BEIJING– South Korean figure skater Cha Jun-hwan has arrived in Beijing for his second Winter Olympics in great form, having won his final tuneup event just a couple of weeks ago.
After capturing the men’s singles title at the International Skating Union (ISU) Four Continents Figure Skating Championships with a personal-best 273.22 points, Cha should be in the conversation as a sleeper pick for a medal.
Following his first training session in Beijing on Friday, Cha insisted he is only concentrating on his preparation, not the end result.
“The primary focus is on executing everything that I’ve been working on,” Cha said at the practice rink adjacent to Capital Indoor Stadium. “Obviously, results are important. But I think it helps me mentally if I try to execute each and every element. It’s more important for me to put on a strong performance than to try to finish high.”
In his Olympic debut at PyeongChang 2018 as a teenager, Cha finished in 15th place. That was the best Olympic showing by a South Korean male skater. He has a legitimate chance to bettering that performance.
“It’s always an honor to get my name into record books,” Cha said. “Still, I have to concentrate on the process, and then the result will take care of itself.”
Though the Four Continents title was a major confidence boost for Cha, the skater said his objective at the Olympics hasn’t changed.
“For the Four Continents, I wanted to set a new personal best score, and I was able to do that despite some mistakes in the free skate,” Cha said. “At the Olympics, I’d like to break my personal best with an even better performance than the Four Continents.”
Cha said he has become a more mature skater than PyeongChang in more ways than one.
“I was too eager to make the Olympics in PyeongChang, and I pushed myself too hard in training then,” Cha said. “So I was a little banged up and I wasn’t in great form at the Olympics. This season, I’ve been able to learn from that experience and pace myself better.”
Cha didn’t do any jumps during his first training session. He said he mostly worked on his postures and overall skating than technical elements.
Earlier Friday, Cha got a glimpse into his competition during the team event, with a couple of men’s singles contenders, Nathan Chen of the United States and Shoma Uno of Japan, putting up some big numbers in the short program.
“It’s great to be in the same competition with such amazing athletes,” Cha said. “I think this will be an opportunity for me to grow further as a skater.”
Source: Yonhap News Agency