International Skating Union
The International Skating Union is the international governing body for competitive ice skating disciplines, including figure skating, synchronized skating, speed skating, short track speed skating. It was founded in Scheveningen, Netherlands, in July 1892, making it one of the oldest international sport federations; the ISU was formed to establish standardized international rules and regulations for the skating disciplines it governs, to organize international competitions in these disciplines. It is now based in Switzerland; the International Skating Union was founded in 1892 to figure skating. In 1895, the ISU streamlined its mission to deal only with amateur competitors and not professionals; the organization hosted its first amateur skating championship in February 1896 in St. Petersburg, Russia; the United States and Canada formed a competing organization, the International Skating Union of America, in 1907. Within the next two years, twelve European nations had joined the ISU, the ISUA had only its original members.
The ISUA folded in 1927. European and North American figure skaters competed against each other due to differences in their styles of skating; the ISU had "systematized and arranged" the sport of figure skating, with competitions including "a selection of ten or twelve numbers from the I. S. U. programme... five minutes' free skating to music... special figures" on one foot. In 1911, Canada joined the ISU, leaving the United States as the only major competitor to not be a member. Short track speed skating gained its own world championship event, hosted by the ISU, in 1976. At the time, the sport was known as indoor speed skating, but it was renamed short-track when indoor rinks for the longer speed skating events were introduced. By 1988, 38 nations had joined the ISU. Within the next few years, the ISU abandoned one of its long-held practices, eliminating the use of mandatory figures in the singles' figure skating competitions and reducing their use in ice dancing. After the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, the ISU implemented sweeping changes to many of its events.
In one of the short track speed skating events, Apolo Anton Ohno was awarded the gold medal after the disqualification of Kim Dong-Sung. Although the South Korean delegation protested the disqualification, ISU rules did not allow for a review of the official's call. Several months the ISU approved the use of video replay, when available, to review referee decisions; the rules for judging figure skating were changed as the result of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games figure skating scandal. According to Ottavio Cinquanta, former president of the ISU, "'Something was wrong there,'...'Not just the individual but the system. It existed for 70 years. Now we are trying to replace one system with another.'" A new figure skating judging system took effect in 2004, eliminating the 6.0 system perfect scores and instead giving points for various technical elements. In addition to sanctioning other international competitions, the ISU designates the following competitions each year as "ISU Championships": Long track speed skating: World Allround Speed Skating Championships World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships World Sprint Speed Skating Championships World Junior Speed Skating Championships European Speed Skating Championships Short track speed skating: World Short Track Speed Skating Championships World Short Track Speed Skating Team Championships World Junior Short Track Speed Skating Championships European Short Track Speed Skating Championships Figure skating: World Figure Skating Championships World Junior Figure Skating Championships European Figure Skating Championships Four Continents Figure Skating Championships Synchronized skating: World Synchronized Skating Championships World Junior Synchronized Skating Championships Note that events such as the Olympic Winter Games and the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating are not ISU Championships.
However, they do count towards Personal Best scores. Dates and locations of first world championships in various disciplines held under the auspices of the ISU: 1893: Speed skating, Amsterdam 1896: Figure skating, St. Petersburg 1906: Figure skating, Davos 1908: Figure skating, St. Petersburg 1936: Speed skating, Stockholm 1952: Figure skating, Paris 1970: Sprint speed skating, West Allis, Wisconsin 1978: Short track speed skating, Solihull, UK 2000: Synchronized skating, Minneapolis ISU has an agreement with Federation of International Bandy to use the same arenas; the cooperation between the two federations is increasing, since both have an interest in more indoor venues with large ice surfaces being built. As of the summer of 2008, the ISU consisted of 63 member nations, with a governing council of 11. To add any proposal to the agenda of meetings, it must have support from four-fifths of the members. Proposals on the agenda are approved with a two-thirds majority vote. 1892–1895 Pim Mulier 1895–1925 Viktor Balck 1925–1937 Ulrich Salchow 1937–1945 Gerrit W. A. van Laer 1945–1953 Herbert J. Clarke 1953–1967 James Koch 1967–1967 Ernst Labin 1967–1980 Jacques Favart 1980–1994 Olaf Poulsen 1994–2016 Ottavio Cinquanta 2016–present Jan Dijkema As of 16 July 2018, there are 93 member federations of the International Skating Union.
