#wenjing suicong han
With about a week left before the 2019 World Figure Skating Championships, the Chinese National Figure Skating Team that is preparing for battle held a public class at the Shougang Training Centre on Wednesday afternoon. Wenjing Sui/Cong Han and Cheng Peng/Yang Jin, China’s pairs entries for Worlds, participated in the public class.
During the class, Sui/Han’s performance was not so good, Wenjing Sui in particular had a lot of difficulty with her solo jumps. Chinese National Team’s head coach Hongbo Zhao said “Sui/Han are not in the best condition, so we said for the 2nd competition of the season (Worlds), just trying their best in their current form is good enough. Wenjing Sui after the Pyeongchang Olympics had a fracture, rested for 4 months, [her] recovery was not so satisfactory. Cong Han’s injuries are also increasing. In terms of the medical and scientific technology available to us, we are doing everything we can to maintain their health, but sometimes you don’t always respond to the treatment.”
Hongbo Zhao shared, “At Four Continents, Sui/Han’s results weren’t great, when we got back, we reflected a lot on it and we are aware of all the issues. But in terms of their progress in daily training, including concentration and ability, they are still a bit below expectations. After Wenjing Sui returned from performing in North Korea, she fell the next day in practice and she lost 10 days of training, she only resumed normal training last week. They are really hoping to perform well at Worlds, however they have had a lot of setbacks which disrupted their training, I am also trying to think of solutions to help them manage their emotions, we will try our best for Worlds.”
Wenjing Sui and Cong Han are the 2017 World Champions and 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics Silver Medalists. Their season so far has not gone smoothly, due to Wenjing Sui’s foot surgery they had a very long recovery time. They only appeared internationally for the first time at the Four Continents Championships in early February. However, they won the competition, making people highly anticipate their upcoming participation in the World Championships.
After the open class, Cong Han had an individual interview with the media. He shared “We did not participate in many competitions this season which means there are less opportunities for us to test both our programs. At Four Continents, we found that we needed a lot of improvements with our programs so we made some adjustments, now the program is a lot smoother. Little Sui is working very hard, she has added another training session at night just for practicing her jumps.”
“Right I think we are a little short on time, if we had another month then maybe we would be more prepared. But that’s okay, this is a sport,” said Cong Han.
The other pairs teams headed to the World Championships, Cheng Peng/Yang Jin are the Four Continents Championships Silver Medalists and the Grand Prix Final Silver Medalists.
Also appearing at the public class was Hongyi Chen, who had just returned from the World Junior Figure Skating Championships. She had laready begun preparation for the World Championships and is the sole entry in the Ladies’ Singles.
Hongyi Chen has been nervous about her upcoming competitions, she is nicknamed “model worker” by the rest of team. Since Nationals in December, she has participated in Four Continents, Chinese Championships, World Junior Championships and is about to leave for the World Championships.
“After participating in some many competitions, I think I’m not as nervous as I was before,” said the 16 year old girl. “Going to the World Championships is going to be a learning experience for me, entering competitions is a bit tiring, but I believe I can overcome it.”
The 2019 World Figure Skating Championships will be held from March 18th to March 24th in Japan. The Chinese figure skating team will also include Boyang Jin in the Men’s Singles, Shiyue Wang/Xinyu Liu and Hong Chen/Zhuoming Sun (substitute entry) for ice dance.
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THERE 2 ARTICLES WITHIN THIS POST
Dec 11 Article:
The Chinese Figure Skating Association has published their list of entries for the Chinese Figure Skating Championships. Sui Wenjing/Han Cong appear on the list, this will be their season debut. Something else to note is that the figure skating talent Beverly Zhu who just joined the Chinese training team in September, is also listed as a participant.
This year’s National Championships will be held 12/29-12/30 in Harbin, China with all of the main domestic skaters participating. Sui Wenjing/Han Cong were on the list of participants. After the Pyeongchang Olympics, Sui Wenjing withdrew from all their international competitions due to injury, this will be their first appearance of the season.
Right now Sui/Han are training in Shougang, they will be bringing brand new programs to Harbin. The head choreographer, Lori Nichols, says that one of the programs has a very modern feel. Sui Wenjing also shared that they made a program with a Chinese feel. “It will have a lot of new, distinctive choreography, I hope everyone will like it.”
In addition to Sui/Han, Peng Cheng/Jin Yang who just won silver at the Grand Prix Final are also set to compete. Also, Yu Xiaoyu/Hao Zhang who are currently training in Beijing are also bringing brand new programs to Nationals, however they are only here as a test.
Jin Boyang and Zhang He will be leading the mens’ competition with 11 other men, in comparison with the ladies where there are way more entries. The list of entries include An Xiangyi, Cheng Hongyi and many other young competitors. A notable entry is Zhu Yi (Beverly Zhu), the 2002-born Chinese American figure skating talent who will be participating in her first domestic competition.
At US Nationals earlier this year, Beverly Zhu won the novice title with 35 points over second place, touted as a future figure skating champion. In September of this year, Beverly Zhu officially joined the Chinese National Training Team that is led by China’s former representative figure skater, Lu Chen.
Dec 25 Article:
The Chinese National Figure Skating Champions will be happening on 12/29-12/30 in Harbin, China. During this competition, Sui Wenjing/Han Cong, Peng Cheng/Jin Yang, Jin Boyang, Wang Shiyue/Liu Xinyu, An Xiangyi, Zhu Yi (Beverly Zhu) will be making appearances.
Sui Wenjing/Han Cong who won the Pairs Silver at the Pyeongchang Olympics have been in recovery for their injuries for the first half of the season. As they recover, they have gotten their programs choreographed and have been easing back into training. The National Championships will be their first competition since the Olympics.
“Originally, we had intended on Four Continents in February 2019 being Sui/Han’s return to competition but by having them participate in the National Championships, they can gradually get a feel for the ice again,” said Shen Xue, the president of the Chinese Figure Skating Association. Sui Wenjing/Han Cong are reported to only perform their Short Program here.
In the first half of the international season, with their teammates sitting out, Peng Cheng/Jin Yang were tasked with representing Chinese pairs alone this season. They performed well at both of their GP assignments to make the final. They won the silver at GPF with great performances in the short and free program. Right now, Peng Cheng/Jin Yang are diligently preparing for the National Championships, they are hoping to repeat their good performances and show everyone 2 perfect programs.
Additionally, Olympians Yu Xiaoyu/Zhang Hao who also took off the first half of the season will be participating. Wang Xuehan/Wang Lei, Tang Feiyao/Yang Yongchao will also be contenders for the podium.
For the ladies’ singles competition, Chinese Grand Prix [T/N: domestic competition, not actual GPs] ladies champion An Xiangyi had 2 new programs choreographed after the competition in September. Zhu Yi (Beverly Zhu), the Chinese-American figure skating talent, will be competing domestically for the first time.
Two-time world medalist, Jin Boyang, did not perform very well at his 2 GP assignments this season to make the GPF. Now that he is competing at home, [I] believe that he will be motivated to perform well and prove himself.
Two Chinese ice dance teams of Wang Shiyue/Xinyu Liu and Cheng Hong/Sun Zhuoming have been training in Canada with the legendary coaches of Dubreuil/Lauzon since the summer. They are specially returning from Canada to participate in the National Championships and this will be their first time competing domestically this season.
