In the most unprecedented of unprecedented figure skating seasons, we have reached the second of (now) four Grand Prix events this season. Two weeks ago, we had what actually felt like a fully-baked, albeit American-heavy, competition at Skate America. This week, after a cancelled Skate Canada last week, it’s time for an early Chinese Nationals, or what is also called Cup of China.
There will be some fantastic skating here this week, but there will also be some great Chinese talent who will be missed due to injury or because they are currently not in China. But here’s my best guess as to how this week will unfold.
2020 Cup of China
Unofficial hashtag: #CoC20 #GPFigure
Men Top 3 predictions
GOLD Boyang Jin
SILVER Han Yan
BRONZE He Zhang
This is the discipline that will have the most fireworks this week. Two-time World medalist Boyang Jin and four-time national champ Han Yan will resume their domestic rivalry. Last season saw the glorious return of Yan after a season of sorta-retirement, and he finished second to Jin at Cup of China this time last year. We have seen either of them yet this season in any capacity, so it’ll be interesting to see where they are in their competition readiness.
Pairs Top 3 predictions
GOLD Cheng Peng/Yang Jin
SILVER Yuchen Wang/Yihang Huang
BRONZE Daizifei Zhu/Yuhang Liu
With two-time World champions Wenjing Sui/Cong Han opting to not compete while Han continues to recover from hip surgery in the spring, last year’s Cup of China silver medalists, Cheng Peng/Yang Jin, are going in as the heavy favorites for gold. Yuchen Wang/Yihang Huang, who finished eighth at the World Junior Championships earlier this year, will be favored to be the runner-ups.
Dance Top 3 predictions
GOLD Shiyue Wang/Xinyu Liu
SILVER Hong Chen/Zhuoming Sun
BRONZE Wanqi Ning/Chao Wang
The top dance team in China for the past few years, Shiyue Wang/Xinyu Liu left their training base in Montreal and returned to China during the pandemic. Training away from their coaches and teammates has to be difficult, and Cup of China will be the first time we will have a chance to see if and/or how that has affected them as a dance team. Ice dance is the sole discipline where we will see the very top skaters from China competing - and the podium should be a repeat of multiple Chinese Nationals, with Hong Chen/Zhuoming Sun and Wanqi Ning/Chao Wang completing the podium in the five-team field.
Ladies Top 3 predictions
GOLD Hongyi Chen
SILVER Angel Li
BRONZE Lu Zheng
The ladies’ event will be the one that will be missing the most top skaters among the four disciplines. Hongyi Chen, who has been the top senior woman from China for the past few years, will be the heavy favorite to win, though Angel Li, one of the several skaters who used to represent the US who is now skating for China, may be a dark horse. We won’t get to see the other top Chinese women either because they train outside China (Shan Lin, Yi Zhu) or because they are not age-eligible for the senior Grand Prix (Xiangyi An).