In many countries, figure skating and speed skating are governed by different federations, but both can be members of the ISU. Some of these national federations govern other sports in their countries, but a
Timothy Goebel
Timothy Richard Goebel is an American former competitive figure skater. He is the 2002 Olympic bronze medalist, he was the first person to land a quadruple salchow jump in competition and the first person to land three quadruple jumps in one program. He landed 76 career quadruple jumps before his retirement in 2006. Goebel was born on September 1980, in Evanston, Illinois, he was adopted through Catholic Charities by Richard Goebel as an infant. Goebel attended Loyola Marymount University. Beginning in the fall of 2006, he studied at Columbia University's School of General Studies, graduating in May 2010 with a bachelor's degree in mathematics. After working for the Nielsen ratings company, he joined MEC, as a consumer analyst; as of April 2016, he was pursuing a master's degree in data science from New York University Stern School of Business. In January 2017, he began working as a data analyst for Google. In April 2016, Goebel became engaged to his boyfriend of Thomas Luciano, they married on April 2017, in Newport, Rhode Island.
Early in his career, Goebel was coached by Carol Heiss Jenkins and Glyn Watts near his Illinois home and moved to California to work with Frank Carroll. Goebel was sometimes referred to as the "Quad King" because of his ability to land quadruple jumps. On March 7, 1998, in Lausanne, Switzerland, at the Junior Grand Prix Final, Goebel became the first skater in the world to land a quadruple Salchow, the first American skater to land a quadruple jump of any kind in competition. International Skating Union officials ratified the jump at the end of the month after watching a video provided by the parents of Tiffany Stiegler / Johnnie Stiegler. On October 31, 1999, at the 1999 Skate America in Colorado Springs, Goebel became the first skater to land three quads in one program. In the free skate, he landed a quad salchow in combination, a quad toe loop, a quad salchow as a solo jump. Goebel made history at the 2002 Olympics by becoming the first skater to land a quad salchow jump in combination in Olympic competition.
Goebel's repertoire of quadruple jumps made him one of the most competitive skaters in the world during the peak of his career. He would land a total of 76 quads in competition. Goebel was criticized early in his career for focusing on jumping to the detriment of choreography and presentation, but in years he improved in those areas. Goebel struggled with his jumps after 2003 due to injuries. At the 2006 U. S. Championships, in what he had announced would be his last competitive season, he was unable to land either a quadruple jump or triple axel cleanly, dropped to a seventh-place finish which left him far short of qualifying for the 2006 Winter Olympics. Goebel represented the Winterhurst Figure Skating Club, he was coached by Audrey Weisiger in Fairfax, after having been coached by Carol Heiss Jenkins, Glyn Watts and Frank Carroll. On April 25, 2006, Goebel announced his retirement from competitive skating, he planned to continue to contribute to the sport as a technical specialist, having received certification for competitions sanctioned by the United States Figure Skating Association.
He worked as a technical specialist at the Aviator Figure Skating Academy in New York. He attended Columbia University. In 2016 he received a Master of Science in Business Analytics degree from New York University Stern School of Business, works for Google as a Marketing Mix Modeling Partner Program Manager. GP = Grand Prix. S. Olympic Committee
Figure skate
Figure skates are a type of ice skate used by figure skaters. The skates consist of a boot and a blade, attached with screws to the sole of the boot. Inexpensive sets for recreational skaters are available, but most figure skaters purchase boots and blades separately and have the blades mounted by a professional skate technician. During the 19th century, new forms of ice skates were developed to allow for more control and safer gliding. Specific figure skates were created in response to the rise of figure skating's popularity in the 19th century, coinciding with the beginnings of formalized competitions such as the World Figure Skating Championships; the name "figure" skating arises from the compulsory portion of the competition, dropped in the 1990s, requiring skaters to trace out precise figures on the ice, including perfect figure 8 circles. Figure skates are now manufactured with extreme precision for use in competitive sports. Blades are designed to include various types of toe picks that allow for skaters to reach new heights for jumps and spins, depending on the skater's level.
Figure skating boots are traditionally made by hand from many layers of leather. The design of figure skating boots changed during the 20th century. Old photographs of skaters such as Sonja Heine from the 1920s and 1930s show them wearing thin, supple boots reaching to mid-calf. Modern skating boots, on the other hand, are rigid to support the foot and ankle in jumps, are cut much lower—just over ankle height—to allow the foot to flex; because the stiffness of the boots makes good fit essential, many skaters either order custom boots or have their boots "bumped out" over pressure points by a skate technician. In recent years, boots made of synthetic materials with heat-modifiable linings have become popular with many skaters because they combine strength with lighter weight than leather boots, are easier to "break in." The latest development in boot technology is a boot, hinged at the ankle to provide lateral support while allowing more flexibility. Boots used in ice dance are slightly lower in the back to allow for greater bend in the ankle.
