Fay

He Zhang (CHN) (20 y.o.) (World Standings #109) A Chinese skater, who has won six ISU Junior Grand Prix medals and competed at four Junior World Championships placing as high as 6th. Currently coached by Xin Zhang, his former coaches were Xin Liu and Shanwei Guan He Zhang was born on November 5th, 1996. He Zhang was expected to compete at last year’s Cup of China, but he withdrew and didn’t compete last season at all. He took part in the 2017 Cup of Nice and was able to produce a very good SP, landing 4S, 3A and 3Lz3T combination and coming second in this section. He lost the momentum in the FS, though, and was eighth in it, placing 6th overall. According to his ISU biography, his personal best overall score is 196.20, his best SP score is 70.85, his best FS score is 129.38, all achieved when he was a junior skater. But his Cup of Nice results were considerably higher – 81.75 in the SP and 130.96 in the FS, resulting in 212.71 overall. We wish him well in his senior GP debut! His SP seems to be Puttin’ On The Ritz His FP is Scheherazade by Rimsky-Korsakov Alexander Majorov (26 y.o.) (SWE) (World Standings #35) A Swedish skater, four times National champion, the 2017 Winter Universiade bronze medallist, the 2011 World Junior bronze medallist. Alexander is coached by his father, Alexander Majorov Sr. Alexander was born on July 19th, 1991, in St.Petersburg, Russia. His father, Alexander Majorov Sr, was the first coach to Alexei Yagudin, the 2002 Salt Lake Olympic champion. Alexander’s brother, Nikolaj, is also a skater. An athletic and powerful skater, Alexander hasn’t still been among the top senior men skaters, but his presence is unmistakable. His goal this year was to make it to the Olympic Games, let’s hope we see him there. He can jump 4T and 3A. His personal best overall score is 228.97 at the 2016 Warsaw Cup, his best SP score is 83.81 at the 2014 Olympic Games, his best FS score is 150.07 at the 2016 Warsaw Cup. His SP is Bang Bang His FP is Man with the Golden Arm, From Russia With Love and Peter Gunn Theme. His programs were choreographed by Irina Majorova and Marica Sandström Lindh Kevin Reynolds (CAN) (27 y.o.) (World Standings #29) A Canadian skater, the 2013 Four Continents champion, four times Canadian national medallist, the first man to have landed two quadruple jumps in the short program, and five quadruple jumps in the short program and free program, which he achieved in the 2013 Four Continents Championship. Kevin is coached by Joanne MacLeod. He started skating at the age of five and started training with Joanne at 9. One of the most recognisable and lovable skaters, Kevin is one of the skaters who can proudly wear the badge of beating Yuzuru Hanyu – he won his 2013 Four Continents title over Yuzu. He’s been struggling with quite a few injuries, though, so lately his performance level has somewhat lowered down, but he was able to finish 9th at the World Championships in a highly competitive field. He can jump 4S and 4T, has tried 4Lo quite few times, never landing it clean and rotated. His personal best overall score is 253.84 at the 2017 World Championship, his best SP score is 85.16 at the 2013 World Championship, his best FS score is 172.21 at the 2013 Four Continents Championship. This season, he has taken part in Finlandia Trophy where he placed 11th. His SP is Whiplash OST choreographed by Shae Lynn Bourne, His FP is The Armed Man: The Mass For Peace choreographed by Mark Pillay Han Yan (CHN) (21 y.o.) (World Standings #27) A Chinese skater, a three-time Four Continents bronze medalist (2013, 2015, 2016), the 2017 Asian Winter Games bronze medalist, 2013 Cup of China champion, 2012 World Junior champion, and a two-time (2009, 2010) Chinese national champion. Coached by Mingzhu Li, previously coached by Shuguang Jia Han Yan was born on March 6th, 1996, and started to skate when he was 5. After he won the 2012 World Junior championship, many people expected him to be a major competition to the likes of Yuzuru Hanyu as soon as he started his