Figure skater Cha Jun-hwan headed to 2nd straight Olympics after winning trials

Figure skater Cha Jun-hwan is bound for his second straight Winter Olympics after winning the final national team trials on Sunday.

Cha handily won the second leg of the two-stage Beijing Olympic trials in Uijeongbu, some 20 kilometers north of Seoul in Gyeonggi Province. Cha finished with 283.31 points overall, with 185.00 points in Sunday's free skate and 98.31 points in Saturday's short program.

Cha had also won the first leg of the trials in December with 239.16 points. He had 522.47 combined points.

Lee Si-hyeong finished second overall to grab the second and last ticket to Beijing. Lee scored 477.85 points combined after the two trials events.

Cha, 20, is only the third South Korean male singles figure skater to compete in back-to-back Winter Olympics. At the PyeongChang Winter Olympics four years ago, Cha finished in 15th place, the best Olympic figure skating performance ever by a Korean man.

Cha, a former child actor, isn't considered a medal contender in Beijing, but he can realistically push for a top-10 finish.

Cha ranked a career-best 10th at last year's world championships with 245.99 points. His career high is 265.43 points, set at the 2020 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships in Seoul. (Yonhap)