Cup of China returns to Beijing

15CoC-RR-5907by Melanie Hoyt | Photo by Robin Ritoss

The Audi Cup of China returns to Beijing this year as the traditional third stop on the Grand Prix Series. The eight teams on the roster represent five countries and will feature a showdown between American world silver medalists Madison Chock & Evan Bates and Italian world champions Anna Cappellini & Luca Lanotte.

Chock & Bates won Skate America two weeks ago and look to repeat last year’s success of winning two gold medals on the Grand Prix circuit. They unveiled a new short dance at Skate America; their competitive outing was only the third run-through of the new program to “More” by Andrea Bocelli and “Unchained Melody” by Il Divo. The American audience was captivated by their enthusiastic interpretation, but seemed less enthralled with their winning free dance to Rachmaninoff’s second piano concerto.

Cappellini & Lanotte began their season with an easy win at Lombardia Trophy near Milan. Their charming short dance to music from “The Merry Widow” suits them well. In the free dance, they take on the Nino Rota soundtrack from “La Dolce Vita.” They are the reigning bronze medalists from this event, but last year, they withdrew from their second Grand Prix event after their disappointing outing in China. Hoping to fare better this year, they will want a silver medal to maximize their chances of qualifying for the Grand Prix Final.

Russians Elena Ilinykh & Ruslan Zhiganshin are coming off of a personal-best outing at Mordovian Ornament, their first competition of this season. The duo was inconsistent in their freshman season, qualifying for the Grand Prix Final, but finishing only seventh at the World Championships. This year, they hope to show improvement and look to be on track to place even better. Their short dance to music by Queen is more contemporary than most of their competitors’ and in the free dance, they portray artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera against the soundtrack from “Frida.”

Kaitlin Hawayek & Jean-Luc Baker are the second entry from Team USA. They have already picked up two fourth-place finishes this year, one at Finlandia Trophy and the other at Skate America. A third fourth-place finish would be a great effort from them, though they have an outside shot at the podium if one of the top three teams falters. Their free dance to “The Theory of Everything” fared much better at Skate America than it did at Finlandia Trophy, and if they can continue to develop the story, it could be a vehicle that propels them to the world team at the end of the season.

Federica Testa & Lukas Csolley debuted this season at Ondrej Nepela Trophy, where they finished fourth behind a trio of well-established teams. The duo made a nice jump last year, finishing in the top 15 at the World Championships for the first time. A top-five finish in China is within their reach.

As the only Chinese team with two Grand Prix assignments, Shiyue Wang & Xinyu Liu are expected to lead the Chinese contingent of three teams. They were eighth at Skate America two weeks ago. Wang & Liu should be able to delight the home crowd with a free dance to the soundtrack from “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” that features impressive lifts.

Yue Zhao & Xun Zheng and Yue Cong & Zhuoming Sun, both of China, round out the roster. It is the international début for Cong & Sun, while Zhao & Zheng were eighth at Cup of China last year.

The dance events will kick off the competition on each day. The short dance is scheduled for Friday afternoon, and the free dance will be held Saturday afternoon.