Chinese Skating News, Pt. 3: A long & winding road to Beijing 2022

[nimi]

Cheng Peng has short hair now! Yay!

https://twitter.com/rockerskating/status/975757428380880896

 

[barbarafan]

Cheng Peng has short hair now! Yay!

https://twitter.com/rockerskating/status/975757428380880896

cute...she looks about 10yrs old.

 

[RoseRed]

cute...she looks about 10yrs old.

Not at all.

 

[feraina]

I think she looks great! Maybe even more mature.

 

[Jammers]

Back when Han Yan was competing against Jason and Josh and beating them in Juniors he really looked like a future World champion. He already had the big jumps including a great 3axel and was doing quads but he never progressed in his skating.

 

[Japanfan]

Back when Han Yan was competing against Jason and Josh and beating them in Juniors he really looked like a future World champion. He already had the big jumps including a great 3axel and was doing quads but he never progressed in his skating.

I'm not sure whether he progressed or not, I've not followed him that closely, but he certainly is a superior skater, and is well-respected by both fans and those in the field alike. He made an impression on me the first time I saw him - unlike other skaters who I may forget in the absence of repeated exposure.

His skating skills are exceptional, second perhaps only to Chan - his 3A a a thing of distinctive beauty, and his footwork always great. Plus, he's innately musical.

The link to his 4CCs performance previously showed all of this.

Han Yan has nothing to be ashamed of, that's for sure. I hope for him that in future he will look back on his competitive career and say that he gave it his best, in light of the circumstances.

 

[Marco]

Yan Han is the only Chinese man to have great skating skills and non-burdensome spins, and not totally relied on jumps for success. The fact that he was foreshadowed by Jin Boyang's quads in the same era (and sidelined by his own injuries) is unfortunate.

If there wasn't a Jin Boyang, perhaps the next generation of kids would be more inclined to focus on learning skating skills ala Yan Han than the quads ala Jin Boyang.

 

[Tinami Amori]

Cheng Peng has short hair now! Yay!

https://twitter.com/rockerskating/status/975757428380880896

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-03/22/137056976_15216895496391n.jpg

 

[chapis]

Yan Han is the only Chinese man to have great skating skills and non-burdensome spins, and not totally relied on jumps for success. The fact that he was foreshadowed by Jin Boyang's quads in the same era (and sidelined by his own injuries) is unfortunate.

If there wasn't a Jin Boyang, perhaps the next generation of kids would be more inclined to focus on learning skating skills ala Yan Han than the quads ala Jin Boyang.

Boyang simply is giving what the system is asking, same as Alina, Evgenia, P/C, they all know how works the system. The best skating skills of Patrick did not help him to get an Olympic medal in 2018.

 

[Spun Silver]

Yan Han is the only Chinese man to have great skating skills and non-burdensome spins, and not totally relied on jumps for success. The fact that he was foreshadowed by Jin Boyang's quads in the same era (and sidelined by his own injuries) is unfortunate.

If there wasn't a Jin Boyang, perhaps the next generation of kids would be more inclined to focus on learning skating skills ala Yan Han than the quads ala Jin Boyang.

I don't think Yan's problems have anything to do with Jin's. Yan struggled with jumps and injuries and didn't live up to his early promise in spite of his great gifts. He also never developed any real charisma. Boyang has a different set of gifts and hasn't struggled as much... yet.

There is a young skater on the JGP that I think @Dobre called my attention to, Yan Hao. He is more in the vein of Yan Han than Jin Boyang. We'll have to see if he'll be able to play with the big boys jumpwise, but at any rate he is using his own special set of gifts and can't be accused of focusing only on racking up tech points. He exudes a love of pure skating.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2t5Vzuoqaps

 

[Marco]

I don't think Yan's problems have anything to do with Jin's.

Absolutely. I wasn't implying that. I was saying if the young Chinese skaters only had Yan Han to look up to, they would be more inclined to work on basics like he did. Instead, everyone now is just like, let's chase that quad like Boyang did.

Boyang simply is giving what the system is asking, same as Alina, Evgenia, P/C, they all know how works the system. The best skating skills of Patrick did not help him to get an Olympic medal in 2018.

I wasn't saying he didn't deserve his accomplishments. Just felt pity that Yan Han's beautiful performances at 2016 4CCs was overshadowed by Boyang's technical display at that same competition. Come to think of it Patrick Chan won that competiton despite errors in the short and having the lowest BV simply because of his skating skills. Something that Boyang must also consider as/when he maxes out technically.