Some boots come with a flexible elastic back. The typical colors for boots are black for men and white for women, although other colors are available. Figure skates differ most visibly from hockey skates in having a set of large, jagged teeth called toe picks on the front of the blade; the toe picks are used in jumping and spins and should not be used for stroking. Toe pick designs have become quite elaborate and sometimes include additional picks on the sides of the blade referred to as a k-pick; the skate blades are made of tempered carbon steel, coated with a high-quality chrome. Lightweight aluminum and stainless steel blades are becoming more popular with skaters. Blades are about 3⁄16 in thick and may have a tapered cross-section. There are different blades for different levels of skaters which correspond to a skater's age and skill level. Blades for advanced skaters have larger toe picks and different curves than blades for beginner and recreational levels; when viewed from the side, the blade of a figure skate is not flat, but curved forming an arc of a circle with a radius of 180–220 cm.
This curvature is referred to as the rocker of the blade. The sweet spot of the blade is below the ball of the foot; this spot is located near the stanchion of the blade, is the part of the blade where all spins are spun on. The blade is hollow ground. In figure skating it is always desirable to skate on only one edge of the blade, never on both at the same time; the effortless power and glide across the ice exhibited by elite figure skaters fundamentally derives from efficient use of the edges to generate speed. Ice dancers' and synchronized skaters' blades are about an inch shorter in the rear than those used by skaters in other disciplines, to accommodate the intricate footwork and close partnering in dance, they possess a smaller pick near the bottom to allow for better edge-work and less focus on jumping. Various specialty blade types exist, including: Tapered figure skating blades have a design which causes them to be thicker at the front near the toepicks and thinner at the tail of the blade.
Side-honed figure skating blades have a concave design which causes them to be thicker at the stanchions and the edge stripe and thinner in between. They are recognizable because they cause reflections to be inverted. Parabolic figure skating blades were first introduced by HD Sports in order to employ new scientific developments in the creation of figure skating blades; the middle section of parabolic blades is thinner than that of normal blades, while both ends are wider than those of regular blades. This translates into a lighter blade overall, their design is meant to improve skaters' blade stability and edges. Ice skate construction History of ice skates
Figure skating rink
A figure skating rink is an ice rink designed for figure skating. Alternatively it is used for other sports such as short track speed ice hockey, it is rectangular. Rink, a Scottish word meaning'course', was used as the name of a place where another game, was played; the name has been retained for the construction of ice areas for figure skating. The size of figure skating rinks can be quite variable; the International Skating Union prefers Olympic-sized rinks for figure skating competitions for major events. According to Rule 342 of the ISU Special Regulations & Technical Rules: Single & Pair Skating and Ice Dance 2016, an Olympic-sized figure skating rink has dimensions of 60 metres by 30 metres if possible, the same with an Olympic-sized short track speed skating rink and an Olympic-sized ice hockey rink, 44% larger than an Olympic-size swimming pool which has dimensions of 50 metres by 25 metres; the scoring system rewards skaters who have good ice coverage, i.e. who efficiently cover the entire ice surface during their programs.
Olympic-sized rinks make the differences in skill between skaters more apparent but they are not available for all events. If a rink has different dimensions, a skater's jump setup and speed may be hindered as he or she adjusts. Ice quality is judged by smoothness, friction and brittleness. Factors affecting ice quality include temperature, water quality, usage, with toe picks causing more deterioration. For figure skating, the ice surface temperature is kept between −5.5 °C and −3.5 °C warmer than an ice hockey rink, which means softer ice and easier landings for the figure skaters. After every two warm-up groups during the competitions, an ice resurfacer cleans and smooths the surface of the ice sheet. Inadequate ice quality may affect skaters' performances. According to Rule 342 of the ISU Special Regulations & Technical Rules: Single & Pair Skating and Ice Dance 2016, the available skating area for the short program/short dance, free skating/free dance and pattern dance must be rectangular and if possible, shall measure 60 metres in length and 30 metres in width, but not larger, not less than 56 metres in length and 26 metres in width.
Officials shall not be seated on the ice surface. The Judges and the Referee will be seated at the rinkboard. If possible, the Technical Panel will be seated in an elevated position. For the international competitions sanctioned by the ISU, at least one covered and preferably heated rink is required. For the ISU Figure Skating Championships, the Winter Olympic Games and the Winter Youth Olympic Games, two covered and closed rinks are required. For the ISU events, the Winter Olympic Games, the Winter Youth Olympic Games and the qualifying competition for the Winter Olympic Games, the ice rinks must be heated; the kiss and cry is the area in a figure skating rink where figure skaters wait for their marks to be announced after their performances during a figure skating competition. It is so named because the skaters and coaches kiss to celebrate after a good performance, or cry after a poor one; the area is located in the corner or end of the rink and is furnished with a bench or chairs for the skaters and coaches and monitors to display the competition results.
