Chinese Skating News, Pt. 4: Fresh Noodles for Milan 2026

[greenapple]

Many skaters might withdraw from the Chinese nationals as well.
I have heard that many of those who got covid are struggling to recover from the long covid symptoms and find it pretty hard to bring back their stamina and momentums after recovering from COVID.

Thank you for that update. That is not good news. The isolation tactics imposed by the Chinese government completely backfired in that now the citizens have little to no immunity from the various strains of XYZ. Fingers crossed this situation improves for all.

 

[On My Own]

I hope for their safety.

I think we can say goodbye to cup of china for the foreseeable future, or at least this quad.

 

[Stephanie]

I hope for their safety.

I think we can say goodbye to cup of china for the foreseeable future, or at least this quad.

I don't think we can draw that conclusion. The potential Cup of China GP wouldn't be for another 10 months, by which time the health situation (immunity caused by previous infection, reinforced vaccination drive, hospital overcrowding) is likely to be quite different than the current situation. IMO whether Cup of China happens will have more to do with the Chinese Fed's willingness and capacity to host (organizational resources, sponsors, etc.)

 

[On My Own]

I don't think we can draw that conclusion. The potential Cup of China GP wouldn't be for another 10 months, by which time the health situation (immunity caused by previous infection, reinforced vaccination drive, hospital overcrowding) is likely to be quite different than the current situation. IMO whether Cup of China happens will have more to do with the Chinese Fed's willingness and capacity to host (organizational resources, sponsors, etc.)

Well, the decision to host will need to be made much earlier than that. Sure, we can't predict what will happen in November, but then, the ISU won't want to wait till November. If the situation is still bad in May, I'd definitely say goodbye to CoC for the next season, and I imagine the ISU won't want to keep hedging its bets on China for much longer after that.

Actually, unrelated to China's COVID situation, I do remember some discussion about why Chinese skating fans don't expect CoC the next season, but I don't remember what they were saying anymore.

Anyway, I am sad for the Chinese athletes and people rather than about CoC leaving the table.

 

[Karen-W]

The ISU is going to want a solid "Yes" or "No" from the Chinese fed by next month regarding next season's CoC - and probably 4CCs for next season also (which is scheduled for Shanghai). They are NOT going to want another situation where they have to scramble to find hosts at the last minute. It will be easier to find a replacement host for CoC than 4CCs, but even that might prove difficult, especially if Russia's still off the table for the GP next season.

 

[greenapple]

The Chinese advised the ISU in May 2021 it would not hold COC - not exactly last minute - but hopefully the ISU has set a deadline this year. While the other feds. that stepped up did an amazing job, it would be good for those hosting GPs this year to have the extra months to prepare.

If COC is cancelled for the third year in a row, then I vote for the ISU to assign it to another/or other countries permanently.

 

[Karen-W]

The Chinese advised the ISU in May 2021 it would not hold COC - not exactly last minute - but hopefully the ISU has set a deadline this year. While the other feds. that stepped up did an amazing job, it would be good for those hosting GPs this year to have the extra months to prepare.

If COC is cancelled for the third year in a row, then I vote for the ISU to assign it to another/or other countries permanently.

No, it wasn't last minute, by any stretch, but it was also very difficult to find another host fed when they were also replacing Russia's GP as well. That's why I suspect the ISU might have an earlier deadline for the Chinese fed, so they can, hopefully, give the rest of the feds that extra lead time they would need to put together a bid. I'm not sure we can expect Finland or Great Britain to step up again - though I do think Italy would be keen to host a regular GP next season.

 

[greenapple]

At the GP in Sheffield Robin Cousins apparently said the BIS wants to start hosting more international competitions but they have Euros to plan for so I agree they will probably be out. The Finns have always wanted a GP - could be their time.

Maybe Estonia has recovered from their awesome marathon and will throw the hat into the mix again next season! One can always hope .

