The men's singles short program at the 2025 World Figure Skating Championships has ended, and South Korea's plans to secure a full quota place for the Winter Olympics have been frustrated

South Korea's iconic men's figure skating singles athlete Cha Jun-hwan made a regrettable result at the World Championships, which is crucial for the right to compete at the Milan-Cortina d'Ampezzo 2026 Winter Olympics. On the 28th, Beijing time, Che Junhuan ranked 10th in the men's single short program of the 2025 International Skating Union (ISU) Figure Skating World Championships held in TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, with a technical score (TES) of 45.23 points, an artistic score of 42.18 points, a deduction of 1 point, and a total score of 86.41 points.

Cha Jun-hwan performing at the World Championships

This result is 24.00 points behind the first-ranked American Ilya Malinen (110.41 points) and 20.68 points behind the second-placed Yuma Kagiyama (Japan, 107.09 points). However, there is an 8.36-point gap to third-placed Shaidorov Mikael (Kazakhstan, 94.77 points), so Cha Jun-hwan still has a chance to challenge for the bronze medal.

Cha Jun-hwan, who won a silver medal at the 2023 World Championships and became the first Korean men's figure skater to stand on the podium at the event, will try to save the day in the men's single free skate competition on the morning of the 29th.

Out of the 39 competitors in the short program, Cha Jun-hwan came in 30th place and put on a powerful performance with the rock group Imehan Tenryu's Natural. In the first performance project, the Sakhoff quadruple jump, he completed cleanly, scoring a base score of 9.70 plus a GOE score of 2.91.

After the men's singles short program, Yuma Kagiyama ranked second

Cha Jun-hwan immediately and perfectly completed the second jump, the triple jump-triple triple combination jump, which attracted applause from the audience. However, Cha Jun-hwan fell while trying a spin for three and a half weeks, and the GOE dropped by 4.00 points, leaving a regret.

Kim Hyun-kyun, another Korean athlete who competed in the tournament, was only in 26th place with a TES score of 36.68 and a PCS score of 36.14, with a total of 72.82 points, and failed to enter the men's singles free skate, which can only be participated in by the top 24 players.

So far, South Korea has not been able to obtain the full quota of three men's singles tickets for the 2026 Winter Olympics. This year's World Championships will allocate Olympic country quotas according to the comprehensive results of the participants. Two-player countries will receive three tickets to the Winter Olympics based on the sum of the rankings of the two players, and two tickets for those under 28. Among them, the 1st to 15th players are counted according to the ranking, and the players below 16 are all counted as 16. Competitors who fail to qualify for the free skate will be counted as 18.

Cha Jun-hwan performing at the World Championships

Due to Kim Hyun-kyun's failure to enter the free skate, Cha Jun-hwan needed to add another 18 points to his final score. If Cha Jun-hwan finishes in the top 10 in the men's singles, he will reach below 28, which will ensure that South Korea will get two tickets in the men's singles at the Winter Olympics. According to South Korean media, if Cha Jun-hwan ends up in the top 10 after the free skating event, South Korea will get the right to participate in the Olympic men's singles 1+1 ticket.