 

[Japanfan]

Boyang simply is giving what the system is asking, same as Alina, Evgenia, P/C, they all know how works the system. The best skating skills of Patrick did not help him to get an Olympic medal in 2018.

I'm thinking we may see a new Boyang start to evolve next year as he looks toward the 2022 Olympics at home. He knows he needs to mature and grow artistically. And four years is a good length of time in which to make substantial changes, though a long time in terms of damage done to the body through quads. So, he'll need to take care and I hope he has a good team around him.

| would have said this before his disastrous FP at Worlds, but now he'll probably be all the more motivated to make some changes. Although he is not the most lyrical skater, I think he can extend his range beyond Star Wars, Spider Man, and Fellini.

He needs a choreographer who will explore different types of music with him (send him Shae Lynn!) and see what fits. He might find something that fits, much as Kevin Reynolds found that rock music works for him.

I'll add that it was good to see him laugh when his scores came up at Worlds (although I'm sure there were some tears to follow).

IMO Boyang peaked too early this season, at 4CCs. He'll learn from that I'm sure and have a different strategy going forward.

 

[jlai]

Given the changes in scoring coming up, maybe the Chinese fed may wanna wait and give Yan Han one more chance (hopeful emoticon here)...

 

[Marco]

Horrible Worlds for China, losing a spot in both men and pairs, and ladies not even qualifying for the free.

 

[binbinwinwin]

I don't think Yan's problems have anything to do with Jin's. Yan struggled with jumps and injuries and didn't live up to his early promise in spite of his great gifts. He also never developed any real charisma. Boyang has a different set of gifts and hasn't struggled as much... yet.

There is a young skater on the JGP that I think @Dobre called my attention to, Yan Hao. He is more in the vein of Yan Han than Jin Boyang. We'll have to see if he'll be able to play with the big boys jumpwise, but at any rate he is using his own special set of gifts and can't be accused of focusing only on racking up tech points. He exudes a love of pure skating.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2t5Vzuoqaps

I beg to differ that Han Yan has no charisma, I enjoyed him very much live, I think Han Yan's problems came from the Chinese federation moving him around a lot, he never really got the stability he needed. He's a talent who was never nurtured properly.

Also Yan Hao has reportedly quit skating and has started coaching, he has grown to over 180cm and his height has been too much of a challenge for him.

 

[Japanfan]

Boyang has a different set of gifts and hasn't struggled as much... yet.

I hope his disastrous free at Worlds was just a bad day, not a sign of struggle.

When skaters who are generally consistent and clean make a mistake, it can completely throw them off and lead to multiple mistakes - the same happened with Zags.

I hope the both of them learn from their disasters at worlds and come back strong and fighting next year. Although it's possible to train to recover from mistakes, failing to do so in actual competition would provide a much better lesson.

 

[hanca]

Also Yan Hao has reportedly quit skating and has started coaching, he has grown to over 180cm and his height has been too much of a challenge for him.

Wouldn’t that be ideal for pairs? Chinese don’t have many tall men, so I am surprised they didn’t persuade him to change discipline.

 

[binbinwinwin]

Wouldn’t that be ideal for pairs? Chinese don’t have many tall men, so I am surprised they didn’t persuade him to change discipline.

Don't know, maybe he just doesn't have the talent for it, he's injury prone and seems a bit too fragile for it.

 

[Marco]

Now that the Olympics is over, do we know if Zhang Hao is finally retiring? He has been to 5 freaking Olympics already.

 

[binbinwinwin]

Now that the Olympics is over, do we know if Zhang Hao is finally retiring? He has been to 5 freaking Olympics already.

Hao Zhang said after Pyeongchang if his body permits, he will go to 2022 Olympics.

 

[barbarafan]

Now that the Olympics is over, do we know if Zhang Hao is finally retiring? He has been to 5 freaking Olympics already.

Maybe he wants to retire at 50. So 2022 will work

 

[clairecloutier]

So there is a rumor on Twitter that Han Yan's initial training plan for this season was disrupted by the reorganization last year of the Chinese skaters/coaches. This is all unsubstantiated, of course, but here is the Twitter source. https://twitter.com/HanYanFanVan/status/981496410959962112.

Granted, this source is obviously biased in favor of Han Yan.

