“I wanted to give my teammates energy, but I made a mistake.”

Figure skater Cha Jun-hwan (Seoul City Hall), who took the ice for his first appearance at the 2026 MilanoCortina d’Ampezzo Winter Olympics, felt disappointed yet did not lose his smile. As this is his third Olympic challenge, he also seemed more composed. Cha vowed, “There are two days left. I will make up for the mistake and prepare so that I can skate the individual event well.”

On the 7th (local time) at the Ice Skating Arena in Milan, Italy, Cha entered the men’s singles short program of the figure skating team event (team competition) and delivered a tidy performance, but committed one decisive error on a jump.

Skating fifth overall, Cha began his short program to ‘Rain in Your Black Eyes’ (Rain in your black eyes). He executed his first element, a quadruple Salchow, perfectly with a powerful takeoff. He then landed the second jumping element, a triple Lutz-triple loop combination, and followed with an elegant flying camel spin graded Level 4. However, on the first element of the second half and final jumping pass, the triple Axel, he missed the timing and popped it to a single Axel (one and a half rotations). The single Axel received zero points.

Cha earned 41.78 in technical elements (TES), 41.75 in program components (PCS), for a total of 83.53. He placed eighth among the 10 entrants. Korea gained 3 points and, with a total of 14 points, ranked seventh in the team standings, missing the cut for the free skate contested by the top five teams.

Cha’s face in the mixed zone after the event showed his disappointment. He said, “The jump mistake is disappointing, but there are two more days until the individual event, so I will recover well and show a better performance.” Asked whether he was nervous, Cha said, “I was curious how I would feel, and there was a bit of nerves. I received a lot of support and energy, and I wanted to pass that energy on to my teammates, but I made a mistake. I will definitely make up for it in the individual event.”

Reflecting on the situation with the mistake, Cha said, “It is disappointing because it was not the kind of mistake I usually make.” He explained, “I was not fully getting used to the (slightly smaller) rink size. During this morning’s practice, I tried to jump with a slightly earlier timing, but I had some difficulty there, so I just did it the way I had been practicing.”

In the team event, a nation-versus-nation competition, 10 countries compete across four disciplines: men’s and women’s singles, pairs, and ice dance. Points from 10 to 1 are awarded based on placement in each discipline, and with no entry in pairs, advancing to the free skatinggranted to the top five nations by total pointswas difficult. Acknowledging that a medal run would be unlikely, the figure skating team treated the team event as a stage to prepare for the individual events.

Cha said he enjoyed the ‘good’ kind of nerves in his first event. “Some level of nerves is necessary,” he said. “Even today, rather than a mistake, you could say there were parts that did not quite click. I will recover and adjust well so I can skate the individual event without mistakes,” he added, “Aside from that (the mistake), I think I did as well as, or better than, in practice, so two more days of good training should do it.”

Having arrived in Milan on the 4th, Cha also served as a flagbearer at the opening ceremony amid a tight early schedule. However, as this is his third Olympics, he is enjoying the Games more comfortably than ever. Saying that once his flagbearer role at the opening ceremony ended he headed straight back to his accommodations because of this event, Cha added, “Compared with my previous two Olympics, this is the one where I am best able to enjoy the atmosphere. I am very busy, not only with the team event but also participating in the opening ceremony for the first time, yet I am enjoying it,” and he beamed, saying, “In the athletes’ village lounge, interacting with athletes from other sports whom I rarely get to meet is something only possible at the Olympics.” Cha will skate his individual short program on the morning of the 11th Korea time.