Cha Young-hyun (; born September 24, 2003) is a South Korean figure skater and a tightrope dancer (eoreum-sani) of Namsadang. He is the 2017 South Korean national junior champion and the 2021 South Korean national bronze medalist.
Personal life Cha was born on September 24, 2003, in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. He is currently a student at Korea University.
Career Early career Cha started skating in 2007. He performed traditional Korean tightrope dancing in 2011 and holds the record as the youngest tightrope dancer (eoreum-sani) of Namsadang at eight years old.
2017–2018 season Cha made his international debut at the ISU Junior Grand Prix circuit in Italy, where he finished in sixteenth place. Following a fifth-place finish at the 2018 South Korean Figure Skating Championships, Cha was selected to compete at the 2018 World Junior Figure Skating Championships, where he placed nineteenth.
Following the season, Cha made a coaching change from Lee Eun-hee to Hong Ye-Seul.
2018–2019 season Cha began his season with eighth and seventh place finishes at 2018 JGP Austria and 2018 JGP Slovenia, respectively. Cha was once again selected to compete at the World Junior Championships after placing fourth at the 2019 South Korean Figure Skating Championships. He ultimately finished in twentieth at the Junior Worlds.
2019–2020 season Cha started his season by finishing fifth at 2019 JGP Russia and eleventh at 2019 JGP Italy. He then went on to make his senior international debut at the 2019 CS Asian Open Figure Skating Trophy, where he placed seventh. Following Cha's second consecutive fourth-place finish at the 2020 South Korean Figure Skating Championships, he was selected to represent South Korea at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics. Cha managed to finish fifth at that event after placing fifth both in both short and free program segments of the competition.
2020–2021 season Cha only competed at the 2021 South Korean Figure Skating Championships during this season, where he won the bronze medal.
He switched coaches from Hong Ye-Seul to Choi Hyung-kyung following the season.
2021–2022 season Cha started season by respectively finishing seventh and fourth at 2021 JGP Slovakia and 2021 JGP Slovenia. After finishing fourth at the 2022 South Korean Figure Skating Championships, Cha concluded his season by finishing nineteenth at the 2022 World Junior Championships.
2022–2023 season Cha began the season with a silver medal at 2022 JGP France. He then went on to compete on the senior level at 2022 CS Nebelhorn Trophy, where he placed tenth. At the 2022 JGP Poland I, Cha's second Junior Grand Prix assignment, he finished fourth. One month later, Cha competed at the 2022 CS Ice Challenge, where he placed tenth. He would then place sixth at the 2023 South Korean Championships.
Due Cha having previously finished second at the 2022 Korean Universiade, he was selected to represent South Korea at the 2023 Winter World University Games in January, where he would finish seventh.
2023–2024 season Cha started the season by winning the silver medal at the 2023 Asian Open Trophy before coming in seventh at the 2023 CS Finlandia Trophy. In January, he finished sixth at the 2024 South Korean Championships.
Selected to compete at the 2024 Four Continents in Shanghai, China, Cha finished fourteenth.
2024–2025 season Cha began the season in October by competing at the 2024 Korean Universiade and Asian Games Qualifiers, where he finished fourth. With this result, Cha was selected to represent South Korea at the 2025 Winter World University Games. He then went on to finish seventh at the annual Korean Ranking Competition and at the 2025 South Korean Championships.
In mid-January, he placed twelfth at the 2025 Winter World University Games in Turin, Italy.
2025–2026 season Cha opened his season by competing on the 2025–26 Challenger Series, finishing ninth at the 2025 CS Nepela Memorial and eighth at the 2025 CS Denis Ten Memorial Challenge.
In January, he finished seventh at the 2026 South Korean Championships. Cha was called up to compete at the 2026 World Championships in late March following the withdrawal of Cha Jun-hwan. There, he placed twenty-seventh in the short program and did not advance to the free skate.
2026–2027 season Cha opened the new season with an eleventh place finish at the 2026 CS Nepela Memorial.