 

[meggonzo]

I don't like CSA trying to split up Wang/Liu.

 

[barbarafan]

So there is a rumor on Twitter that Han Yan's initial training plan for this season was disrupted by the reorganization last year of the Chinese skaters/coaches. This is all unsubstantiated, of course, but here is the Twitter source. https://twitter.com/HanYanFanVan/status/981496410959962112.

Granted, this source is obviously biased in favor of Han Yan.

They are such pcs of sh**it. He is such a beautiful skater.

 

[clairecloutier]

So, update on the Chinese pairs. Apparently there are rumors floating about that Peng/Jin may not continue as a team. The closest thing to substantiation of the rumors is this quote from Cheng Peng after their Worlds free skate (source):

Peng: For the next season if we continue to skate we need to understand each other more, to be tolerant
to each other and to learn how to work better and to work on communication. But besides the components we should improve technically.

After Worlds, Peng/Jin competed in a domestic event which they easily won over Gao/Xie. Free skate here. (Yu/Zhang did not compete.)

With regard to Yu/Zhang, after Worlds, Xiaoyu revealed on her Weibo that she had a foot injury just before Worlds that almost led to them withdrawing. So that may explain their rather subpar placement at Worlds.

Meanwhile, someone on GS posted about a Hongbo Zhao post-Worlds interview in which he supposedly said that there may be some "adjustments" among the Chinese senior pairs.

It is hard to imagine what such "adjustments" might be ... But the obvious first thing that comes to mind is, might they reverse the partner-swap of 2 years ago? I suppose another possibility is that Gao/Xie or, less likely, Wang/Wang could factor into more partner-swapping changes. In any case, it could potentially make for a off-season.

 

[hanca]

Maybe they found another victim for Zhang, possibly some tiny junior single skater who is now eleven and will be just eligible for the next Olympics. It would make sense, because four years is plenty of time to make from a singles’ lady a pair lady. The Russians managed it within two seasons with Antipova. As long as this lady would have solid triples, if they start now, I can imagine them to be fighting for top places in four years’ time. And it would have a huge advantage- Zhang had supports on both his elbows during the worlds and his lifts were a bit wonky. The constant lifting is probably not very good for him. Someone tiny and very light would be more helpful for his elbows to recover.

This would mean that Jin would have a choice whether he wants to remain with Peng or return to Yu.

Saying that, it would be quite cringeworthy to see a pair with over 20 years age difference skating to anything romantic. The federation did not show much sensitivity when choosing programs for their pairs, for example the exhibition with all four of them swapping partners on the ice while skating to the song Say something I am giving up on you. Or Zhang’s exhibition during which he is kidnapping Yu and putting imaginary gun to her head...

 

[casken]

It's absolutely heartbreaking to read that Zhang wants to continue and Yu may be his prisoner for another four years.

A terrible mistake was made when Yu/Jin were forced to break up, and all parties involved will continue to struggle until they are reunited.

 

[binbinwinwin]

Zhao said that they need to make adjustments to their top teams because they have a lot of weaknesses compared to countries like Russia and that China simply doesn't have the same talent pool. He went on to list that they want to adjust Peng/Jin so that they want to lessen the gap between them in skills and find ways for them to gel better as a team and that for Yu/Zhang they will make adjustments to technique because Zhang is older. He didn't vaguely say "adjustments" in the interview, he outright named them.

A full translation of the interview is linked in there, why don't you go read it.

 

[clairecloutier]

A full translation of the interview is linked in there, why don't you go read it.

Do you mean the Hongbo Zhao interview in this post? This was all I saw in it about Peng/Jin and Yu/Zhang:

We have a severe shortage of future talents, and this is a trend throughout all winter sports disciplines. For pairs, we have Yu/Zhang, but Zhang Hao is already 31. For Peng/Jin, we might have to do more adjustments for their synchronicity and their techniques and skills gap.

 

[binbinwinwin]

Do you mean the Hongbo Zhao interview in this post? This was all I saw in it about Peng/Jin and Yu/Zhang:

Yeah that's what he specifically said about the current teams and then there's some generalities about raising top athletes and everything throughout the interview and how the system in China works.

Also Yu is not Zhang's prisoner, rather they are all "prisoners" of the Chinese system (but they can leave if they want, they're not actually prisoners). If any of the rumours are true, Yu should stay with Zhang.