🐾 [Thor's Meow-sletter] Our Jun-hwan's Tearful Struggle with Injury and World Championship Withdrawal 😿 - 2026.03.26 | Cha Jun-hwan

Hello, fans! 🐾 I'm Thor, the fluffy manager and eternal roommate of our Jun-hwan, meow! 🐈‍⬛

Today, I have some slightly sad and heartbreaking news to share, so my whiskers and tail are drooping... 😿 You were all shocked and worried after seeing the news, right, meow? I'm sticking right by our Jun-hwan's side to comfort him, meow.

🩹 Tearful Struggle with Injury and World Championship Withdrawal

Our Jun-hwan has ultimately announced his withdrawal from the 2026 ISU World Figure Skating Championships in Prague, Czech Republic, due to injury, meow ^[1]. On the 25th, Jun-hwan personally shared this unfortunate news with fans through his SNS, meow ^[1].

Looking at the released photos and videos, you could see his red, swollen foot and ankle wrapped in what looks like pain relief patches, meow ^[2]. Furthermore, the skates Jun-hwan wore were heavily wrapped in clear tape, showing his strong will to compete despite the injury. Seeing that made me burst into tears while eating my Churu, meow 😭 ^[2].

Actually, our Jun-hwan suffered a lot over the past month, changing his skates multiple times because they didn't fit right, meow ^[1]. His ankle kept getting pressed, worsening the pain, and he confessed that he prepared for the Milano Olympics while repeatedly undergoing the terrible process of draining fluid that built up around his right ankle bone, meow ^[1].

He said it hurt so much that it felt like "having about four ankle bones," but for the sake of his mental state, he completely hid the pain and said he was in "the best condition" right up until the Olympics, meow ^[1]. Saying "I can fully overcome this level of pain," our Jun-hwan endured to the end. He is so amazing yet so pitiful that I gave him a hundred paw-kneads, meow! 🐾

⛸️ Milano Olympics, That Beautiful Last Dance

An even more surprising and sad piece of news is that Jun-hwan revealed the 2025-2026 season's Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics to be his last Olympics, meow ^[1].

Even though his physical condition wasn't normal and his foot had stiffened in a swollen state from receiving so many fluid-draining treatments ^[1], our Jun-hwan scored 92.72 points in the short program and 181.20 points in the free skating, meow! ^[1]. With a total score of 273.92, he finished in 4th place, raising his own highest ranking (5th) set at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics by one step, and setting a dazzling new record as the highest-ranking Korean male figure skater in history, meow 🏅 ^[1].

Considering he was only 0.98 points away from Japan's Shun Sato (274.90 points), who took 3rd place ^[1], you can tell how perfect and beautiful his performance was despite that severe injury, meow. Our Jun-hwan is a true prince of the ice, meow! ✨

🇰🇷 Please Send Warm Cheers to Team Korea

Even though Jun-hwan won't be able to stand on the ice in Prague and has ended his season, he didn't forget to ask fans to send warm cheers to 'Team Korea', meow ^[1].

Through his SNS, Jun-hwan showed his dependable captain side, saying, "Our Team Korea's matches start tonight. I will cheer for them too," meow ^[2]. Jun-hwan's empty spot will be filled by Kim Hyun-gyeom and Cha Young-hyun, who will compete in the men's singles event, meow ^[3]. Our Jun-hwan will be cheering hard sitting on the cat tower with me at home, so fans, please send loud applause and encouragement to the Team Korea national athletes too, meow! 🇰🇷

📺 Revealing Unexpected Charm in the Refrigerator!

It would be a shame to only have sad news, so I brought a fun piece of news to change the mood, meow! Recently, our Jun-hwan appeared on JTBC's 'Please Take Care of My Refrigerator' and showed off his cool side as the god of the ice along with plenty of his friendly daily life, meow ^[4].

On the broadcast, writer Kim Poong completely emptied our fridge's ingredients to make a visually explosive dish featuring everything from loach to pizza. Seeing that bomb-level dish, Jun-hwan's genuine reaction, saying "This is too unseemly," was so, so cute and hilarious, meow 😹 ^[4]. On the ice, he's a charismatic prince, but on variety shows, he overflows with this cute, unexpected charm, meow! If there are fans who haven't seen it yet, make sure to watch it and soothe your gloomy hearts, meow!

I hope our Jun-hwan gets plenty of rest during this time, eats lots of delicious food, gets good treatment for his ankle, and recovers quickly, meow. Until the day he smiles beautifully on the ice again in good health, fans, please keep cheering for him till the end with Thor, meow! 🐾 I'm going to go give Jun-hwan's ankle a warm compress now, meow. I'll be back next time with better and happier news, meow! Poof! 🐾