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

[On My Own]

The commentator said Zhang/Yang also train in Harbin... How did they not have visa issues, but both the dance teams did?

ETA: Oh, Wang/Jia too? Then very confused what happened to the Harbin dance teams

 

[On My Own]

Wang/Jia are a strange team. Completely stalked their sbs jump and then both made a mistake, so why not do a 2A? And her performance is noticeably weaker than his. SBS spin was way off. Nice twist and big throw. WTF program. Not sure what to think of them as a pair. Wish Zhang/Huang were age eligible.

Zhang/Yang - much, much better matched. She could project a bit better, and clean up her jumps.

 

[raruki]

https://twitter.com/Ben_Agosto/status/1624175703875891200

Wang/Liu had withdrawn due to medical reasons.

 

[Gris]

I have a soft spot for Wang / Jia because Ziqi kept his patience during Huidi's growth spurt instead of just saying, "find me a smaller girl". They do need to address their synchronization problem though, especially that almost sequential "side-by-side" jump.

I think both Huidi & Ziqi and Siyang & Yongchao did what they could today. Lots of room for improvement in the performance side.

Hoping Xinyu's injury isn't serious.

 

[On My Own]

Hoping Xinyu's injury isn't serious.

We know it's Xinyu this time?

 

[Gris]

We know it's Xinyu this time?

Yes. From the media advisory (ISU event page - For Media - Media Advisory):

Shiyue Wang/Xinyu Liu (CHN) have withdrawn from the Ice Dance event at the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships Friday before the Rhythm Dance citing injury (Liu).

Also Chris Howarth said during commentary that they had tried to push through but didn't make it.

https://twitter.com/AnythingGOE/status/1624175882658017284

 

[otisgear]

I have a soft spot for Wang / Jia because Ziqi kept his patience during Huidi's growth spurt instead of just saying, "find me a smaller girl".

^^Same.
I'm glad Wang/Jia pushed through puberty but they still seem to be struggling with the same issues. Their 3FTh worked today but it still looks like a complete lottery whether they land it or not. I'd love for them to do better but their PCS will always suffer if she continues to be completely straight-faced throughout the program, she always looks like she's just going through the motions and don't really want to be there. I guess it's probably nerves because she's much more smiley off-ice. I saw that they mentioned they're working on a quad twist?? I know they did attempt (a crashy) one way back in 2019 but they have a hundred other things to address before they should be considering a quad twist imo. Someone get them away from Zhang Tianci, his coaching techniques are yikes and his choreo does them no favours, especially that horrible music cut.

 

[otisgear]

The commentator said Zhang/Yang also train in Harbin... How did they not have visa issues, but both the dance teams did?

ETA: Oh, Wang/Jia too? Then very confused what happened to the Harbin dance teams

Well some people say it's because Zhang/Yang and Wang/Jia have travelled previously so they have their official service passport while the Harbin dance teams don't because they haven't been sent overseas 'officially' by the sports administration before (the trip to Santa Claus cup was apparently self-funded by the provincial team). Personally, I don't buy it mostly because we know the internal politics is...... I think Jilin has the pull on the ice dance front, the fact that they got their two teams ahead of Li/Wang to go to the JGP but none of them managed to get minimums for junior worlds while Li/Wang got both junior and senior minimums literally in a single day is pretty telling.

Anyway, with the current condition that Wang/Liu looks to be in, they'd better list both Chen/Xing and Li/Wang as substitutes for Worlds...

 

[Gris]

I.AM posted in their IG story that Xinyu is recovering from an old back injury.

 

[On My Own]

I.AM posted in their IG story that Xinyu is recovering from an old back injury.

Oh, then maybe Chen/Xing really might do worlds... @otisgear

 

[On My Own]

I think Jilin has the pull on the ice dance front, the fact that they got their two teams ahead of Li/Wang to go to the JGP but none of them managed to get minimums for junior worlds while Li/Wang got both junior and senior minimums literally in a single day is pretty telling.

Jilin does have the pull. Which is strange, because I'll take the Harbin dancers any day over any of them.

 

[otisgear]

Oh, then maybe Chen/Xing really might do worlds... @otisgear

I sure hope they do, fingers crossed they get the nitty gritty logistics out of the way to make it happen. I too enjoy the Harbin dance teams wayyyyy more than the Jilin ones.

 

[On My Own]

Of course, still hope Wang/Liu do recover and don't have to withdraw from worlds as well. What a dent to the Chinese team this season.

 

[raruki]

Feel bad for Yudong, he is not in good shape and has been seriously affected by long-covid symptoms for a long time. He even got hospitalized when he returned to Beijing after the nationals for being short of breath and dizzy. Fingers crossed for his WJC.

 

[otisgear]

Sad that Wang/Jia had to pull out during warmup I guess Zhang/Yang is now sitting firmly in that worlds spot if P/J aren't coming back.

 

[On My Own]

Rough skates for both. Impressive work on overall skating from Jin at TCC.

 

[On My Own]

Finally found Zhang/Yang. Good fight from them, visibly struggling probably due to altitude, maybe had COVID as well.

 

[otisgear]

Zhang/Yang's post FS interview mentions that they aim to do quad twist and quad throw in the future What kind of crazy is Zhang Tianci instilling in his pairs omg they have a million other things to work on before remotely considering high risk -extremely low reward pair quads. Zhang Tianci really needs to go.

