Boyang Jin bounced back in the Free Skating to lead the Chinese men to a 1-2 finish at their home Grand Prix in Chongqing on Saturday. He earned the first Grand Prix gold medal of his career. Overnight leader Han Yan slipped to second to continue a successful comeback. Italy’s Matteo Rizzo secured the bronze medal.
Boyang Jin, second after the Short Program, hit two quadruples to leapfrog countryman Han Yan into gold © International Skating Union
Jin opened his performance to 'Path of Silence' and 'Yellow Moon' with a big quadruple Lutz and followed up with a quadruple toeloop-double toeloop, two triple Axels and four more triples. The only glitch came when he doubled another planned quad toe. The two-time World bronze medalist picked up 176.10 points and racked up 261.53 points overall to win the first Grand Prix gold medal of his career.
“My performance was OK, but still not as good as I have been training,” Jin commented.
“Last year there was no Cup of China and I am very happy that the event came back. The main colour of the rink is red, like the spicy colour of Chongqing and that motivated me a lot,” the Chinese skater added.
Han Yan picked up a silver medal on his comeback to the rink © International Skating Union
Skating to 'La La Land', Yan, lying first after Friday's Short Program, landed a triple Axel-triple toeloop combination and four more clean triple jumps to score 162.99 points. With a total of 249.45 points, the former Chinese champion - who spent a year away from the sport before the Cup of China - slipped to second place.
“I want to thank the Chinese team that they gave me the chance to come back. My performance was normal, but I didn’t have the highest degree of difficulty. I am a bit surprised that I can be on the podium with triple jumps. I came here like a rookie skater,” Yan said.
Matteo Rizzo (ITA)'s Galicia Flamenco' featured difficult spins ©International Skating Union (ISU)
Rizzo’s 'Galicia Flamenco' featured a quadruple toeloop, triple Axel-triple toeloop as well as four more triples and difficult spins, but he crashed on his second triple Axel. The 2019 European bronze medalist was ranked fourth in the Free Skating at 160.16 points, but held on to third place at 241.88 points.
“It was like yesterday – I had a good start and then a huge mistake in the second half of the program. I need to go home and practice a lot the second part of my short and free programs,” Rizzo said.
2018 ISU Grand Prix Finalist Keegan Messing (CAN) moved up one spot to finish fourth on 237.36 points. Keiji Tanaka (JPN) placed fifth (233.62 points) and Jun Hwan Cha (KOR) came sixth (222.26 points).
ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Standings Men.
Overall, 60 skaters/couples representing 11 ISU members compete at Shiseido Cup of China November 8-10. The top 6 qualifiers of the Grand Prix series in each discipline will proceed to the Final in Torino (ITA), December 5 to 8, 2019. Cup of China is the fourth of six events in the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series. The next events Full entry lists, results, the General Announcement of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series are available on isu.org.
Where to watch and follow the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating 2019?
Viewers will be able to watch the Series either via their national broadcaster / channel and for countries where there are no broadcasters, the ISU will offer a live stream on the Skating ISU YouTube Channel as of season 2019/20. You will find the full list in the Where to watch news here.
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ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating 2019/20
Skate America - Las Vegas (USA) – October 18 – 20
Skate Canada International – Kelowna (CAN) – October 25 – 27
Internationaux de France – Grenoble (FRA) – Novembre 1 – 3
SHISEIDO cup of China – Chongqing (CHN) – November 8 – 10
Rostelecom Cup – Moscow (RUS) – November 15 – 17
NHK Trophy – Sapporo (JPN) – November 22 – 24
ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final (Senior & Junior) – Torino (ITA) – December 5 – 8
The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Series started in 1995 (previously known as the ISU Champions Series) and consists of six international senior invitational events and the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final. The skaters are seeded and invited to the six Grand Prix of Figure Skating events based on the results of the previous ISU World Figure Skating Championships. Competitors collect points in their ISU Grand Prix events towards the qualification for the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final. Only the top six Skaters / Couples in each discipline can qualify for the Final.
