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

[Kateri]

And Zhang Hao very much did go to Team Beijing and skated with Yu Xiaoyu that season... Even trained with Savchenko, IIRC

I wish there was an alternate universe where Zhang Hao ended up being Savchenko's post-2018 partner. Just for the clash of egos.

 

[raruki]

I wish there was an alternate universe where Zhang Hao ended up being Savchenko's post-2018 partner. Just for the clash of egos.

Savencenko does have eyes on Zhang Hao I remember in an interview(but cannot recall the details）that She crazily appreciated Zhang's technical and athletic strengths, but it is difficult for the state-funded Chinese athletes to change nationality though apart from the athletes in table tennis and diving.

 

[Kateri]

Savencenko does have eyes on Zhang Hao I remember in an interview(but cannot recall the details）that She crazily appreciated Zhang's technical and athletic strengths, but it is difficult for the state-funded Chinese athletes to change nationality though apart from the athletes in table tennis and diving.

I bet she did!

 

[otisgear]

God, I would have HATED it, if it had actually happened. It would be like ripping someone's arms off and sewing up two Frankenstein's monsters. I can believe that 'reasoning' I guess. Anyway, Luan Bo baby pairs should be good to go, if there's no central body anymore. Can't really mess with her team.

It's actually kind of unfortunate, I think the rumour mill works so effectively in China because the skaters themselves don't tend to say much/can't say much. Not really like the US, where the skaters can make instagram lives about anything and everything if they want. Goodness even knows what's really happening. I think ignoring it is self care for me, but I do get some of it my way sometimes lol.

ETA: Which Yao Bin interview, by the way?

Sadly I still think Luan Bo's pairs are still not treated fairly even now, just look at Zhang/Huang's scores from Nationals...

I can't find the interview now, but it was from 2018 and he said something like "Sui/Han had good results, won worlds last year"..."but we're still thinking about regrouping the teams..." or something like that. I think he was thinking of a major reshuffle which eventually led to the 三亚选妃 drama.

And lol I actually love the gossip/rumours partly because some of the stuff we know for a fact are sometimes even crazier than the gossip (Like Han Cong's skates getting run over by a car and destroyed on the way to be sharpened less than 2 months before the olympics, anyone? There's so many levels of craziness there). Although now we can sometimes piece together some of the things that did happen base on what the skaters say or reveal eventually. I don't take the casual gossip too seriously but it's interesting to discuss it haha.

ETA2: BTW, the previous thread had this link from @bcash https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/TDmIcjzKtDRGuUBNNJA3GA If you want to read you can @otisgear

Yes I've seen this that's like the core of all the 夫妻店 lore at this point hahaha. Although I do believe some of the stuff people blamed Zhao for is actually leftover drama from Yao Bin after Zhao took over. Still I don't think Zhao really did any bit of good for Chinese skating in general.

 

[otisgear]

My version was that Yao wanted to split Sui/Han before the 2015 worlds, but the silver medal saved Sui/Han eventually. So it might explain why Sui/Han was so emotional in the K&c when they won the medal?
But one thing is for sure, Yao always looked down upon Luan's skaters, and tried everything to block Luan.
Yao is indeed crazily obsessed with his big bulk Zhang Hao as well and gave him a lot of privileges while he was in still charge of the national team. In Chinese skating fandom, we call Zhang Hao "太子（a crown prince）”, coz he enjoyed the privileges in the national team just like a crown prince in his kingdom.

I think Zhang Hao (why is it always him ) wanted to skate with Sui at some point, not sure if it was also around/after Sochi. S/H said that 2015 worlds was the last chance to prove themselves, I think they were definitely at risk of being split or kicked from the national team if they didn't medal at worlds that year...

 

[On My Own]

夫妻店

This will always make me laugh

 

[raruki]

I think Zhang Hao (why is it always him ) wanted to skate with Sui at some point, not sure if it was also around/after Sochi. S/H said that 2015 worlds was the last chance to prove themselves, I think they were definitely at risk of being split or kicked from the national team if they didn't medal at worlds that year...

I don’t think Zhang would like to skate with Sui. He is a man full of male chauvinism and will not stand with a diva figure like Sui.

