{"id":14406,"date":"2019-02-04T08:25:39","date_gmt":"2019-02-04T13:25:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/?p=14406"},"modified":"2019-02-26T12:10:20","modified_gmt":"2019-02-26T17:10:20","slug":"ting-cui-rides-momentum-of-stellar-nationals-free-skate-to-late-season-assignments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/figureskatersonline.com\/news\/2019\/02\/04\/ting-cui-rides-momentum-of-stellar-nationals-free-skate-to-late-season-assignments\/","title":{"rendered":"Ting Cui rides momentum of stellar Nationals free skate to late-season assignments"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Maura Sullivan Hill, Team FSO staff writer
\nHeader photo by Robin Ritoss<\/span><\/p>\n

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DETROIT, MI–Ting Cui is going to have a busy second half of the season. She\u2019ll be competing at the Four Continents Championships and attending U.S. Figure Skating\u2019s 2019 World Junior Team Camp, plus she\u2019s the first alternate for the senior World Championships team.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Such an outcome seemed all but impossible on Thursday night (Jan.24), when she fell twice and failed to complete a combination in the women\u2019s short program at the U.S. Championships. She was in 12<\/span>th<\/sup><\/span> place heading into the long program.<\/span><\/p>\n

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But she climbed up to fifth<\/span>\u00a0place with a near-flawless free skate that earned a standing ovation from the crowd at the Little Caesar\u2019s Arena in Detroit. She finished third in that segment of the competition, ahead of last year\u2019s champion Bradie Tennell.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Cui landed a triple Lutz-triple toe and a slightly underrotated triple flip-euler-triple Salchow, alongside three other triples, a double Axel, and a double Axel-double toe combination.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s one of my best programs and performances, and one with the hardest jumps I\u2019ve done, with the triple Lutz-triple toe and the triple flip-half loop-triple Sal,\u201d Cui said in the mixed zone after her performance. \u201cDefinitely my best program, probably in my career so far.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Cui said she had to put the short program out of her mind to refocus for the long.\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cI think I honestly just got a little mad at myself after last night,\u201d she said. \u201cSo going into the long program, I was just so focused on each jump, making sure that I hit those landings. After the short, I just knew I had to leave it alone. That [the short program] didn\u2019t happen, in my mind.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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After earning the bronze at the U.S. Championships at the junior level in 2018 and competing on the Junior Grand Prix in the fall, this was Cui\u2019s senior debut at Nationals.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cThe audience is so different from junior\u2014there were so many people and I could just feel the energy of the crowd as I was finishing,\u201d she said. \u201cI was just so happy. And people were on their feet, too, which was really amazing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Cui\u2019s performance here gives her confidence as she heads to more high-pressure, high-stakes events later in the season.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cI definitely know I can do a clean long now\u2014it\u2019s in me. And I think it will definitely help with my confidence going into the next competition, and next year,\u201d she said. \u201cI was so happy and relieved. I was really disappointed after the short program, so to be able to come back like that and do a clean long, I was so happy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Cui, 16, is currently splitting her time between home in Maryland, where she is a junior at Towson High School, and Colorado Springs, Colorado, where she trains with Tom Zakrajsek and Tammy Gambill. She hails from the same area as former U.S. and World Champion Kimmie Meissner and says she looks up to Meissner.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cWhen I was just starting skating and really getting competitive into it, Kimmie was still there, either skating herself or coaching. It was really inspiring sharing the ice with a world champion and she\u2019s such a sweet person, too, that I really looked up to her as a person as much as a skater.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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FSO tweeted the quote and Meissner responded with a tweet of her own, saying, \u201c<\/span>I wanna cry. The feeling is mutual and watching Ting grow into that skater we all saw last night has been amazing. I can\u2019t wait for everything to come for her!<\/span><\/p>\n

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With U.S. Champion Alysa Liu, 13, age-ineligible to compete internationally even as junior, Cui\u2019s 5<\/span>th<\/sup><\/span> place finish was enough to earn the two late-season assignments and alternate spot for Worlds. We\u2019ll be seeing more from Cui even sooner than perhaps Meissner realized. Four Continents kicks off in Anaheim, Calif., on Feb. 7.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Figure Skaters Online’s Claire Cloutier will be in Anaheim, Calif. for the Four Continents Championships. Stay tuned to Figure Skaters Online for coverage from the event.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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