BEIJING, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese figure skating team was busying preparing for the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Audi Cup of China, and head coach Zhao Hongbo said the skaters were in good condition and expected good season start ahead of the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic Games.
The Cup of China, which runs from Nov. 3 to 5, is the fifth of six events in the series and an important qualifying match for the Chinese team. Most of the Chinese skaters would make their season debut at the Capital Gymnasium in Beijing, including newly-crowned world pairs champions Sui Wenjing/Han Cong, two consecutive world championships men's singles bronze medalist Jin Boyang.
"We have prepared for the new season since April this year. I believe that our skaters are fully prepared. The Cup of China is a season start to most of them. I hope they can spare no effort and present the best performance which has been shown during the training," said Zhao on Friday during Chinese team's open training at the Capital Gymnasium.
According to Zhao, at the beginning of a new season, the judging standard is sometimes different as the referees are not familiar with new programs of the skaters.
"Therefore our skaters should try to be the best. Then we can get some feedback and make minor changes to our programs," added Zhao, who together with Shen Xue became the first ever non-European couple to be crowned in the Olympic pairs figure skating history at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
Chinese skaters will compete for points to qualify for the Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final, and then will focus on the preparation for the Olympics.
En route to the PyeongChang Olympics, Zhao said the Chinese team paid more attention to the overall performance of programs rather than the difficulty. "If the program can be fully presented, the score will be high. Meanwhile, the difficulty is double-edged sword as the failure in execution can influence the program completeness."
China's 20-year-old skater Jin Boyang, who has been famous for his most difficult jumps, said two weeks ago at the press conference of the Cup of China that his dream was to win China's first-ever men's singles Olympic medal. With the arrival of the Cup of China, his was more confident.
"World famous choreographer Lori (Nichol) has traveled to China to help my new programs. Now I feel more comfortable and fluent in my program," said Jin.
Nichol, always called Lori by Chinese figure skaters, is a four time recipient of the Professional Skaters' Association's Choreographer of the Year Award and has worked with the Chinese team for more than 10 years. Some of the famous programs seen from Shen Xue/Zhao Hongbo were choreographed by her.
"Compare to last year, based on my difficulty, I hope to have better detail connection and expression and achieve the top standard in two jumps and performance," said Jin.
World champions Sui/Han will participate in their third Cup of China. "Home spectators are always passionate, while we will feel more nervous at this competition. We expect to present the best performance at homeland," said Sui.
