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| Photo = AFP Yonhap News |
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| Photo = AFP Yonhap News |
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'Asian Prince' Cha Jun-hwan (Korea University) completed another thrilling reversal.
In the men's single free skate at the ISU Figure Skating Championships in 2025 held at Mokdong Ice Rink in Seoul on the 22nd, Cha Jun-hwan received 185.78 points, including 95.27 points in Technical Score (TES) and 90.51 points in Art Score (PCS). He scored a total of 265.02 points, including 79.24 points for the short program. Cha Jun-hwan won the silver medal in second place after Shidorov Mikayl (285.10 points in Kazakhstan).
This competition is a major competition in which athletes from four continents, excluding Europe, including Asia, America, Oceania, and Africa, compete. This is the third time Cha Jun-hwan has been on the podium in this competition. He won the 2022 competition. Last year, she won a bronze medal. Just a week ago, Cha Jun-hwan announced his prospects for next month's ISU World Championship by performing well at the World Championship in the Four Continents following the gold medal at the 2025 Harbin Winter Asian Games. The competition is held in Boston, the United States.
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| Photo = AFP Yonhap News |
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| 사진=Yonhap News |
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Cha Jun-hwan was the 19th of the 22 participants. He started acting to the melody of the free skating program "Ballada para un Loco" (Ballada para un Loco).
He earned 9.70 basic points and 3.60 performance points (GOE) by running the first task, the high-level quadruple salco perfectly. However, he missed the beat in the subsequent quadruple toe loop and handled it with a two-wheeled jump. I lost nearly 10 points in this jump alone. It didn't shake. He calmly continued his acting. He played a triple lutz-triple loop combination jump and a triple axel running three and a half laps cleanly. Postponed the step sequence (level 4) with a big move.
He continued his elegant performance in the second half with an additional 10% point. The triple flip-single oiler-triple salco combination jump was unforced. We handled the triple axel-double axel sequence jump perfectly. After the change foot combination spin (level 4), he played the triple flip, the last jump task, without making a mistake. After speeding up with fast skating, he finished his performance with a fantastic Correo sequence, flying Carmel spin (level 4), and flying change foot combination spin (level 4).
After the game, Cha Jun-hwan said, `It was not easy to perform well due to physical problems, but I think I finished well. Since we have time until the World Championships, we will concentrate on recovery and prepare well. I'm a little disappointed that I made a mistake in the first jump of the short program and the second jump of the free skate. It is true that there has been fatigue in recent months as he has continued to participate in the tournament. I was worried about my condition ahead of this tournament, but I was able to cheer up with the support of the fans.
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| Photo = AFP Yonhap News |
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| 사진=Yonhap News |
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Cha Jun-hwan is playing in the tournament with a right ankle nerve tissue injury. After finishing the short program of the 5th ISU Grand Prix in November last year, he gave up the competition due to a nerve tissue injury in his right ankle and returned home early. However, the tournament has been held for nearly three months since then. Following the first and second national team trials, he participated in the 2025 Turin Winter World University Games (Universiad) and the Harbin Winter Asian Games. In particular, he became the first Korean male player to win a gold medal at the Harbin Asian Games. Cha was second in the short program at the time, but won the gold medal in the free skate with a come-from-behind victory. Immediately after returning to Korea, he won a silver medal at the Four Continents Championships.
On his ankle condition, he injured his landing foot, making it difficult to fully recover (due to continued training and playing). We are taking good care of it so that it doesn't get worse. My physical condition is not very good, but I wanted to do really well as I played in front of my home fan. I learned a lot from my busy schedule. As the season is not over yet, I will do my best until the end."
Cha Jun-hwan is preparing for the ISU World Championship next month. The tournament has a national quota for the 2026 Milan - Cortina d'Ampezzo Olympics. "(It is a very important competition. I will prepare well with Kim Hyun-kyum (who will participate together) and Kim Hyun-kyum (who will enter Korea University). The World Championships are considering adjusting the difficulty of program composition. I'm thinking about adding a four-round jump because I want to challenge (high rank). This tournament has a national quota, so I think I need to think more about it. First, I will decide by looking at the ankle condition."
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
