Native name 차준환 Height 1.71 m Country represented South Korea | Former coach Shin Hea-sook | |
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Born October 21, 2001 (age 15) ( 2001-10-21 ) Seoul, South Korea Former choreographer Kenji MiyamotoCindy StuartJoey RussellShin Yea-ji Skating club Korea National Training CenterToronto Cricket, Skating and Curling Club Similar Brian Orser, Kim Jin‑seo, Kim Yuna, Choi Da‑bin, Yuzuru Hanyu | ||
Cha Jun-hwan (Hangul:차준환) (born October 21, 2001) is a South Korean figure skater. He is the 2016–17 Junior Grand Prix Final bronze medalist, 2017 South Korean national champion, and a two-time (2012, 2013) South Korean national junior champion. He placed 5th at the 2016 Youth Olympics and 7th at the 2016 World Junior Championships.
Contents
- Personal life
- Career
- Early career
- 201516 season Junior international debut
- 201617 season
- Records and achievements
- Detailed results
- References
Personal life
Cha was born on October 21, 2001 in Seoul. He has worked as a child actor, model, and ballet dancer.
Career
Cha began skating at the age of seven, coached by Shin Hea-sook. His skating idols were Evgeni Plushenko and Daisuke Takahashi.
Early career
Cha placed fourth as a junior skater at the 2011 South Korean Championships. In 2012, he won the junior level at the South Korean Championships. In the 2012–13 season, he took the novice gold medal at the Asian Trophy and repeated as the junior champion at the South Korean Championships. At the 2014 Korean Championships, he placed fifth at the senior level. This was his first senior experience at national championships.
During the 2014–15 season, Cha won the novice gold medal at the Merano Cup and the senior bronze medal at the South Korean Championships. In March 2015, he began training in Toronto under Brian Orser to improve his jumps, including triple Axel jump and quad jumps.
2015–16 season: Junior international debut
Making his junior international debut, Cha won gold at the 2015 Skate Canada Autumn Classic by over 30 points. Competing with an ear infection at the 2016 South Korean Championships, he repeated as the senior national bronze medalist. In February, he represented South Korea at the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, placing 4th in the short program, 5th in the free skating, and 5th overall. In March, Cha competed in Debrecen, Hungary at the 2016 World Junior Championships, placing 7th in the short program, 6th in the free skating, and 7th overall.
2016–17 season
In the 2016–17 season, Cha made his Junior Grand Prix debut at the JGP Japan, where he won the gold medal after finishing second in the short program with a new personal best score of 79.34 points. He then competed as the last skater in the free skate, placing first by scoring another personal best of 160.13 points, and set a new world record of 239.47 points for junior men's combined total score. He went on to win the gold medal at JGP Germany, earning him a ticket into the 2016–17 Junior Grand Prix Final in France, where he won the bronze medal.
Cha won his first national title in January 2017, at the South Korean Championships.