Seoul still focused on an issue with his skates, which he said continues to limit his performance. <br> <br> Cha captured the men’s singles title at the Korean Figure Skating Championships, which also served as the second national team selection contest. For the free skate, he scored 88.03 points for his technical elements and 92.31 points for his program — a total of 180.34 points. Adding his 97.5 points from Saturday's short program, Cha finished with 277.84 points to take first place overall. <br><br>The result also put him first across the first and second Olympic selection events' combined standings, earning him a spot in the Winter Olympics in Italy in February. <br> <br> Cha previously competed in two other Winter Olympics: 2018 PyeongChang and 2022 Beijing. <br> <br> “A dreamlike moment that may never come again has arrived,” Cha said. “I want to show everything I can do based on years of experience.” <br> <br> <div class="ab_photo photo_center ab_zoom"> <div class="image"> <span class="end_photo_org"><img src="https://imgnews.pstatic.net/image/640/2026/01/04/0000082556_002_20260104182910808.jpg" alt="" /><em class="img_desc">Cha Jun-hwan competes in the 80th Korean Figure Skating Championships at the Mokdong Ice Rink in western Seoul on Jan. 4. [YONHAP]</em></span> <span class="mask"></span> </div> </div> <br> Cha rose to prominence after he first stepped onto the ice as a second grader. He learned all five types of triple jumps at age 10 and began landing quadruple jumps while still in middle school. <br> <br> He later earned bronze at the 2017 Junior Grand Prix Final, becoming the first Korean male skater to medal at the event. Cha has also delivered some of his best performances at the Olympics. He finished 15th in PyeongChang, the highest placement by a Korean man at the time, then improved to fifth in Beijing. <br> <br> Cha is the first Korean man to qualify for three straight Winter Olympics since Jung Sung-il. <br> <br> Cha said he still needs to solve one last issue before he heads to Italy: His body has not yet adjusted to his new pair of skates, which he got when his last pair unexpectedly broke. <br> <br> “I feel very disappointed with my performance today,” Cha said. “But I think the issue will go away if I [...] keep training in these boots.” <br> <br> He continued, “I did not aim for a specific finish in PyeongChang or Beijing. This sport comes down to executing what you've prepared, so I will continue to focus on [practicing]." <br> <br> Cha plans to use the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in Beijing later this month as his final warm-up before the Olympics. <br> <br> Beside Cha, the battle for the remaining Olympic spot came down to age eligibility. <br> <br> Seo Min-kyu placed second in the combined standings with 532.15 points, and Choi Ha-bin finished third with 508.55. However, both skaters fell short of the competition’s age requirement, as the Olympic figure skating competition is open only to skaters who were 17 years old by July 1, 2025. <br> <br> <div class="ab_photo photo_center ab_zoom"> <div class="image"> <span class="end_photo_org"><img src="https://imgnews.pstatic.net/image/640/2026/01/04/0000082556_003_20260104182910988.jpg" alt="" /><em class="img_desc">Kim Hyun-gyeom competes in the 80th Korean Figure Skating Championships at the Mokdong Ice Rink in western Seoul on Jan. 4. [YONHAP]</em></span> <span class="mask"></span> </div> </div> <br> This opened the door for Kim Hyun-gyeom, who placed fourth overall with 467.25 points, and allowed him to secure the final Olympic ticket. <br> <br> Kim, the gold medalist at the Gangwon 2024 Winter Youth Olympics, finished second at an additional Olympic qualifying event in September 2025 and earned Korea a second men's singles Olympic ticket, which now belongs to him. <br><br><i>This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.</i> 관련자료 이전 어두운 터널 거쳐 올림픽으로…피겨 이해인 "행복도, 불행도 영원하지 않다" 01-04 다음 '1차전 점프 실수→2차전 안정적 연기' 차준환, 3연속 올림픽 진출권 확보...김현겸도 밀라노행 확정 01-04 댓글 0 등록된 댓글이 없습니다. 로그인한 회원만 댓글 등록이 가능합니다.
