jasdooit

Cha Jun-hwan (25), the top figure skater from South Korea, took first place in the short program at the second national team selection competition for the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, positioning him to compete in his third straight Olympic Games.

Cha earned 97.50 points—52.55 in technical elements (TES) and 44.95 in program components (PCS)—at the 80th National Men’s and Women’s Figure Skating Championships and the second team selection event held at Seoul’s Mokdong Ice Link on the 3rd. He performed a level 4 flying camel spin, the most challenging, and successfully completed a triple axel, quadruple salchow, and triple lutz-triple loop combination jump.

Having previously ranked first in the initial selection event in November last year with an overall score of 255.72, Cha is expected to earn his Olympic qualification if he doesn’t make significant errors during the free skating competition on the 4th at the same location. South Korea will send two male and two female singles skaters, as well as one ice dance pair, to the Olympics. The current standings following the first selection are: second place, Kim Hyun-kyum (20, 311.11 points); third place, Lee Jae-geun (19, 296.87 points). The ice dance duo of Lim Haena and Kwon Ye have already earned their Olympic spot as the only qualifiers.

Cha once established a national record for South Korean male singles skaters by finishing 15th at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics and then moved up to fifth place at the 2022 Beijing Games. If he qualifies for Milano Cortina, it will be his third consecutive Olympic participation. Following the competition, Cha stated, “I was inconsistent during the first selection because of skate problems, but changing my equipment allowed me to skate more comfortably. I will tackle any challenges that come before the Olympics.”