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.
Cha was born on September 24, 2003, in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. He is currently a student at Korea University.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Cha opened his season by competing on the 2025âÂÂ26 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.