Cha Junhwan on Triple Axel Jump Error: "I Think of It as a Preventive Shot"

Mistake in short program of Winter Olympic team event
"The timing was a bit off at the moment of takeoff"
Individual short program performance on the morning of the 11th

Cha Junwhan (Seoul City Hall), the leading figure in Korean men's singles figure skating, has effectively received a wake-up call.

On February 7 (local time), at the Milano Ice Skating Arena in Italy, during the men's short program of the team event at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, he made a mistake by executing his triple Axel (three and a half rotations in the air) as a single. He received 41.78 points in technical elements (TES) and 41.75 points in program components (PCS), for a total of 83.53 points, placing 8th among 10 skaters. Korea finished the team event in 7th place out of 10 countries with 14 points and failed to advance to the final, which is open only to the top five teams.

Cha Junwhan said, "This was my first event at this Olympics, so I did my best," adding, "It is a bit disappointing that I made a mistake on my third jump, the triple Axel, but since I have two days until the individual event, I want to recover well and deliver a better performance."

Cha Junhwan is performing in the men's short program of the team event at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. Milan (Italy) = AFP Yonhap News

He made a perfect opening with his first jump element, a quadruple Salchow, and then safely landed his triple Lutz-triple loop combination jump, getting off to a smooth start. However, he scored zero points on his third element because he turned the triple Axel into a single, suffering a major loss in points and dropping in the standings. Cha Junwhan explained, "The timing was a bit off at the moment of takeoff," and added, "I think of it as a preventive shot. If I practice well until the individual event, it will be fine."

When asked if he was nervous before his performance, he answered, "There was a bit of tension," and continued, "I wanted to give energy to my teammates with my performance, but I made a mistake. I will make up for that in the individual event." He went on to say, "I am really enjoying myself, handling a very busy schedule, from taking part in the opening ceremony for the first time to competing in the team event," adding with a smile, "It is also really nice to interact with athletes from other sports whom I normally do not get to meet." Cha Junwhan will perform his short program in the individual event on the morning of February 11, Korea time.