Figure Skater Cha Jun-hwan Finishes 4th in Short Program at Beijing Olympics

Figure skater Cha Jun-hwan finished fourth in the short program of the men's singles event at the Winter Olympics in Beijing on Tuesday.

He earned 99.51 points with a nearly flawless performance, breaking his previous personal best of 98.86 points set at the International Skating Union Four Continents Figure Skating Championships last month.

But the top three skaters all earned over 100 points with Nathan Chen of the U.S. leading with 113.97 points, followed by two Japanese skaters, Yuma Kagiyama (108.12 points) and Shoma Uno (105.90 points).

Cha now plans to do his best in the free program, which is slated for Thursday.

Four years ago in Pyeongchang, he came 15th, the best finish by any Korean male figure skater.

Meanwhile, another Korean figure skater Lee Si-heyong finished 27th on Tuesday, failing to qualify for the free skate, in which the top 24 skaters compete.