 

[otisgear]

I don’t think Zhang would like to skate with Sui. He is a man full of male chauvinism and will not stand with a diva figure like Sui.
He is so hard to work with, and even Peng also cursed him in her Weibo alt.
He dumped Zhang Dan without any notice， so.....

I'm think he considered Sui at some point because she's always been one of the top pair girls but realised he wouldn't be able to 'control' her and she wouldn't 'behave' like some of the other girls.... thank god haha

 

[raruki]

夫妻店

Even though I HATE S/Z A LOT, we should not blame everything on them.
The Wechat link said that Chen Hong enjoyed the privileges because she is the niece of a prominent figure skating judge of China, Chen Weiguang, who was suspended because of overscoring in the 2018 Olympics. So S/Z tried their best to lick her ass.
But Chen Hong is not the niece and even the relative of Chen Weiguang according to my source. So I think someone spreads the misinformations about Chen Hong just to justify how hard W/L was during that period of swapping partner drama.
Also, the splitting drama of W/L was way more complicated than that. They were involved in the conflicts of the skating powerhouses between Heilongjiang and Jilin, which was something S/Z cannot trigger.

 

[On My Own]

I wish there was an alternate universe where Zhang Hao ended up being Savchenko's post-2018 partner. Just for the clash of egos.

https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/threads/imamovs-interview-with-savchenko.106290/ I found an interview (and a link that @Gris provided about Yu/Zhang and Savchenko), where she said she thought S/H copied her, lol.

the state-funded Chinese athletes to change nationality though apart from the athletes in table tennis and diving.

Well it's more that there are just too many people in these two sports, so it becomes much easier. I don't think it would be so easy if it were a skating like situation.

 

[Kateri]

https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/threads/imamovs-interview-with-savchenko.106290/ I found an interview (and a link that @Gris provided about Yu/Zhang and Savchenko), where she said she thought S/H copied her, lol.

I remember that, and I thought it was weird, 'cause at that time, almost every other pair team WERE copying her, but S/H weren't really among them. At least, I couldn't see it.

 

[On My Own]

I remember that, and I thought it was weird, 'cause at that time, almost every other pair team WERE copying her, but S/H weren't really among them. At least, I couldn't see it.

I didn't think so either. I didn't see any stylistic similarities between S/M and S/H But I also don't really care because I never liked Savchenko's skating, I just tried to search for this for a mention of Yu/Zhang's work with her. I don't know which interview @raruki's talking about though.

 

[otisgear]

I always thought that Savchenko's claim that S/H 'copied' her was hilarious. Also Savchenko and Zhang Hao would totally be a perfect match in terms of likability among fans

 

[raruki]

Sina Visitor System

https://twitter.com/albina_fs/status/1630278695356338178

A short clip of Nini's first FS run-through in WJC.
She popped the first lutz, but nailed the rest of the jumps and put all the combos in the second half according to the Korean fans on Twitter.

 

[raruki]

The entries of WC 2023 for Team China

https://results.isu.org/events/fsevent00113613.htm?continueFlag=8107df8faae2e74e5ed8e04acd66a987

Men:
Jin Boyang
S: Chen Yudong

Pairs:
Zhang Siyang/ Yang Yongchao
S: Wang Huidi/ Jia Ziqi

Ice Dance:
Chen Xizi/ Xing Jianing
S: Li Xuantong/ Wang Xinkang
Wang Shiyue/ Liu Xinyu

No Peng/Jin and Zhu Yi.

 

[otisgear]

The entries of WC 2023 for Team China

https://results.isu.org/events/fsevent00113613.htm?continueFlag=8107df8faae2e74e5ed8e04acd66a987

Men:
Jin Boyang
S: Chen Yudong

Pairs:
Zhang Siyang/ Yang Yongchao
S: Wang Huidi/ Jia Ziqi

Ice Dance:
Chen Xizi/ Xing Jianing
S: Li Xuantong/ Wang Xinkang
Wang Shiyue/ Liu Xinyu

No Peng/Jin and Zhu Yi.

I am thrilled for Chen/Xing!

 

[raruki]

I am thrilled for Chen/Xing!