Programs Season Short program Free skating Exhibition2025–2026 Reel Around The Sun Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-Flat Minor, Op. 23: I. Allegro non troppo e molto Maestoso, Allegro con Spirito
by P. I. Tchaikovsky 2024–2025 Dune Herald of the Change Armada Premonition by Hans Zimmerchoreo. by Shin Yea-ji 2023–2024 The Devilarranged by Kim Youngahperformed by Seoul Classical Playerschoreo. by Shin Yea-ji
Erlkönig, D.328 by Franz Schubert arranged by Kim Youngahperformed by Seoul Classical Playerschoreo. by Shin Yea-ji 2022–2023 The Devilarranged by Kim Youngahperformed by Seoul Classical Playerschoreo. by Shin Yea-ji Wandering ()composed by Kyung Sub Lee 2021–2022 The Godfather Suiteby Nino Rotaperformed by Drew Tretickchoreo. by Shin Yea-ji The Phantom of the Operaby Andrew Lloyd Webber performed by Parague Cello Quartet choreo. by Shin Yea-ji 2020–2021 2019–2020 Boléro (Je Me Souviens De Nous)composed by Maxime Rodriguezchoreo. by Nikita Mikhailov Minnie The Moocher(The Blues Brothers soundtrack)choreo. by Karen Kwan 2018–2019 The Grand Budapest Hotel soundtrackBilly Elliot the Musical soundtrackchoreo. by Nikita Mikhailov D'Artagnancomposed by Maxime Rodriguezchoreo. by Nikita Mikhailov Wandering ()composed by Kyung Sub Lee 2017–2018 Boléro (Je Me Souviens De Nous)composed by Maxime Rodriguezchoreo. by Nikita Mikhailov 2016–2017 Don't Stop Me Now by Queen Casablanca 2015–2016 Wandering ()composed by Kyung Sub Lee 2014–2015 Kung Fu Panda Modern Times 2013–2014 Ninja Assassincomposed by Andy Brown
Modern Times 2012–2013 Arirang ()composed by Elec Cookie 2011–2012
Competitive highlights
Detailed results
Senior level
2023–2024 season Date Event SP FS Total January 30–February 4, 2024 2024 Four Continents Championships 12 72.43 16 131.71 14 204.14 January 4–7, 2024 2024 South Korean Championships 7 71.38 7 146.10 6 217.48 October 4–8, 2023 2023 CS Finlandia Trophy 9 68.77 6 142.38 7 211.15 August 16–19, 2023 2023 Asian Open Trophy 2 64.84 1 127.53 2 192.37
Junior level
2022–2023 season Date Event Level SP FS Total January 13–15, 2022 2023 Winter Universiade Senior 10 67.13 7 140.90 7 208.03 November 9–13, 2022 2022 CS Ice Challenge Senior 14 59.27 6 136.74 10 196.01 September 28–October 1, 2022 2022 JGP Poland I Junior 7 65.72 3 133.46 4 199.18 September 21–24, 2022 2022 CS Nebelhorn Trophy Senior 14 53.94 6 129.15 10 183.09 August 24–27, 2022 2022 JGP France Junior 2 70.25 2 125.90 2 196.15 2021–2022 season Date Event Level SP FS Total April 13–17, 2022 2022 World Junior Championships Junior 19 60.32 18 115.31 19 175.63 January 7–9, 2022 2022 South Korean Championships Senior 3 69.47 4 138.98 4 208.45 September 22–25, 2021 2021 JGP Slovenia Junior 2 67.33 6 124.00 4 191.33 September 1–4, 2021 2021 JGP Slovakia Junior 9 58.84 5 123.45 7 182.29 2020–2021 season Date Event Level SP FS Total February 24–26, 2021 2021 South Korean Championships Senior 5 61.90 3 131.54 3 193.442019–2020 season Date Event Level SP FS Total January 10–15, 2020 2020 Winter Youth Olympics – Team Junior – 3 133.13 4T/3P January 10–15, 2020 2020 Winter Youth Olympics Junior 5 69.61 5 129.51 5 199.12 October 30–November 3, 2019 2019 CS Asian Open Trophy Senior 7 64.64 7 116.31 7 180.95 September 11–14, 2019 2019 JGP Russia Junior 8 61.05 4 122.56 5 183.61 October 2–5, 2019 2019 JGP Italy Junior 12 60.85 9 125.16 11 186.01 2018–2019 season Date Event Level SP FS Total March 4–10, 2019 2019 World Junior Championships Junior 21 61.75 19 115.47 20 177.22 February 13–15, 2019 2019 Children of Asia ISG Junior 4 64.39 3 128.99 3 193.38 January 11–13, 2019 2019 South Korean Championships Senior 2 67.42 5 115.95 4 183.37 October 3–6, 2018 2018 JGP Slovenia Junior 8 62.39 7 121.60 7 183.99 Aug. 29 – Sept. 1, 2018 2018 JGP Austria Junior 11 56.08 7 117.74 8 173.82 2017–2018 season Date Event Level SP FS Total March 5–11, 2018 2018 World Junior Championships Junior 23 57.57 16 116.56 19 174.13 January 5–7, 2018 2018 South Korean Championships Senior 7 61.23 5 134.19 5 195.42 October 11–14, 2017 2017 JGP Italy Junior 15 50.35 15 101.01 16 151.36 2016–2017 season Date Event Level SP FS Total January 7–9, 2017 2017 South Korean Championships Junior 1 49.95 1 112.91 1 162.86
References
Further reading
External links