senior career in the autumn of 2013, as Yan Han can compete with anyone in the quality of his jumps, especially 3A, his expressivity and his wonderful skating skills. These hopes were substantiated in the season of 2013-2014, when Yan Han won the Cup of China gold medal and made it to the Grand Prix Final in Fukuoka, and finished in the respectable 7th place in the 2014 Winter Olympics and the 2014 World Championship. Unfortunately, ever after the infamous Cup of China collision with Yuzuru, his skating career went rather downhill and he’s been dogged with injuries, but his recent outing at the Cup of Nice, which he won decisively, seems to show he’s got lots of competitive fire in him for now. Undoubtedly, we will see him at the 2018 Olympic Games, so for now we wish him to do well in the Grand Prix events. According to the ISU biography, his personal best overall score is 271.55 at the 2016 Four Continents Championship, his best SP score is 90.14 at the 2013 Cup of China and his best FS score is 181.98 at the 2016 Four Continents. In the 2017 Cup of Nice, he went over these figures in the SP, accumulating 94.29 points. His SP is A Thousand Years His FP is I’ll Take Care Of You Both programs have been choreographed by Lori Nichol Grant Hochstein USA (World Standings #27 y.o) (World Standings #23) An American skater, the 2016 Nebelhorn Trophy bronze medallist and he finished fourth twice in the US National Championships (2016, 2017). He has finished in the top ten at three ISU Championships, including the 2016 World Championships. He won silver at a Junior Grand Prix event in Budapest in 2009. Currently coached by Peter Oppegard and Karen Kwan-Oppegard. His former coaches were Lindsay O'Donoghue and Maria Moscato. Grant was born on July 17th, 1990. Grant started practising taekwondo as a child but switched to figure skating when he was nine years old, inspired by the performances of Michelle Kwan at the 1998 Olympic Winter Games. His younger sister Veronica is a competitive skater as well. Grant coaches as well does competitive skating himself. This is the second Grand Prix event for Grant, his first was the Rostelecom Cup or Cup of Russia, where he got 206.09 points (67.56 for his SP and 138.53 for his FS) and placed 11th overall. His personal best total score is 237.25 at the 2016 World Championship in Boston, his personal best SP score is 81.94 at the 2017 Four Continents Championship, his personal best FS score is 162.44 at the 2016 World Championships. His SP is Your Song (from Moulin Rouge) choreographed by Peter Oppegard His FP is All I Ask Of You and Music Of The Night (from The Phantom Of The Opera) choreographed by Peter Oppegard Vincent Zhou (USA) (17 y.o.) (World Standings #21) An American skater, the 2017 World Junior champion, 2017 Bavarian Open champion, and 2017 U.S. national silver medallist. Vincent is coached by Tammy Gambill, Drew Meekins, Tom Zakrajsek Vincent was born on October 25th, 2000, and is the youngest skater in this competition. He started to skate at 5 years old. He comes from a talented family – his mother is a computer scientist who worked in Silicon Valley, his sister plays the violin. Vincent is a brilliant student and received he Presidential Award for Educational Excellence from President Obama. Yuzuru Hanyu is, along with Patrick Chan, Brian Boitano, Michael Weiss and Richard Dornbush, is among his skating idols. Vincent is an accomplished jumper who can jump an impressive array of quadruple jumps, which has been instrumental in his being able to finish 1st in the 2017 World Junior Championship. His personal best is 258.11 at the 2017 World Junior Championship, his best SP score is 80.53 at the Junior Grand Prix event in Yokohama and his best FS is 179.24 at the 2017 World Junior Championship. This is Vincent’s first senior season and he started it well at Finlandia Trophy, where he placed 2nd with the overall result of 250.01. His SP is Chasing Cars His FP is Moulin Rouge OST Both programs were choreographed by Jeffrey Buttle

