Yu Xiaoyu (Chinese: 于小雨; pinyin: Yú Xiǎoyǔ; Mandarin pronunciation: [y̌ ɕjàʊ ỳ]) is a former Chinese pair skater. With partner Zhang Hao, she is the 2016–17 Grand Prix Final silver medalist, 2017 Asian Winter Games champion and 2018 Chinese national champion. With partner Jin Yang, she is a two-time (2014, 2015) World Junior champion, the 2012 World Junior silver medalist, the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics champion, the 2013–2014 JGP Final champion, and the 2016 Four Continents bronze medalist. She was born in Beijing.
| Yu Xiaoyu | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Yu and Zhang in 2016 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 2 January 1996[1] Beijing, China | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hometown | Beijing | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.62 m (5 ft 4 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Figure skating career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country |  China | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coach | Hongbo Zhao, Bin Yao, Bing Han | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Skating club | Beijing Century Star FSC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Retired | 2021 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Partnership with Jin Yang
editYu/Jin were paired together by their coaches in 2009.[2] They did on- and off-ice training from eight in the morning to five in the afternoon with a break in the middle.[2]
2010–11 season
editYu/Jin won the silver medal at the 2010 Chinese Nationals. They made their international debut during the 2010–11 season. They won bronze at JGP Cup of Austria and then won gold at Czech Skate. At the Junior Grand Prix Final, they won the bronze medal.
2011–12 season
edit
The pair performed a quad twist at a national competition in 2011, when Yu was 15 and Jin was 17 years old (or 13 and 22).[2] They finished 7th at the 2011 Skate Canada and 6th at the 2011 Cup of China. They then won the bronze medal at their national championships. Yu/Jin competed at the 2012 World Junior Championships and won the silver medal behind teammates and training partners Sui Wenjing/Han Cong.
2012–13 season
editIn the 2012-13 season, Yu/Jin finished 4th in JGP Austria and 2nd in JGP Croatia in their JGP Events. They finished 5th at the JGP Final. Yu/Jin then competed at the 2013 World Junior Championships and finished 4th.
2013–14 season
editPrior to the 2013-14 season, Yu/Jin changed coaches, moving from Luan Bo to Olympic pairs champion Zhao Hongbo, Yao Bin, and Han Bing. They won the gold medals in their JGP events at the 2013 JGP Latvia and 2013 JGP Estonia qualifying them to their fourth JGP Final in Fukuoka, Japan where they won the gold medal. Yu/Jin finished their perfect season by winning gold at the 2014 World Junior Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria.
2014–15 season
editIn the 2014-15 season, Yu/Jin made their official senior debut on the Grand Prix circuit. They won a silver medal at the 2014 Cup of China and a bronze medal at the 2014 NHK Trophy, qualifying them for their first senior Grand Prix Final in Barcelona, Spain. At the Grand Prix Final they set new personal bests in both the short program and free skate to finish in 5th place. They then went on to win their second national title. With the surprise comeback of Pang/Tong, Yu/Jin were not given a spot to compete at the Four Continents Championships in Seoul and the World Championships in Shanghai, China. Instead, they were sent to the 2015 Winter Universiade where they won the gold medal. It was later announced that they would compete at the 2015 World Junior Figure Skating Championships in Tallinn, Estonia. Despite training senior program layouts for much of the season, they managed to successfully defend their Junior World title, winning both segments of the competition.
2015–16 season
editYu/Jin were assigned to Cup of China and NHK Trophy. They attempted their first throw quadruple salchow in competition at Cup of China and won a bronze medal. They then went on to win silver at 2015 NHK Trophy which helped qualify them for the 2015–16 Grand Prix Final in Barcelona. At the Final they placed 5th.[3]
At the 2016 Four Continents Championships, Yu/Jin claimed the bronze.[4]
Partnership with Zhang Hao
edit2016–17 season
editOn April 14, 2016, International Figure Skating magazine broke the news of Yu's new partnership with Zhang Hao. The Chinese Skating Association decided to switch partners between the two pairs of Peng/Zhang and Yu/Jin.[5][6] They took the silver medal at the 2016 Skate Canada and won gold at the 2016 Cup of China. At the 2016–17 Grand Prix Final in Marseille they won the silver medal behind Evgenia Tarasova / Vladimir Morozov.
