Yu Xiaoyu

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.

For the badminton player, see Yu Xiaoyu (badminton).
In this Chinese name, the family name is Yu.
Yu Xiaoyu
Yu and Zhang in 2016
Born (1996-01-02) 2 January 1996[1]
Beijing, China
HometownBeijing
Height1.62 m (5 ft 4 in)
Figure skating career
Country China
CoachHongbo Zhao, Bin Yao, Bing Han
Skating clubBeijing Century Star FSC
Retired2021
Medal record
Figure skating: Pairs
Representing  China
(with Zhang Hao)
Grand Prix Final
Silver medal – second place2016–17 MarseillePairs
Asian Winter Games
Gold medal – first place2017 SapporoPairs
Representing  China
(with Jin Yang)
Four Continents Championships
Bronze medal – third place2016 TaipeiPairs
Winter Universiade
Gold medal – first place2015 GranadaPairs
Winter Youth Olympics
Gold medal – first place 2012 InnsbruckPairs
World Junior Championships
Gold medal – first place2014 SofiaPairs
Gold medal – first place2015 TallinnPairs
Silver medal – second place2012 MinskPairs
Junior Grand Prix Final
Gold medal – first place2013–14 FukuokaPairs
Bronze medal – third place2010–11 BeijingPairs

Partnership with Jin Yang

Yu/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

Yu/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
Yu and Jin at 2011 Skate Canada

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

In 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

Prior 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

In 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

Yu/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

2016–17 season

On 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

Yu/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

Due 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

2020-21 season

In 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]

Programs

With Zhang Hao
Season Short program Free skating Exhibition
2019–20
2018–19 Did not compete this season
2017–18
[13]
2016–17
[15]
  • Eternal Flame
  • Fearless
    by Brand X Music
    choreo. by David Wilson
  • Leon
    by Eric Serra

With Jin Yang
Season Short program Free skating Exhibition
2015–16
[16]
2014–15
[17]
2013–14
[18]
2012–13
[19]
2011–12
[20]
2010–11
[1]
2009–10
[21]
  • The Love of Death
    by Park Sei Joon
2008–09 unknown

Competitive highlights

GP: Grand Prix; JGP: Junior Grand Prix

With Zhang
International[22]
Event 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019-20
Olympics8th
Worlds4th7th
Four Continents4th
GP Final2nd6th
GP Cup of China1st2nd
GP Skate Canada2nd
GP Skate America2ndWD
GP France WD
Asian Games1st
Cup of Nice1st
National
Chinese Champ.1st4th
Team events
Olympics6th T
5th P

With Jin
International[23]
Event 08–09 09–10 10–11 11–12 12–13 13–14 14–15 15–16
Four Continents3rd
GP Final5th5th
GP Cup of China6th2nd3rd
GP NHK Trophy3rd2nd
GP Skate Canada7th
Universiade1st
International: Junior[23]
Junior Worlds8th*2nd4th1st1st
Youth Olympics1st
JGP Final3rd5th5th1st
JGP Austria3rd2nd4th
JGP Croatia2nd
JGP Czech Rep.1st
JGP Estonia1st
JGP Latvia2nd1st
National[23]
Chinese Champ.6th4th2nd3rd1st3rd1st
Chinese NG7th4th
*Placement removed as China was erroneously allowed one too many entries.

References
  1. "Xiaoyu YU / Yang JIN: 2010/2011". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on July 13, 2011.
  2. Flade, Tatjana (March 7, 2012). "Xiaoyu Yu and Yang Jin on the rise". Golden Skate.
  3. Xiong, Wei (12 February 2016). "Yu and Jin: 2015-16 a season for improvement". Golden Skate.
  4. Flade, Tatjana (20 February 2016). "China's Sui and Han take third Four Continents title". Golden Skate.
  5. "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.
  6. "Nelle notizie di aprile tiene banco la rivoluzione tra le coppie di artistico cinesi". NEVE ITALIA (in Italian). April 27, 2016.
  7. "22nd INTERNATIONNAL CUP OF NICE 2017 - Senior Pairs". Nice Baie des Anges Association. October 15, 2017.
  8. "ISU GP Audi Cup of China 2017 - Pairs". International Skating Union. November 4, 2017.
  9. "ISU GP 2017 Bridgestone Skate America - Pairs". International Skating Union. November 25, 2017.
  10. "China eyed over 9 athletes' ages". ESPN. Associated Press. February 14, 2011. Retrieved February 14, 2011.
  11. 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).
  12. Yu, Xiaoyu (September 21, 2020). "我前不久正式提交了退役申请。" (Weibo) (in Chinese).
  13. "Xiaoyu YU / Hao ZHANG: 2017/2018". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on December 3, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  14. AbsoluteSkating [@absoluteskating] (25 March 2018). "#Milano2018 #WorldFigure Exhibition program - music & timing" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  15. "Xiaoyu YU / Hao ZHANG: 2016/2017". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on June 10, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  16. "Xiaoyu YU / Yang JIN: 2015/2016". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on May 27, 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  17. "Xiaoyu YU / Yang JIN: 2014/2015". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on June 3, 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  18. "Xiaoyu YU / Yang JIN: 2013/2014". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on June 21, 2014.
  19. "Xiaoyu YU / Yang JIN: 2012/2013". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on July 20, 2013.
  20. "Xiaoyu YU / Yang JIN: 2011/2012". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on April 19, 2012.
  21. "Xiaoyu YU / Yang JIN: 2009/2010". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on March 14, 2010.
  22. "Competition Results: Xiaoyu YU / Hao ZHANG". International Skating Union.
  23. "Competition Results: Xiaoyu YU / Yang JIN". International Skating Union.

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