Korean men’s figure skating leader Cha Jun-hwan (22, Korea University) placed third in the short program at the International Skating Union (ISU) World Championships, where he competed for the fourth time.
In the men’s single short program at the 2023 ISU Figure Skating World Championships held at Super Arena in Saitama, Japan on the 23rd, Cha Jun-hwan scored 99.64 points, a combination of a technical score (TES) of 55.04 and a arts score (PCS) of 44.6 points.
Shoma Uno (Japan), who received 104.63 points, took first place in the short program. Ilya Malinin (USA), who succeeded in a quadruple axel with 4 and a half revolutions for the first time in figure skating history, followed with 100.38 points.
Cha Jun-hwan, who challenged the World Championships for the fourth time, finished the game without mistakes and broke his personal best score in the short program. The previous personal best score recognized by the ISU was 99.51 points obtained at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics held last year. Cha Jun-hwan, who scored 99.64 points in this tournament메이저사이트, raised his previous score by 0.13 points. He was 0.36 short of 100 points.
Cha Jun-hwan, who first competed in the event in 2019, only placed 19th. In 2021, he achieved a ‘Top 10’ by reaching 10th place. However, at the World Championships last year, she withdrew due to a broken boot prior to free skating.
Cha Jun-hwan, who had not been able to stand on the free skating stage of the World Championships a year ago, washed away his disappointment at this event. He performed the quadruple (four rotations) salchow, triple lutz + triple loop combination jump, and triple axel all cleanly, and did excellent spins, step sequences, and choreography performances, which are his strengths.
Cha Jun-hwan made a mistake in the triple lutz + triple loop combination jump in the short program at the ISU Four Continents Championships held in Colorado Springs last month. He failed to win the Four Continents Championships for the second year in a row, finishing only in the final 4th. However, at his biggest event, the World Championships, he set off his personal best in the short program and started off well.
Cha Jun-hwan, who finished the Winter Sports Festival last month, said, “Looking back on this season, it wasn’t smooth. There were many twists and turns, and those experiences were a great help.” revealed
Cha Jun-hwan appeared on the ice 29th out of 34 players. He kicked off his game to the ‘Michael Jackson Medley’, his short program song this season.
After running at high speed on the ice, he challenged the quadruple salchow. He leaps vigorously into the air and runs this jump cleanly. With this technique, Cha Jun-hwan received 13.72 points, which is a combination of a basic score of 9.7 and a GOE of 4.02.
The triple lutz + triple loop combination jump was also perfect, earning a performance score of 1.94.
After continuing the program with a flying camel spin, he induced the audience to exclaim with his moon walk. The last jump, the triple axel, was also unshakable. The triple axel, which stands out for its wide flight distance, added up to a performance score of 2.17 points.
After striding on the ice with a change foot sit spin and step sequence, he finished the game with the final task, a change foot combination spin.
In the three spin elements (flying camel spin, change foot sit spin, and change foot combination spin), Cha Jun-hwan received the highest grade of level 4. Even in the step sequence, he did not miss level 4.
‘Defending champion’ Uno took the lead in the short program with a personal best score of 104.63 this season. Malinin also took second place with over 100 points. Malinin tries a quadruple axel, a ‘special move’ in free skating that only he can run.
In 2021, Cha Jun-hwan ranked 10th in this event and achieved the best performance among Korean male figure skaters. Breaking the Korean men’s figure skating record alone, he will challenge for his first medal in the free skating event to be held on the 25th.