Cup of China MEN Welcome to the third Grand Prix event – the Cup of China, which will be held at the Capital Gymnasium in Beijing on November 3-5. The Cup of China joined the series in 2003, replacing the event in Germany, and it’s curious that the series has only once had a repeat winner in Jeremy Abbott who won the gold medal in 2008 and 2011. Let’s see whether Javier Fernandez can become the second man to do that or whether he’ll be beaten by Boyang Jin – these are the two hot favourites for the competition. Let’s start by introducing the competitors according to their ranking from bottom to top.

That was the most random picking I've ever done. No idea what's going to happen here...

Guys, btw, the forum is six months old today...

Patrick seems to have run out of will to compete, the fire in him is quenched.

I think it might be a good idea to provide intermediary results now? Do you think Carolina stands a chance to make it to the final? Can Wakaba make it?

I didn't mind it that much during Seimei, but it irked me during other skates..

I might have been the only one person in the arena NOT enjoying people clapping to the beat. They were going off the beat all the time...

Heaven forbid! I would hate Yuzu to go miming...

I was more surprised to learn Shoma, Boyang and Patrick are no longer part of the men's figure skating top elite. Averbukh is delusional.

Julia was just a kid back then...

Chafik Besseghier (FRA) (28 y.o.) (World Standings #27) A French Skater, two times International Cup of Nice winner, 2016 French National champion. Currently coached by Stanick Jeannette, his former coaches were Annick Dumont, Claude Péri-Thévenard, Francoise Bonnard, Veronique Cartau-Treille. He was born on October 11th, 1989, and started skating quite late, at almost 13. For such a late starter, he’s achieved quite a lot by joining the elite skating rank and getting to skate to GP events. His personal best overall score is 239.39, his best SP score is 81.93, his best FS score is 157.46, all of them set the 2017 World Team Trophy. His SP is Sugarhill Gang and Down The Road choreographed by Nikolai Morozov His FP is Godfather choreographed by Benoit Richaud. Jorik Hendrickx (BEL) #18 A Belgian skater, two-time Belgian National champion, winner of several international medals, including the 2017 Nebelhorn Trophy gold medal and the Cup of Nice silver medal. He represented Belgium at the Olympic Games in Sochi and came 16th. Jorik is coached by Carine Herrygers. He started skating at the age of five, and has had to face quite a few difficulties with injuries and his rink being closed, but he persevered nonetheless and came triumphant at the qualifying event for the Olympic Games in Pyongchang and will doubtlessly be going there. His personal best overall score is 253.06, his best SP score is 85.15, his best FS score is 167.91, all of them set at the 2017 Nebelhorn Trophy His SP is Je Suis Malade, his FP is Concerto of Aranjuez, both choreographed by Adam Solya. He studies sports marketing and management at a university. His sister Loena is also a competitive singles skater Alexander Samarin (RUS) (19 y.o.) (World Standings #13) A Russian skater, 2017 Junior World Championship bronze medallist, 2016-2017 Junior Grand Prix silver medallist, 2017 Russian Championship silver medallist. 2015 CS Warsaw Cup gold medallist. Currently coached my Svetlana Sokolovskaya, his former coaches were Elena Buyanova, Inna Goncharenko and Lubov Fedorchenko. Alexander was born on June 15th, 1998 and started skating in 2002. An ambitious skater eager to make his presence known, Alexander has done his best to acquire as many quads as possible, though many find fault with the way he jumps them. This season, he’s making his first full debut in the senior field and this is the first major outing among some really formidable competitors for him. Let’s wish him luck! His personal best overall score is 245.53, his best SP score is 82.23 and his best FP score is 163.30, all of them set at the 2017 Junior World Championship. His SP is Moonlight Sonata and I’m No Angel choreographed by Peter Tchernyshev and Nikita Mikhailov, his FP is Unforgiven Ill and The House of The Rising Sun choreographed by Peter Tchernyshev Jason Brown (USA) #10 An American skater, 2015 National Champion, 2011 Junior Grand Prix Final champion, twice Junior World Championship medallist (2013 silver, 2012 bronze). He’s also a 2014 Sochi Olympic Games Team Event bronze medallist. Jason started to skate at the age of three and has been coached by Kori Ade since he was 5. He certainly stands out among other skaters: while he has been struggling with acquiring quads (he’s jumped 4T a few times, but they have mostly been underrotated), his other skills – his incredible flexibility, his ability to weave in beautiful and difficult and dense transitions into his program, his musicality and his enjoyment of everything he does – have never failed to impress judges and viewers alike and kept him relatively high in the rankings of senior skaters. His personal best overall score is 273.67, his best SP score is 94.32, both set at the 2017 World Team Trophy, his best FP score is 182.63 at the 2016 Skate America His SP is The Room Where It Happens (From Hamilton) and his FP is Inner Love both choreographed by Rohene Ward Jason also studies at university and plays the piano. Patrick Chan (CAN) #4 A Canadian skater, the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games silver medallist in men’s and team event, a three-time World champion (2011, 2012, 2013), a two-time Grand Prix Final champion (2010 and 2011), a three-time Four Continents champion (2009, 2012 and 2016), a nine-time Canadian National champion. Patrick Lewis Wai-Kuan Chan was born on December 31st, 1990. He started skating at the age of five. He originally wanted to become a hockey skater, but took up skating skills and soon figure skating consumed him. He spent innumerable hours on basic stroking and edge work, which made his skating skills truly unsurpassable and make any program of his stand out. He’s also catching up on the technical gap between him and the youngsters like Nathan Chen and Shoma Uno: last year he included a new quad, 4S, into his repertoire, this year, he might go for 4F. Though now he has announced he’s cutting out 4S out of his programs, we might hope he’ll bring them back for major competitions. His personal best overall score is 295.27 at the 2013 Trophee Bombard, his best SP score is 102.13 at the 2017 World Championship and his best FP score is 203.99 at the Four Continents Championship. His SP is Dust In The Wind, his FP is Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen choreographed by David Wilson. Shoma Uno (JPN) (19 y.o) (World Standings #2) A Japanese skater, 2017 World Championship silver medallist, 2017 4 Continents Championship bronze medallist, two-time Grand Prix Final bronze medallist, 2016-2017 Japanese National Champion, 2015 Junior World Champion and 2014-2015 Junior Grand Prix Final champion. Coached by Machika Yamada and Mihoko Higuchi. Shoma was born on December 17th, 1997 and started to skate at five thanks to Mao Asada. His skating idol is Daisuke Takahashi. Shoma has got gorgeous skating skills and incredible flow across the ice, but his jumping technique has been the subject of heated discussions all over the figure skating world about the amount of prerotation in them and the suspect landings. Nonetheless, he’s been adding loads of new quads over these two seasons and has landed four quads at competitions – 4T, 4F, 4Lo and 4S. He’s also got wonderful musicality and interpretation abilities, and has rightly been seen as the top contender for any competition. His best overall score is 319.84, his best SP score is 104.87 and his best FP score is 214.97, all of them set at the 2017 Lombardia Trophy. His SP is Vivaldi’s Winter, and in his FP he revisits his Turandot program of the season of 2015-2016. Both programs were choreographed by Mihoko Higuchi.

