South Korea's Cha Jun-hwan placed fourth in the men's singles figure skating at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, setting a new record for the best finish by a Korean male skater. Despite a mistake in the free skate, he scored 273.92 points, just 0.98 behind the bronze medalist. Cha expressed no regrets, focusing on his effort.
The men's singles figure skating free skate at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics took place on February 14, 2026, at the Milano Ice Skating Arena in Milan, Italy. South Korea's Cha Jun-hwan, 24, scored 181.20 points in the free skate for a total of 273.92, securing fourth place. This marked his season-best and improved on his fifth-place finish at the Beijing Olympics four years prior.
In the short program, Cha earned 92.72 points for sixth place. He opened the free skate with a clean quadruple salchow but fell on the quad toe loop, costing 4.75 points in grade of execution. He also received an under-rotation call on his second triple axel. Despite this, he scored 95.16 in technical elements (TES) and 87.04 in program components (PCS), leading the field in PCS. The program was set to 'Balada para un Loco' by Italian singer Milva.
After the performance, Cha lingered on the ice, exhausted. "My battery just died," he said. "I poured everything onto the ice. After falling early, I did everything to salvage the rest." He finished 0.98 points behind Japan's Shun Sato for bronze but stated, "I have no regrets. I focused on myself and gave my best. I learned more as a human than an athlete."
This result broke Cha's own record for the highest Olympic placement by a Korean male figure skater. Gold went to Kazakhstan's Mikhail Shaidorov with 291.58 points, silver to Japan's Yuma Kagiyama with 280.06. The U.S.'s Ilia Malinin dropped to eighth with 264.49 after a poor free skate despite leading the short program at 108.16. France's Adam Siao Him Fa finished seventh at 269.27.
Cha, the oldest among the top five finishers, has dealt with persistent ankle issues. He hinted this might be his last Olympics, saying, "I want time to breathe after these four years."
