{"id":10539,"date":"2017-12-28T21:24:16","date_gmt":"2017-12-29T02:24:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/?p=10539"},"modified":"2018-01-06T20:24:06","modified_gmt":"2018-01-07T01:24:06","slug":"after-an-inconsistent-grand-prix-campaign-vincent-zhou-retools-training-for-nationals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/2017\/12\/28\/after-an-inconsistent-grand-prix-campaign-vincent-zhou-retools-training-for-nationals\/","title":{"rendered":"After an inconsistent Grand Prix campaign, Vincent Zhou retools training for Nationals"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Maura Sullivan Hill, staff writer
\nPhoto by U.S. Figure Skating<\/span><\/p>\n

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Vincent Zhou was riding high at the end of last season. The 2017 U.S. silver medalist and World Junior Champion, 16-year-old Zhou was turning heads with his arsenal of quad jumps and sparking talk of an Olympic berth.<\/span><\/p>\n

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But that momentum didn\u2019t quite carry over into his first full senior season. His Grand Prix showings were inconsistent, with a fourth place at Cup of China followed by a ninth place finish at Internationaux de France. He was second in the free skate in China, climbing back from eighth place after the short. But overall, it wasn\u2019t the strong, consistent Zhou we saw at the end of last season.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cWe didn\u2019t obsess over what went wrong, because that can lead to negativity and lots of stress,\u201d Zhou said in a U.S. Figure Skating media call on Dec. 27. \u201cWe just discussed with a clear mind changes to make based on how I was feeling. We realized we were pushing too hard.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cSince France, we\u2019ve made the training much smarter, we\u2019re managing the schedule much better, and I think those are vital changes that have had a very positive impact on the way I\u2019m training now.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Zhou is planning five quads and two triple axels in the free skate at the 2018 U.S. Championships next week in San Jose, and says that he is practicing clean short and long programs, thanks to the adjustments in his training. He is coached by Tom Zakrajsek, Christy Krall and Drew Meekins in Colorado Springs, as well as by his longtime coach Tammy Gambill, who is based in Riverside, California.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Part of the problem in France was an overly ambitious free skate with six quads. He fell on two of them and popped two others. <\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cI think that going for six quads wasn\u2019t smart, because the entire goal of the season was to take things step by step,\u201d Zhou said. \u201cI did three quads at Junior Worlds last year and I\u2019ve done four successfully at Finlandia Trophy this year, so five is the next step. With the changes to training that we\u2019ve made, we\u2019ve been very successful.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Zhou also said he had been having some issues with his shin prior to France, which have since cleared up. He is also on the mend after his shoulder popped out of place on a fall on a quadruple salchow recently in training.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019ve made an almost full recovery by now. There is still one spin position that I can\u2019t do, but that will be cleared up by Nationals,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m still young and I\u2019m very lucky to be in good condition right now.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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When Zhou takes the ice in San Jose, the Olympic team selection will be on his mind. \u201cI can control whether they choose me or not by how I skate, and the way I manage how I skate is the way I manage how I train going into Nationals.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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He acknowledged that the pressures of an Olympic season, paired with his first full senior season, are challenging.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cI know that I\u2019m one of the contenders for the Olympic team, and that\u2019s a lot to handle as a first-year senior, especially at 16-17 years old,\u201d Zhou said, displaying maturity beyond those 17 years. \u201cAll the expectations and being compared with the top skaters in the world \u2014 I know that I\u2019m able to do all the quads that everyone else can do and that\u2019s the reason that I\u2019m compared with those people who are the top skaters in the world, but my artistry, my performance, my component scores have yet to catch up. It\u2019s hard trying to balance the two in my first year senior and, especially, in an Olympic year.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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The U.S. men\u2019s field is stacked with Olympic contenders, including 2017 Grand Prix Final Champion and 2017 U.S. Champion Nathan Chen, 2016 U.S. Champion Adam Rippon, 2015 U.S. Champion Jason Brown, and 2013 U.S. Champion Max Aaron. \u201cEveryone poised to make the Olympic team is a fighter,\u201d Zhou said of his competitors, and he pointed to training mate Max Aaron\u2019s work ethic this season as inspirational.<\/span><\/p>\n

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But whatever happens with his competitors, Zhou is focused on his own performance and preparation. \u201cI\u2019ll rely on myself doing well to succeed rather than others making mistakes.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Nationals will be a homecoming for Zhou, whose father still lives in the Bay Area while he and his mother live in Colorado for training.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cI think it\u2019s going to be wonderful competing there,\u201d said Zhou, who won the U.S. novice title the last time the event was held in San Jose, in 2012. \u201cI think there is going to be a cheering section that my mother is involved with organizing, so I\u2019m very excited about the support I\u2019ll have there.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Editor\u2019s Note: Figure Skaters Online\u2019s\u00a0Gina Capellazzi<\/a><\/span>\u00a0and Claire Cloutier, along with photographer\u00a0Leah Adams<\/a><\/span>, will be in San Jose for the U.S. Championships. Follow Figure Skaters Online on Twitter (@fsonline), Facebook (www.facebook.com\/fsonline), Instagram (https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/figureskatersonline\/) and on our website, www.figureskatersonline.com for coverage beginning January 2.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Maura Sullivan Hill, staff writer Photo by U.S. Figure Skating   Vincent Zhou was riding high at the end of last season. The 2017 U.S. silver medalist and World Junior Champion, 16-year-old Zhou was turning heads with his arsenal of quad jumps and sparking talk of an Olympic berth.   But that momentum didn\u2019t…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10542,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nationals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10539"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10539\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10554,"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10539\/revisions\/10554"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}