Figure skater Cha Jun-hwan skates to silver in Four Continents competition
Published: 23 Feb. 2025, 13:48
-
- PAIK JI-HWAN
- [email protected]
![Cha Jun-hwan performs at the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships at Mokdong Ice Rink in western Seoul on Feb. 22. [REUTERS/YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/02/23/cd2a0819-9a39-4c11-879a-64fe410a4cb1.jpg)
Cha Jun-hwan performs at the Four Continents Figure Skating Championships at Mokdong Ice Rink in western Seoul on Feb. 22. [REUTERS/YONHAP]
Asian Winter Games gold medalist Cha Jun-hwan continued to shine on the international stage by winning a silver medal at the 2025 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships at Mokdong Ice Rink in western Seoul on Saturday.
Cha returned to the rink after securing a gold medal at the Asiad on Feb. 13, becoming the first Korean male figure skater to do so in Asian Games history.
The 23-year-old scored 79.24 points in the short program on Thursday and added 185.78 points in free skating on Saturday to finish with a total score of 265.02 and land in second place on the men’s single rankings.
Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan topped the podium with 285.1 points, with Jimmy Ma of the United States taking the bronze medal with 245.01.
Cha’s silver medal is his third medal at the Four Continents Championships after his gold in 2022 and bronze in 2024.
The Korean figure skating star has demonstrated his talent elsewhere, as he won a silver medal at the World Figure Skating Championships in March 2023 as the first Korean male figure skater to appear on the podium. He went on to win another silver at the World Team Trophy later that year.
Cha also represented Korea at the 2018 and 2022 Winter Olympics but has yet to medal at the Games. A medal at the 2026 Olympics in Italy would fill his medal cabinet with honors from every major competition.
Cha can pursue his career uninterrupted thanks to his Asian Games gold medal that granted him an exemption from the country's compulsory 18-month military service that would otherwise have forced him to halt his run on the international stage.
Another challenge awaits Cha at the 2025 World Figure Skating Championships set to begin in Boston on March 25.
The upcoming world championships will determine the number of entries each country will be allotted in figure skating at the 2026 Olympics.
BY PAIK JI-HWAN [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
To write comments, please log in to one of the accounts.
Standards Board Policy (0/250자)