 

[On My Own]

In fact Luan Bo's strategy of teaching forward outside death spiral is much more sane.

 

[otisgear]

In fact Luan Bo's strategy of teaching forward outside death spiral is much more sane.

AND they're also getting Sui Wenjing choreography how exciting is that

 

[On My Own]

AND they're also getting Sui Wenjing choreography how exciting is that

?? Where'd you read?

 

[Sylvia]

Copying out Boyang Jin's translated comments, as published in the ISU's Quick Quotes documents:

After his FS:
I gave all I have. I felt awful since yesterday. Yesterday during the practice I told Brian (Orser, coach) that I didn’t want to do jumps because I was not able to. I gritted my teeth in the 6 minute warm up. I felt good that I could even land the first two jumps.
(on the collaboration with the new team)
I felt pretty good with Brian and Tracy (Wilson). I didn’t feel nervous. They gave me so much encouragement and shiny smiles. They gave me no pressure at all.
(on the preparation for the Worlds)
If I was like other skaters, I would take this season off. It is one month to go, and I hope I can be more prepared physically. I wish to present a new Boyang at the Worlds in Japan. I hope I can improve the quality of my programs.
(on the comeback)
Like what was said in the song (This by Ed Sheeran), “this is the start of something new”. I felt empowered, facing the new cycle.

After his SP:
(on his performance)
It is better than I expected. I’ve been preparing for this competition as soon as I got back on the ice. The time is so tight. I have been systematically training for only about two months. I started from bad triple jumps to what happened today. I think that’s pretty fast recovery.
(on the score)
Pretty good. I still need more recovery. I’m not in the best shape physically but I did well today. I hope this is a kind of motivation to the free skating. I just wish I can finish the free skating. I felt really unwell starting from the second jump.
(on his move to Canada)
I think it’s pretty magical. I want to thank to the Chinese team for sending me to Canada to training. In such a short period of time, it’s very unbelievable. Brian (Orser) and Tracy (Wilson) take good care of me. I was too rushed after the surgery. Then the illness came back. Also I changed my skating boots. I only finished the choreography in December. It was pretty difficult but the
recovery was fast. I got Covid twice in the last two months. The physical condition was terrible. This is a brand new start. I didn’t consider this time as a competition but a test for my collaboration with my team.
(on free program) I wish to continue what I did today. I don’t feel much pressure, I am very happy to be here.

 

[On My Own]

Well I just saw on twitter that he's at the gala practice (kattwts), and then I checked the super talk where someone posted his gala music, but now the post is gone, and I'm not sure if they got it wrong and deleted. It could be a good song if he's actually using it. But who knows anymore.

 

[Marco]

Any news on the ladies? Last year there were a couple ladies competing for the Olympic post and suddenly this season - not even one 4CC entrant?

 

[Gris]

Siyang & Yongchao also said in the interview (in Chinese) that they'd focus on the details in future training. They said they'd like to do quad twist and quad throw because "as a young team they need to stand out"... (Not sure how I feel about that )

Yongchao chose the Les Miserables music because they were very moved by the movie, but during the program they focused more on the technical elements and they said they're not mature enough to fully show the emotion. Then Siyang said she'd like to skate to "A Thousand Years" for next season's program.

Yudong said he'd have two new programs next season and the SP will be saxophone music.

------

Overall 4CC is a rough competition for everyone with withdrawals and scary moments so I hope everyone take care of themselves. I'm not sure if that emo FS music suits Boyang but I do find his upper body movement improved.

Any news on the ladies? Last year there were a couple ladies competing for the Olympic post and suddenly this season - not even one 4CC entrant?

Yi (Beverly) is injured and recovering, I'm not sure if Shan (Ashley) is still skating and Hongyi doesn't have the minimums. And Xiangyi decided to focus on Junior competitions this season.

 

[Dobre]

I thought the pairs team that competed both portions of 4CCs did quite well. They have the pieces. She needs more confidence in the performance, but better to have the elements than the reverse. A place to start.

 

[On My Own]

Then Siyang said she'd like to skate to "A Thousand Years" for next season's program.

One more step closer.

Yongchao chose the Les Miserables music because they were very moved by the movie,

This is like the people who said they've read 1984 lol

Yudong said he'd have two new programs next season and the SP will be saxophone music.

Good to hear. I think he must be "unsure" about seniors (https://twitter.com/goldenskate/status/1624603820931047426) depending on whether Jin will get two spots or not.

I'm not sure if that emo FS music suits Boyang but I do find his upper body movement improved.

His skating skills seem much better too. Not sure he could have done those softer edges during the step sequence last season or before that. Seems much better at finding the balance over his foot.

 

[otisgear]

?? Where'd you read?

Sui said she choreographed 10 programs for Luan Bo's group here. And there's also some clips of her working with them from this interview. She was in Qiqihar for a week before Spring festival to work with them ^^

 

[otisgear]

Zhang/Yang's 4CC gala performance
Once again he looks extremely into it and she looks miserable ? Gala music was fun at least. I don't think it's an insurmountable problem but their vibes have always felt completely mismatched to me (which kinda affects their performance appeal).

 

[On My Own]

^it's not nearly as bad as Wang/Jia's to me. Although she clearly hates this gala lmao