This season, Cha turned to Canadian choreographer Shae-Lynn Bourne to craft two new programs. The music for the short — “Fate of the Clockmaker” by Eternal Eclipse and Flynn Hase Spence and “Cloak and Dagger” by Bianca Ban — was suggested to him by his fans.

The free skate is set to two pieces from the late Romanic era opera “Turandot” by Giacomo Puccini: “Popoli de Pekino” and “Nessum Dorma,” and the “Violin Fantasy on Puccini’s Turandot” by Vanessa-Mae.

“This competition was what I planned at the beginning of the season. There isn’t a lot of time left before the Olympics but Four Continents is the way to go to the Olympics. This is part of the training,” Cha explained. “I want to feel more about the competition and give energy so I’m very happy I could compete here. This is my third time at Four Continents. In all the competitions I really try my best, and today I really did it so that’s why_I’m really happy. And I’m also happy about the personal best (score) today … so maybe I have some good things with Four Continents.

“Because of COVID I was training in Korea for almost two years. I was really working and practicing hard. I met Brian at the World Championships and the Grand Prixs. We had a lot of time when we trained together; we know each other and we believe in each other, so nothing was different or hard, we just believed and trusted and did it.”