Cha Junwhan Gives It His All and Smiles Brightly on the Ice: "Fourth by 0.98 Points? I Have No Regrets"

"I am a bit disappointed about the (jump) mistake, but I have no regrets because I did my best."

Although Cha Junwhan narrowly missed out on a bronze medal in the men's singles figure skating event at the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, he said he had no regrets because he left everything out on the ice.

Cha scored 95.16 points in technical elements and 87.04 points in program components, for a total of 181.20 points, in the men's singles free program held at the Ice Skating Arena in Milan, Italy, on the 14th (Korean time). Adding the 92.72 points he earned in the short program on the 11th, he finished with a total of 273.92 points, placing 4th overall. He broke his own record for the best Olympic result by a Korean male figure skater, which was 5th place at the Beijing 2022 Games. The gap with Shun Sato, who took the bronze medal with 274.90 points, was only 0.98 points.

Even though the first-ever Olympic medal in Korean men's figure skating slipped away right in front of him, Cha expressed satisfaction rather than disappointment.

In an interview after the competition, Cha said, "I feel like I finished having done my best and poured everything out." He added, "I am satisfied with the performance. I am a bit disappointed about the mistake, but I have no regrets because I did my best," he emphasized.

Cha Junwhan is performing an elegant routine in the men's singles free program at the Ice Skating Arena in Milan, Italy on the 14th (Korean time). [Photo by Yonhap News]

While he made no mistakes in the short program on the 11th, there was a regrettable error in the free program on this day. He fell on the landing of his second jump element, a triple toe loop. Because the gap with third-place finisher Shun Sato was only 0.98 points, if he had not made that triple toe loop mistake, he could have become the first Olympic medalist in Korean figure skating history.

However, Cha reiterated, "If you look only at the process, both in the short and the free, I did my best and came off the ice having left everything out there, with no lingering regrets." He continued, "I think that even if you prepare aiming for perfection, mistakes can still happen," and added, "I made a mistake, but I did not waver and stayed focused on the performance."

After finishing his free program, Cha remained sitting on the ice for a while. He said, "I gave my best throughout the performance," and explained, "I collapsed there because I had poured out all of my energy."

This was Cha's third Olympic challenge. "Because it was my third Olympics, many more thoughts came to mind," he said. He added, "I thought a lot about what I had worked toward over the past four years, and every single moment at these Olympics felt special."

Having finished his competition with no regrets, Cha concluded the interview by saying, "Even though it was late at night, so many people cheered for me. I was so grateful and thankful."

The gold medal in men's figure skating went to Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan, who scored a total of 291.58 points. The silver medal went to Yuma Kagiyama, who recorded 280.06 points.

Ilia Malinin of the United States, who had taken first place in the short program by performing a backflip, skated last in the free program on this day, but made two mistakes on his jumps and dropped to 8th place overall.