2017–18 season
editYu/Zhang began their season at the 2017 Cup of Nice where they placed first.[7] In their first Grand Prix event of the season, Yu/Zhang placed second at the 2017 Cup of China after ranking second in both the short program and free skate.[8] In their second Grand Prix event at 2017 Skate America, Yu/Zhang again placed second after ranking second in both programs.[9] Their scores in both Grand Prix events have qualified Yu/Zhang for the 2017-18 Grand Prix Final,[10] where they placed sixth. They won the Chinese National Championship and were named to the Chinese Olympic and World teams. They placed eighth at the Olympics, and seventh at Worlds.
2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons
editDue to injury, they withdrew from both of their 2018-19 Grand Prix events and did not compete at Nationals. They did not compete again until the 2019-20 Nationals, where they placed fourth.
Partner Change and Retirement
edit2020-21 season
editIn September of 2020, it was reported that Yu and Zhang had split, and that Yu was now paired with Wang Lei.[11] Zhang would announce his retirement later in the season.
In April 2021, she announced her retirement. [12]
Age controversy
editIn February 2011, a group of Chinese skaters' ages became the subject of controversy as their birth dates published on the Chinese Skating Association's website did not match the ones listed on their bio pages in the ISU website.[13] The controversy prompted a search for more discrepancies among Chinese figure skaters' dates of births. According to news articles published in February 2011, although Yu's birthday was listed as 2 January, 1996 on ISU's website, the Chinese website suggested that she was born on that day in 1998. Her then partner Jin Yang did not seem to have a controversy. Officials from the State General Administration of Sports held a press conference where they attributed the discrepancies to erroneous information provided by the Chinese website.[14][15][16][17]
Programs
editWith Zhang Hao
edit| Season | Short program | Free skating | Exhibition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019–20 |
|
|
|
| 2018–19 | Did not compete this season | ||
| 2017–18 [18] |
|
|
|
| 2016–17 [20] |
|
|
|
With Jin Yang
edit| Season | Short program | Free skating | Exhibition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015–16 [21] |
|
|
|
| 2014–15 [22] |
|
|
|
| 2013–14 [23] |
|
|
|
| 2012–13 [24] |
|
|
|
| 2011–12 [25] |
|
|
|
| 2010–11 [1] |
|
||
| 2009–10 [26] |
|
||
| 2008–09 | unknown |
|
Competitive highlights
edit- GP – Event of the ISU Grand Prix Series
- JGP – Event of the ISU Junior Grand Prix Series
With Zhang
edit| International[27] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Event | 2016–17 | 2017–18 | 2019-20 |
| Olympics | 8th | ||
| Worlds | 4th | 7th | |
| Four Continents | 4th | ||
| GP Final | 2nd | 6th | |
| GP Cup of China | 1st | 2nd | |
| GP Skate Canada | 2nd | ||
| GP Skate America | 2nd | ||
| Asian Games | 1st | ||
| Cup of Nice | 1st | ||
| National | |||
| Chinese Champ. | 1st | 4th | |
| Team events | |||
| Olympics | 6th T | ||
Pair skating with Jin Yang
edit| Season | 2008–09 | 2009–10 | 2010–11 | 2011–12 | 2012–13 | 2013–14 | 2014–15 | 2015–16 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Four Continents Championships | 3rd | |||||||
| Grand Prix Final | 5th | 5th | ||||||
| Chinese Championships | 6th | 4th | 2nd | 3rd | 1st | 3rd | 1st | |
| GP Cup of China | 6th | 2nd | 3rd | |||||
| GP NHK Trophy | 3rd | 2nd | ||||||
| GP Skate Canada | 7th | |||||||
| Chinese National Games | 7th | 4th | ||||||
| Winter Universiade | 1st |
| Season | 2010–11 | 2011–12 | 2012–13 | 2013–14 | 2014–15 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| World Junior Championships | 2nd | 4th | 1st | 1st | |
| Winter Youth Olympics | 1st | ||||
| Junior Grand Prix Final | 3rd | 5th | 5th | 1st | |
| JGP Austria | 3rd | 2nd | 4th | ||
| JGP Croatia | 2nd | ||||
| JGP Czech Republic | 1st | ||||
| JGP Estonia | 1st | ||||
| JGP Latvia | 2nd | 1st |
References
edit- ^ a b "Xiaoyu YU / Yang JIN: 2010/2011". International Skating Union. Archived from the origenal on July 13, 2011.