 

[otisgear]

I think a lot of the Chinese fans aren't expecting COC to happen mostly because of the complete mess that the fed is in since the Olympics. There is no official national team, allegedly no one at the helm since Zhao left, and even skaters like Peng/Jin seem to be left on their own to find training ground and schedule ice time for themselves. Organising a grand prix seems like such a stretch when you can't even get your own national team in order.

 

[raruki]

I don't actually feel negative towards whether COC will be held because CFSA does find a pretty strong sponsor, a real estate giant who funded and sponsored WTA Finals in Shenzhen in 2019 with ten million dollars, to organize all the figure skating events in China in the upcoming 4 years.

But for me, the biggest problem for Chinese figure skating is that, compared to other winter sports like short track which China are willing to spend millions of dollars naturalizing many skaters from Hungary and Korea even after the Olympics, the Chinese officials in sports authority are not really interested in investing in figure skating anymore. I don't see they have set up a clear agenda or clear goal for the Milan Olympics, and even put any efforts into developing figure skating in China apart from some provincial teams like Heilongjiang and Jilin. (But those provinces are traditionally poor in the economy.）

 

[On My Own]

I don't actually feel negative towards whether COC will be held because CFSA does find a pretty strong sponsor, a real estate giant who funded and sponsored WTA Finals in Shenzhen 2019 with ten million dollars, to organize all the figure skating events in China in the upcoming 4 years.

But for me, the biggest problem for Chinese figure skating is that, compared to other winter sports like short track which China are willing to spend millions of dollars naturalizing many skaters from Hungary and Korea even after the Olympics, the Chinese officials in sports authority are not really interested in investing in figure skating anymore. I don't see they have set up a clear agenda or clear goal for the Milan Olympics, and even put any efforts into developing figure skating in China apart from some provincial teams like Heilongjiang and Jilin. (But those provinces are traditionally poor in the economy.）

You'll have to explain how these points cohere.

You say CFSA found a strong sponsor and just this season, we see skaters going out for competition again, top seniors from two disciplines being able to go for foreign training, a junior dance team signing up with IMG and getting a sponsor.

How do you know the Chinese authorities aren't invested? Unfortunate fact is, skating is much more expensive than other sports, and it needs different experts, like a coach to teach jumps, a coach to teach skating skills, an in-house choreographer for the juniors and novice level skaters. The pandemic clearly did disrupt this entire process. I do agree that China seems to only care about Heilongjiang and Jilin (and Beijing, I guess) and in general seems like it can't be bothered to do much, but on the other hand, it's not like you're getting amazing skaters from all over the US or Canada or Russia either anyway. I don't think you can compare short track and figure skating.

I don't particularly wish to see athletes being forced into closed loop just so they can compete. Nor do I wish to see kids being forced into the sport. Nor do I wish to see what happened to Beverly at Beijing happen to anyone again.

Coaches who paired the 10 year old girl with the 24 year old man probably aren't encouraging participation. Skating isn't a traditional part of Chinese sports to begin, apart from Pairs maybe, so this does damage to that one discipline.

Who are the many Korean short track skaters who got naturalized? I only know Lim Hyo-Jun, who probably "needed" to switch anyway.

 

[Gris]

Sina Visitor System

In other news, looks like senior Nationals will go on as planned (Jan. 11-13).

(The entry list hasn't been published though)

 

[Dobre]

Any updates on Boyang? The last I heard was that he had arrived in Canada to train just prior the GP. Then he withdrew from the series & there was speculation that he was only just putting together programs. And I've heard nothing since.

Thank you for that update. That is not good news. The isolation tactics imposed by the Chinese government completely backfired in that now the citizens have little to no immunity from the various strains of XYZ. Fingers crossed this situation improves for all.

I'd say it's the Chinese government's unwillingness to import the mRNA vaccines that completely backfired.

 

[Gris]

Any updates on Boyang? The last I heard was that he had arrived in Canada to train just prior the GP. Then he withdrew from the series & there was speculation that he was only just putting together programs. And I've heard nothing since.

According to his ISU bio he got two new programs.