Keegan Messing (CAN) (25 y.o) (World Standings #57) A Canadian skater, two times International Cup of Nice champion (2011 and 2012) and Nebelhorn Trophy 2012 bronze medallist. He also won bronze medals at the 2016 Golden Spin of Zagreb and the 2017 SC Autumn Classic International. Currently coached by Ralph Burghardt. Keegan was born on January 1992 and started skating when he was 3. Messing has dual citizenship, American and Canadian. He started off skating for the US and won his Cup of Nice golds and Nebelhorn Trophy for this country. In 2014, he switched to competing for Canada. His technical arsenal includes 4T and 4T2T combination, Keegan is also a fast spinner and has got good flow and tremendous speed on the ice, but he’s been inconsistent in landing his jumps, which hampered his career. His personal best accumulative score is 248.30, his best SP score is 86.33, his best FS score is 161.97, all these were achieved at the 2017 SC Autumn Classic International. His SP for this season is Singing in the Rain choreographed by… His FS is Chaplin choreographed by Lance Vipond Nicolas Nadeau (CAN) (20 y.o) #52 A Canadian skater, 2016 Junior World silver medallist and the 2015 Canadian junior champion. He has been coached by Yvan Desjardins since 2011. He names Kurt Browning and Shawn Sawyer among his skating idols. Nicolas was born on September 30th, 1997 and started to skate in 2003. Nicolas is an energetic and fun skater with admirable skating skills, but he has been dogged with injuries last year. He still managed to come fourth in the 2017 Canadian Championship, where he became the first Canadian man to land 4Lo. This year, Nicolas has been competing with only 4T and 3A, but let’s see whether he’ll be able to bring some other quads into the play. His personal best accumulative score is 224.76 achieved at the 2016 Junior Championship, his best SP score is 79.54 at the Junior GP event in Croatia, his best FS score is 150.86 at the 2016 Junior Championship. His SP for this season is A Wink and a Smile His FS is Elvis Priestley Medley Jun Hwan Cha (KOR) (16 y.o.) (World Standings #46) A South Korean skater, 2016-2017 Junior Grand Prix bronze medallist, 2017 National Champion, 2012 and 2013 Junior South Korea champion. Currently coached by Brian Orser. His former coach was Shin Hea-Sook. Jun Hwan was born on October 21st, 2001, and started skating at the age of seven. He’s also been a child actor, idol and a ballet dancer. He moved to Toronto Cricket Club to train with Brian Orser in the spring of 2016. Jun Hwan is an incredibly musical and expressive skater with his own distinctive style at this young age and with beautiful skating skills. Last year, he looked as if he were a top contender for the junior world title, but his sudden growth spurt and injuries somewhat slowed that fast progress. We hope that this year he will have overcome his issues. He’s landed 4S and 3A successfully, and is said to be learning 4T and 4Lo – we hope to see these this season. His personal best overall score is 242.45, his best SP score is 82.34 both of which were set at the 2017 Junior World Championship, his best FS score is 160.13 at the Junior Grand Prix event in Yokohama His SP is What a Wonderful World, his FP is the Planets by Gustav Holst. Both programs were choreographed by David Wilson. Brendan Kerry (AUS) (22 y.o.) (World Standings #33) An Australian skater, five-time Australian National champion. Bronze medallist of the two Challenger Series competitions this season –the 2017 Lombardia Trophy and the 2017 Ondrej Nepela Trophy. Last year, he finished 15th at the World Championship in Helsenki and won a qualification for Australia at the Olympic Games in Pyongchang. Currently coached by Tammy Gambill, his previous coaches were Galina Pachin, Monica MacDonald (his mother), Kylie Fennel. Brendan comes from a figure skating family: his mother Monica MacDonald was an ice dancer, his sister Chantelle Kerry competes in ladies’ singles Brendan is fine and accomplished skater who has shown admirable perseverance in developing his skills and art and steadily climbing up the ranks of skaters, which is very special for a nation not known as a major power in figure skating. His repertoire of technical elements include 4S and 4T. His personal best overall score is 236.24, his best SP score is 