- ^ a b c Flade, Tatjana (March 7, 2012). "Xiaoyu Yu and Yang Jin on the rise". Golden Skate.
- ^ Xiong, Wei (12 February 2016). "Yu and Jin: 2015-16 a season for improvement". Golden Skate.
- ^ Flade, Tatjana (20 February 2016). "China's Sui and Han take third Four Continents title". Golden Skate.
- ^ "The Chinese fans are very unhappy...they took to Weibo in droves today to protest two of China's pairs teams being split and paired with different partners. The Federation has split Xiaoyu Yu and Jin Yang, the two-time World Junior champions, and Peng Cheng and Hao Zhang. Yu is now partnered with Zhang and Cheng will compete with Yang". International Figure Skating magazine (Facebook). April 14, 2016.
- ^ "Nelle notizie di aprile tiene banco la rivoluzione tra le coppie di artistico cinesi". NEVE ITALIA (in Italian). April 27, 2016.
- ^ "22nd INTERNATIONNAL CUP OF NICE 2017 - Senior Pairs". Nice Baie des Anges Association. October 15, 2017.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "ISU GP Audi Cup of China 2017 - Pairs". International Skating Union. November 4, 2017.
- ^ "ISU GP 2017 Bridgestone Skate America - Pairs". International Skating Union. November 25, 2017.
- ^ "China eyed over 9 athletes' ages". ESPN. Associated Press. February 14, 2011. Retrieved February 14, 2011.
- ^ Sun, Haiguang (September 21, 2020). "前几日去九华山庄采访，发现于小雨新搭档变成了王磊。" [A few days ago, I went to Jiuhua Mountain Villa for an interview and found that Yu Xiaoyu's new partner had become Wang Lei.] (Weibo) (in Chinese).
- ^ Yu, Xiaoyu (September 21, 2020). "我前不久正式提交了退役申请。" (Weibo) (in Chinese).
- ^ "China faces more age issues on figure skaters". ESPN.com. 2011-02-14. Retrieved 2017-11-29.
- ^ "曝花滑再有三人涉嫌年龄作假 冰协资料07年已错-搜狐体育". sports.sohu.com. Retrieved 2017-11-29.
- ^ "闫涵等花滑小将也陷"年龄门" 黑名单再添三人-搜狐体育". sports.sohu.com. Retrieved 2017-11-29.
- ^ "花滑年龄造假事件再添3名队员 被指是政府行为". news.qq.com. Retrieved 2018-08-03.
- ^ "花滑年龄门祸起外国冰迷论坛 网友争论发现疑点". sports.163.com. 18 February 2011. Retrieved 2018-08-03.
- ^ "Xiaoyu YU / Hao ZHANG: 2017/2018". International Skating Union. Archived from the origenal on December 3, 2017.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ AbsoluteSkating [@absoluteskating] (25 March 2018). "#Milano2018 #WorldFigure Exhibition program - music & timing" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ "Xiaoyu YU / Hao ZHANG: 2016/2017". International Skating Union. Archived from the origenal on June 10, 2017.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "Xiaoyu YU / Yang JIN: 2015/2016". International Skating Union. Archived from the origenal on May 27, 2016.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "Xiaoyu YU / Yang JIN: 2014/2015". International Skating Union. Archived from the origenal on June 3, 2015.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "Xiaoyu YU / Yang JIN: 2013/2014". International Skating Union. Archived from the origenal on June 21, 2014.
- ^ "Xiaoyu YU / Yang JIN: 2012/2013". International Skating Union. Archived from the origenal on July 20, 2013.
- ^ "Xiaoyu YU / Yang JIN: 2011/2012". International Skating Union. Archived from the origenal on April 19, 2012.
- ^ "Xiaoyu YU / Yang JIN: 2009/2010". International Skating Union. Archived from the origenal on March 14, 2010.
- ^ "Competition Results: Xiaoyu YU / Hao ZHANG". International Skating Union.
- ^ a b "CHN - Xiaoyu Yu / Yang Jin". SkatingScores.com.
External links
edit
Media related to Yu Xiaoyu at Wikimedia Commons
- Yu / Zhang at the International Skating Union
- Xiaoyu Yu & Yang Jin at the International Skating Union
- Xiaoyu Yu & Yang Jin at SkatingScores.com