Cha scored 92.72 points on Tuesday (Korea time) at the Milan Ice Skating Arena in Milan, with 50.08 in technical elements and 42.64 in program components.
The total was below his personal best of 101.33, but it topped his previous season best of 91.60 from the NHK Trophy in November.
Cha ranked sixth among 29 skaters and advanced to the free skate, which will be held Feb. 14 and will determine the medals. Only the top 24 from the short program qualify for the free skate.
Cha is competing in his third straight Olympics, after Pyeongchang in 2018 and Beijing in 2022. He is the second South Korean figure skater to make three consecutive Olympic appearances, following men’s singles skater Jeong Seong-il, who competed in 1992 Albertville, 1994 Lillehammer and 1998 Calgary.
Cha finished 15th at the Pyeongchang Games as a high school student, improving on Jeong’s previous best Olympic result for South Korean men (17th at Lillehammer). He then placed fifth in Beijing, setting a new national best again.
Cha, the gold medalist at the 2025 Harbin Asian Winter Games in February, is trying to win South Korea’s first Olympic medal in men’s figure skating. Across men and women, it would be the country’s first Olympic figure skating medal in 12 years, since Kim Yuna at the 2014 Sochi Games.
Skating 15th in the short program, Cha opened to “Rain in Your Black Eyes” and landed a quad Salchow. He followed with a triple Lutz-triple loop combination and earned Level 4 on his flying camel spin.
In the second half, when jumps receive a 10% bonus, he landed a triple Axel, then finished with a change-foot sit spin (Level 4), step sequence (Level 3) and change-foot combination spin (Level 4).
Afterward, Cha told a broadcaster, “I’m happy I was able to do as well as I prepared for in the short program.” He added, “I’ll do my best until the end in the free skating. I don’t think whether I make mistakes is important. I want to do my best and show the story I’ve built up.”
Kim was unsteady on the landing of his opening quad toe loop, then fell on his second jump while attempting a triple Axel, drawing a major deduction.
He earned Level 4 on his flying camel spin and later landed a triple Lutz-triple toe loop combination. He finished with a step sequence (Level 3), change-foot combination spin and change-foot sit spin (Level 4).
* This article has been translated by AI.
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