YES GO TEAM ZHENG XUN!

 

[On My Own]

Wow, feel bad for Wang/Liu. Not even first subs. Hope they recover. And totally thought Beverly would be there after that tiktok clip.

ETA: https://m.weibo.cn/status/Mv1UaksLr Li Xuantong's weibo.

 

[Karen-W]

Wow, feel bad for Wang/Liu. Not even first subs. Hope they recover. And totally thought Beverly would be there after that tiktok clip.

ETA: https://m.weibo.cn/status/Mv1UaksLr Li Xuantong's weibo.

Entries and Substitutes are listed in alphabetical order on the ISU website. I wouldn't make an assumption that Wang/Liu are the 2nd alternates based on that. The fact that they are listed indicates, to me, that there is still a chance they could be healthy enough to go and get swapped in closer to the event.

 

[On My Own]

Entries and Substitutes are listed in alphabetical order on the ISU website. I wouldn't make an assumption that Wang/Liu are the 2nd alternates based on that. The fact that they are listed indicates, to me, that there is still a chance they could be healthy enough to go and get swapped in closer to the event.

Yes, you're right, sorry, completely forgot.

 

[otisgear]

Entries and Substitutes are listed in alphabetical order on the ISU website. I wouldn't make an assumption that Wang/Liu are the 2nd alternates based on that. The fact that they are listed indicates, to me, that there is still a chance they could be healthy enough to go and get swapped in closer to the event.

Just wondering though, if that was the case why wouldn't they be listed as the entry and then subbed out if they really can't make it... Since they are still the number 1 team.

 

[Gris]

Just wondering though, if that was the case why wouldn't they be listed as the entry and then subbed out if they really can't make it... Since they are still the number 1 team.

I think being listed as a substitute may indicate some level of readiness, especially comparing to Peng / Jin not being listed as a sub. I don't expect to actually see Wang / Liu compete in Saitama though.

 

[On My Own]

I'm also kind of sad for Beverly. She had a bad experience at the Olympics, and then no redemption this season. She'll still be able to compete next season at the Grand Prixs and the 4CCs and the National Winter Games, but I cannot imagine her beating Nini and getting to worlds.

 

[raruki]

Zhu just attended an ice show in Xi'an today.

Sina Visitor System

I'm also kind of sad for Beverly. She had a bad experience at the Olympics, and then no redemption this season. She'll still be able to compete next season at the Grand Prixs and the 4CCs and the National Winter Games, but I cannot imagine her beating Nini and getting to worlds.

As I know, Zhu has just brought back her double axle recently and still has a long way to recover her triple jumps. She might choose to not attend the Worlds coz she is not 100% ready physically and athletically.

 

[On My Own]

Zhu just attended an ice show in Xi'an today.
Sina Visitor System

Try to post m.weibo.cn links. These web links aren't opening for me, and I don't think we can walkthrough everyone else they don't open for. https://m.weibo.cn/status/Mv6Zgbnxw

 

[On My Own]

https://m.weibo.cn/detail/4874249032437165 <- some footage of Yudong from the open practice session.

ETA: https://m.weibo.cn/status/MvdJ6iz8w Yang/Deng

 

[On My Own]

微博

随时随地发现新鲜事！微博带你欣赏世界上每一个精彩瞬间，了解每一个幕后故事。分享你想表达的，让全世界都能听到你的心声！

m.weibo.cn

Jin Yang posted a training vlog. IDK how to use xhs lol

 

[On My Own]

Yang/Deng have a nice lift and death spiral, nice throw even if only a double. Also they're adorable. Good luck for the LP!

 

[otisgear]

微博

随时随地发现新鲜事！微博带你欣赏世界上每一个精彩瞬间，了解每一个幕后故事。分享你想表达的，让全世界都能听到你的心声！

m.weibo.cn

Jin Yang posted a training vlog. IDK how to use xhs lol

Phew, so glad to see him back on ice. I can't tell who the other pair in the video is, is that Zhang/Yang??

 

[raruki]

Yang/Deng have a nice lift and death spiral, nice throw even if only a double. Also they're adorable. Good luck for the LP!

Given the fact that they just started skating 4 years ago, kudos to them.