Korea's Cha Jun-hwan Places Sixth in Short Program, Eyes Medal in Free Skate

"I'm happy it's a season best, but compared to scores I've received before, it came out a bit lower than expected. Still, I gave everything I had, so I don't have many regrets."

Cha Jun-hwan, South Korea's top male figure skater, secured a spot in the free skating event after finishing sixth in the short program at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics.

Cha, who competes for Seoul City Hall, scored 92.72 points at the ice skating arena in Milan, Italy, on Friday, with a technical element score of 50.08 and a program component score of 42.64.

While the score fell well short of his personal best of 101.33 points, it surpassed his previous season-best of 91.60 points set at the NHK Trophy in November 2025.

Cha appeared satisfied immediately after his performance but showed disappointment upon seeing his scores in the kiss and cry zone.

"I truly gave my best. I left everything on the ice without a single regret in that moment," Cha said.

"I'm glad I achieved a season-best score, but honestly, looking at just the numbers, it's a bit disappointing. Still, I showed all my heart during the performance, enough to shake off that disappointment," he added.

Ilya Malinin of the United States, nicknamed the "Quad King," topped the short program with 108.16 points. Japan's Yuma Kagiyama followed with 103.07 points, and France's Adam Siao Him Fa placed third with 102.55 points.

Cha trails the third-place finisher by 9.83 points. While not a small gap, a comeback in the free skating remains possible.

Performing 15th in the skating order, Cha delivered a clean routine to "Rain in Your Black Eyes."

He executed a difficult quadruple Salchow flawlessly on his first jump element, earning a base value of 9.70 points plus 3.19 points in grade of execution.

Cha followed with a clean triple Lutz-triple loop combination and completed a flying camel spin at Level 4 to close the first half.

His second-half elements, which carry a 10 percent bonus, were also performed cleanly.

However, his triple Axel received a quarter-landing call—indicating an under-rotation of approximately 90 degrees—resulting in a 0.69-point GOE deduction.

Cha finished 15th at the 2018 PyeongChang Games and fifth at the 2022 Beijing Games. He is now seeking to become the first Korean male figure skater to win an Olympic medal.

Kim Hyun-gyeom, also representing South Korea, scored 69.30 points with a TES of 37.92, PCS of 32.39, and a one-point deduction. His 26th-place finish left him just short of the top 24 cutoff for the free skate.

The men's singles free skating is scheduled for 3 a.m. Korea Standard Time on February 14.