83.11, his best FS score is 153.13, all of them set at the 2017 World Championship. His SP is Everyone Wants To Rule The World choreographed by Mark Pillay His FS is Valley of Dreams choreographed by Nikolai Morozov Takahito Mura (JPN) (26 y.o) (World Standings #30) A Japanese skater, the 2014 Four Continents champion, 2014 Skate Canada champion, and 2012 Trophée Éric Bompard champion. Nationally, he is a four-time Japan Championships bronze medallist and 2008 Japan Junior champion. Currently coached by Takashi Mura, his former coaches were Hiroshi Nagakubo, Yoriko Naruse, Naoki Shigematsu Takahito Mura was born on February 11th, 1991 and comes from a figure skating family: his father and coach Takashi Mura competed internationally and his mother also was a figure skater. Takahito is a beautiful skater with flair for unusually colourful and sometimes dubious clothing, and he has been working hard to keep up with the incredible progress in men’s skating we’ve been seeing these couple of years. Last season, his plans were curtailed by injuries and mishaps, so he didn’t make it into the Japanese Team for the Four Continents Championship and World Championship. This season, he’s undoubtedly fired by competition and a desire to make it to Pyongchang. His personal best overall score is 268.43, his best SP score is 89.08, and his best FS score is 179.35, all achieved at the 2016 Four Continents Championship. His SP is Too Close by Alex Clare choreographed by Massimo Scali His FP is The Phantom of the Opera choreographed by Charlie White Michal Brezina (CZE) (27 y.o.) (World Standings #28) A Czech skater, the 2013 European bronze medalist, 2011 Skate America champion, 2009 World Junior silver medalist, and 2010 Czech national champion, the winner of the 2014-15 ISU Challenger Series. Currently coached by Rafael and Very Aratyunan and Nadezhda Kanaeva. He was previously coached by K. Fajfr, V. Petrenko, P. Starec, K. Divin and A. Knothova Michal was born on March 30th 1990. He comes from a skating dynasty: He is the son of Rudolf Březina, a figure skating coach. His younger sister, Eliška Březinová, competes in ladies' single skating. He was initially interested in ice hockey, but on his father's advice started pursuing figure skating. He showed his potential early on and got as high as winning a Grand Prix event in 2011, but his inconsistency led him to lose that early momentum, unfortunately. He's a joy to see when he's on, but lately his programs have been rather messy. He has landed 4T and 4S in competitions. His personal best overall score is 243.52 at the 2013 European Championship, his best SP score is 87.67 at the 2012 World Championship and his best FS score is 163.68 at the 2013 European Championship. His SP is Kodo (Japanese Drums) choreographed by Pasquale Camerlengo His FP is Human by Jamie Hartman, Rory Graham, Stand by Me by Ben E. King, Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller and Human (MJ Cole Remix) choreographed by Benoit Richaud.

Let's continue the story: Welcome to Skate Canada, an international senior-level competition held in different Canadian cities every year. The story of Skate Canada International goes back to 1973, and it was added to Grand Prix events in 1995, the year the series began. This year’s Skate Canada will be held at Evraz Place in Regina, Saskatchewan.

enjoy is too trite a word for what I've been feeling these days...

Guys, could you wait another day - and I'll translate everything. I'm just half dead now...

Yes, it's a good thing we are not betting any money on this! I'd go broke in no time!

Well, I was joking! But really, if ever TSL says anything nice about Yuzu... the earth will split in two.

Yeah, it should be a bannable business to mention TSL on the planet...

That too. But he himself admitted that performance made him realize something important, it was a lesson of its own...

Definitely. It just was spellbinding to watch it....

Aaaaaaa! Он в Москве! Я не готова к этому!!!

I've hardly ever done so many random guesses - this feels worse than a lottery!

So if nothing changes, the order the men will be performing their SP will be: Group 1: Andrey Lazukin Moris Kviletashvili Denis Ten Nam Nguyen Grant Hochstein Misha Ge Group 2: Deniss Vasiljevs Dmitri Aliev Daniel Samohin Nathan Chen Mikhail Kolyada Yuzuru Hanyu.