SP: Seven Nation Army, choreographed by Joey Russell
FS: This by Ed Sheeran, Gordon Mills, Precious Lost Love by Karl Hugo, choreographed by David Wilson

 

[On My Own]

Any updates on Boyang? The last I heard was that he had arrived in Canada to train just prior the GP. Then he withdrew from the series & there was speculation that he was only just putting together programs. And I've heard nothing since.

He had both his programs done, and posted a new year message on weibo.

 

[Gris]

An insider on Weibo posted the entries of senior Nationals and notable entries include: Xiangyi An, Jiaying Cheng, Hongyi Chen; Zhiming Peng, Yudong Chen; Zhang / Yang, Wang / Jia, Yang / Deng, Yihang Huang and his new partner Jiaxuan Zhang, and (unfortunately) Youmei Sun / Ze'en Li ; Li / Wang, Chen / Xing

According to the same person, both Jiaying and Anqi have withdrawn from Edusport Trophy due to "unfinished procedure".

 

[On My Own]

I just hope Peng/Jin can make worlds, and then escape China next season.

CFSA needs to be sanctioned if Sun/Li are allowed to compete.

Men and women champions are obvious, although I hope next season Peng Zhiming at least gets more international opportunities. Hope the national title can get Yudong out of China too.

 

[Gris]

Also, former singles skater Yi Wang (9th at 4CC 2015) is listed in ice dance entries with his student Zixi Xiao, who is half his age (he's 30 and she's 15). When they first showed up in domestic competitions in 2021 I thought that might be a one-off "practicing skills" kind of thing but now as they compete more and more I find it icky.

 

[On My Own]

Also, former singles skater Yi Wang (9th at 4CC 2015) is listed in ice dance entries with his student Zixi Xiao, who is half his age (he's 30 and she's 15). When they first showed up in domestic competitions in 2021 I thought that might be an one-off "practicing skills" kind of thing but now as they compete more and more I find it icky.

Is China really this hard-pressed for men in Pairs and Ice Dance? Because it boggles the mind.

 

[otisgear]

Not surprised to see Sun/Li on the list. Zhang Tianci did gloat on douyin that they can take part in nationals and that's enough to get the national level athlete status and direct entry into university when questioned about what's the point in this pairing if they can't compete internationally. Boggles the mind that there's no minimum age for the senior category.

That said, very excited for the first actual domestic competition in years! Actually I think Heilongjiang had a provincial championship last year but we never got to see any of that so that doesn't count. So tired of the lame virtual competitions that they've been doing. This will finally be a real test to see where everyone's at, although many people are probably still recovering from covid and everyone seems to be expecting a splatfest lol.

 

[On My Own]

Zhang Tianci did gloat on douyin that they can take part in nationals and that's enough to get the national level athlete status and direct entry into university when questioned about what's the point in this pairing if they can't compete internationally.

So maybe Sun's mom just wants her to have an easy route into a university in the future?

And why tf is a coach on douyin. Imagine Eteri being on tiktok.

 

[otisgear]

Is China really this hard-pressed for men in Pairs and Ice Dance? Because it boggles the mind.

What really boggles the mind is how there's a shortage of men and then they somehow let really solid young pairs men like Xie Zhong and Guo Yunzhi retire at like 20/21 years old without ever making their senior international debut. And it all happened in the Beijing quad, when they would intuitively be ramping up their team more than ever before.

 

[On My Own]

What really boggles the mind is how there's a shortage of men and then they somehow let really solid young pairs men like Xie Zhong and Guo Yunzhi retire at like 20/21 years old without ever making their senior international debut. And it all happened in the Beijing quad, when they would intuitively be ramping up their team more than ever before.

Well they shouldn't force them to keep skating, even though China probably can if it wants. So I have no problem with Xie and Guo retiring. Beijing quad was also COVID closed loop quad, I can hardly blame them to want to quit and do something else.

My problem is, why did no one advise these girls to do singles skating? The ice dance girl can even take up solo ice dance until she finds a partner willing to naturalize. Not to mention how China plummeted with the guidance of S/Z I guess.

