[스포츠한국 김성수 기자] ‘Prince of figure skating’ Cha Jun-hwan (21, Korea University) wrote new history. He was the first Korean male athlete to win a silver medal at the International Skating Union (ISU) World Championships.
In the men’s free single skating at the 2023 ISU Figure Skating World Championships held at the Super Arena in Saitama, Japan on the 25th, Cha Jun-hwan scored a total of 196.39 points with a technical score (TES) of 105.65 points and an art score (PCS) of 90.74 points, coming second.
Cha Jun-hwan, who achieved his personal best score of 99.64 points in the short program held on the 23rd, also renewed his top score in the free skate, taking the silver medal in the final with a total score of 296.03, followed by Shoma Uno (Japan, 301.04 points). Cha Jun-hwan is the first Korean player to win a medal in men’s singles at the World Championships.
Cha Jun-hwan, who performed to the original soundtrack of the 007 James Bond series No Time To Die, had a fresh start with two successful quadruple jumps.
Afterwards, Cha Jun-hwan, who received a GOE of 4.16 in the quadruple salchow and a GOE of 3.53 in the quadruple toe loop, also performed the triple lutz-triple loop combination jump neatly. In the triple flip, he was awarded Attention (beware of edge use), but gained momentum by receiving the highest level of difficulty, Level 4, for the Flying Camel Spin and Step Sequence.
Cha Jun-hwan performed the triple axel-double sequence triple axel, triple axel, triple lutz-single euler-triple salchow combination jump with second half jump with 10% extra, spin foot combination change, fly spin foot combination change ( level 4 or higher) ), finish acting with a choreo sequence (level 1).
With Cha Jun-hwan’s silver medal, Korea secured two spots for the men’s singles event at next season’s World Championships. According to ISU regulations, if an athlete from a country participates and finishes in second place, two tickets are awarded for the following season.
Until this event, only Kim Yuna (retired) had won two gold medals, two silver medals, and two bronze medals at the men’s and women’s world championships. Kim Yuna won the 2013 event and has not won a medal since 10 years.
However, in this competition, Lee Hae-in (17, Sehwa Girls’ High School) won the silver medal in girls’ singles on the 24th, and Cha Jun-hwan also won the silver medal, rewriting the history of Korean figure skating as ‘ the first male and female wins the prize’.
