Cha reaches new heights for Korea with fifth place in figure skating

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Cha reaches new heights for Korea with fifth place in figure skating

Published: 10 Feb. 2022, 16:04

Cha Jun-hwan performs an Ina Bauer in his free skate program at Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing on Thursday. [YONHAP]

Cha Jun-hwan finished fifth in the men’s figure skating, marking Korea's best-ever finish on Thursday.

Cha is now Korea’s first-ever male figure skater to make it into the top five on the big stage. He placed in seventh position for his free skate program with 182.87 points on Thursday after taking fourth place with 99.51 points in the short program on Tuesday.

On Thursday, Cha performed to Nessun Dorma, a piece from Turandot by Giacomo Puccini, for his free skate program. Cha opened his performance with a quadruple toe loop, but his jump was under-rotated and he slipped trying to land, losing 3.80 points in his grade of execution (GOE) score and a one point deduction for falling.

Quadruple jumps are the hardest technique in figure skating because the skater jumps into the air and spins around at least four times. Only the top figure skaters in the world are able to successfully pull them off.

Despite the slip, Cha was still able to overcome that mistake, following up with a clean quadruple salchow, a triple lutz-triple loop combination, triple axel double toe loop, a triple axel and a triple axel single euler triple salchow, also receiving high GOE scores for his choreographic sequence after a beautiful Ina Bauer perfectly matching his music.

Cha received an element score of 93.59 and component score of 90.28 for a total of 182.87 in the free skate, landing in seventh position. His fourth-place finish in the short program on Tuesday, where he recorded his personal best, put him in fifth place overall.

Cha is now only the third male Korean figure skater to have competed in more than two Olympics, after finishing 15th at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics.

Cha Jun-hwan performs a spiral in his free skate program at Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing on Thursday. [YONHAP]

“Though I made a mistake today, I tried to complete all my other jumps and spins as well as I can and I am happy with my performance today,” said Cha after his routine was finished.

“I slipped on my first jump, which is a shame because I was in good shape during practice this morning. But I could feel that I had improved compared to how I performed at PyeongChang four years ago.

"I want to grow into an even better figure skater, as I have done in the past."

Cha may be the most successful male skater in Korean history, but the young athlete remains resolute in his refusal to focus on numbers and ranks, instead prioritizing enjoying his time on the big stage.

“This is the Olympics," Cha said on Thursday. "I really wanted to soak up every moment of this experience and take great memories with me.

“Considering that, I have achieved my goal."

Cha Jun-hwan reacts after performing his free skate program at Capital Indoor Stadium in Beijing on Thursday. [NEWS1]

The Korean figure skating team’s journey at the Beijing Games is not yet over, with two female skaters, You Young and Kim Ye-lim, warming up to compete in next week’s women’s singles events.

“I plan on going over my performance today, as my season is not yet over." said Cha. "But for the rest of the Games, I want to cheer for the other Korean Olympians.”

The women's short program will take place on Tuesday next week, with free skating following on Thursday.

BY YUN SO-HYANG [yun.sohyang@joongang.co.kr]