 

[otisgear]

So maybe Sun's mom just wants her to have an easy route into a university in the future?

And why tf is a coach on douyin. Imagine Eteri being on tiktok.

No, from her posts it definitely sounds like she's gunning for Sun to be a top pairs girl. She's referenced Shen Xue and Sui Wenjing as ladies to look up to. She's probably aiming for world champion or some international medals at least. Also some of the stuff she's said.... I don't think you have to be that crazy and train that intensely for direct entry into university.

 

[otisgear]

Well they shouldn't force them to keep skating, even though China probably can if it wants. So I have no problem with Xie and Guo retiring. Beijing quad was also COVID closed loop quad, I can hardly blame them to want to quit and do something else.

My problem is, why did no one advise these girls to do singles skating? The ice dance girl can even take up solo ice dance until she finds a partner willing to naturalize. Not to mention how China plummeted with the guidance of S/Z I guess.

Idk what actually happened, but I always got the vibe that Xie retired out of frustration, kinda the same with Xiaoyu. They really messed up a lot of the junior pair skaters in the Beijing quad by repeatedly playing musical chairs with the teams. It's kinda telling that Xie went back to skate with his old partner Gao in a tv drama last year. Yu/Jin was the most high profile split but I think Gao/Xie was also another unfortunate victim of the fed breaking up a team against their will. Like they thought Xie could do with better but after going through so many partners and none of them worked out in the end. I hate how they didn't give the young teams time to grow.

I don't think solo ice dance is a thing in China, at least there aren't any competition categories for that.

Edit: oh yea I wasn't saying that the skaters should be held back from retiring, I just think that they likely wouldn't have retired if they weren't so badly mismanaged in the last quad

 

[otisgear]

The official entries for nationals are out!

Basically the same as what the insider said.

 

[Gris]

Full Entries

Women (17)

Can HUANG, Shuxian JIN, Megan WONG (HKG), Ruotang LI, Ruichen TONG, Yiyun WEN, Yinxi LI, Kexin WANG, Hongyi CHEN, Guanru JIN, Xiangyi AN, Ruiyang ZHANG, Yaxuan ZHU, Yuxuan XING, Jiaying CHENG, Wanyi SUN, Wantong GENG

Men (14)

Zhifei WANG, Hanyu ZHAO, Zhehong ZHOUChit Wan CHOW (HKG), Haoze YU, Geruiqi MEI, Zhile YU, Yudong CHEN, Jian GAO, Zexuan WANG, Wenbao HAN, David DAY, Zhi'ao JIANG, Juwen XU, Zhiming PENG (test)

Pairs (8)

Youmei SUN / Ze'en LI, Yixi YANG / Shunyang DENG, Wantong ZHAO / Yuhang LIU, Siyang ZHANG / Yongchao YANG, Huidi WANG / Ziqi JIA, Yunjie WANG / Helin LIU, Xuanqi ZHANG / Wenqiang FENG, Jiaxuan ZHANG / Yihang HUANG

Dance (6)

Luchang CAO / Jianxu CHEN, Yu LU / Chenhang ZHANG, Meihong ZHANG / Bolin MENG, Xuantong LI / Xinkang WANG, Zixi XIAO / Yi WANG, Xizi CHEN / Jianing XING

ETA: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/th...nals-jan-11-13-chengde-hebei-province.110338/ I've started a thread for it in the Kiss & Cry section.

 

[On My Own]

Is Megan just wishing to participate here for experience, or she is wishing to switch federations? I never quite understood what became of Yi Christy Leung.

 

[Gris]

Is Megan just wishing to participate here for experience, or she is wishing to switch federations? I never quite understood what became of Yi Christy Leung.

Megan has been skating in Chinese domestic competitions for a long time and I think she trains in Shanghai.

There's also Chit Wan CHOW of HKG in men's competition this time that I just missed (I've edited my post above).

 

[On My Own]

There's also Chit Wan CHOW of HKG in men's competition this time that I just missed (I've edited my post above).

Well rather you seem to have translated his name as it would be read in Mandarin first haha.