It is elaborately decorated with flowers or some other backdrop for television shots and photos of the skaters as they react to their performance and scores. Since short track speed skating was contested at the 1992 Winter Olympics, the rinks are used for figure skating and short track speed skating during those Winter Olympic Games. Ice rink Ice hockey rink Speed skating rink International Skating Union
Alexandra Trusova
Alexandra Vyacheslavovna Trusova is a Russian figure skater. She is the 2019 Russian national silver medalist. On the junior level, she is a two-time Junior World champion, the 2017 Junior Grand Prix Final champion, the 2018 Junior Grand Prix Final silver medalist, a two-time Russian junior national champion, she is the first female skater to land the quadruple Lutz and quadruple toe loop jump. Trusova holds the junior world records for the overall score, her technical score of 92.35 points in the free skate at the 2018 Junior World was the highest recorded in women's figure skating on both the junior and senior level until the GOE system was changed at the end of 2017–18 season. She is the first female skater to land the quad Lutz and the quad toe loop, the second to land the quad Salchow behind Miki Ando and the first to land two ratified quads in a free skate. At 13 years old, Trusova was the youngest lady to win the Junior World Championships and Junior Grand Prix Final. At the 2018 JGP Lithuania, Trusova set another milestone by becoming the first female skater to land a quad in combination.
A few weeks at the 2018 JGP Armenia, her quad Lutz jump was deemed rotated, making her the first female skater to land the jump in international competition. Trusova is the first and only female skater competing with three different types of quadruple jumps—toe loop and Lutz. Trusova was born on 23 June 2004 in Ryazan; the eldest of three children, she has two younger brothers. An animal lover, Trusova has a pet chihuahua named Tina, who accompanies her to competitions, her hair has never been cut since birth. She said, "I watched the movie'Rapunzel' and she had long hair and I liked that when I was little." Trusova began learning to skate in 2008. She trained in Ryazan under Olga Shevtsova until 2015. Eteri Tutberidze and Sergei Dudakov became her coaches in 2016. Trusova finished 4th at the 2017 Russian Junior Championships after placing 6th in the short program and 4th in the free skate. Trusova's international debut came in late August 2017 at a 2017–18 ISU Junior Grand Prix competition in Brisbane, Australia.
Ranked first in both segments, she won the gold medal ahead of teammate Anastasia Gulyakova. She landed, her total score at the event, 197.69 points, is the third highest achieved by a ladies' single skater on the junior level, behind only Alina Zagitova and Marin Honda. She finished first at JGP Belarus, thus qualifying for the Junior Grand Prix Final. At the 2017–18 Junior Grand Prix Final, Trusova scored 73.25 points, breaking the Junior Ladies World record for the short program. In the free skate, she scored 132.36 points, about 0.5 points less than what her teammate and training partner, Alena Kostornaia, scored. However, because of Trusova's 1.5 point lead after the short program, she won the competition by about 1 point. In January 2018, Trusova won the gold medal at the 2018 Russian Junior Championships after placing first in the short program and third in the free skate. Again, she narrowly beat her training partner Alena Kostornaia, winner of the silver medal, by only about 0.6 points.
In March 2018, Trusova competed at the 2018 Junior Worlds where she won the gold medal after placing first in both the short program and the free skate. Her free skating score of 153.49 points was the new World record for the free program. Her total score of 225.52 points was the new World record for the combined total score. At this competition, Trusova became the first female skater to land the quad toe loop, the second to land the quad Salchow behind Miki Ando, the first to land two ratified quads in a free skate, she landed the quadruple jump for the first time in 16 years since Miki Ando in 2002. Her technical score of 92.35 points in the free skate at the 2018 Junior World was the highest recorded in women's figure skating on both the junior and senior level. Interestingly, her total score of 225.52 would have placed her first in the senior women's World Championships that year as well, despite lower program component scores and the absence of a choreographic sequence. Trusova started her season by competing in the 2018 JGP series.
At her first JGP event of the season she won the gold medal in Lithuania. She was ranked first in both the short program and the free skate and won the gold medal by a margin of about 30 points over the silver medalist, Kim Ye-lim; as of September 2018, her scores at this competition are the highest scores achieved in an international junior ladies competition. At this competition Trusova became the first female skater to land a quad in combination - a quad toe loop + triple toe loop, she received 16.14 points for that combination. She became the first female skater to attempt a quad lutz in a competition, she landed the jump but it was credited as under rotated. At her second JGP event of the season she won another gold medal in Armenia. Again she was ranked first in both the short program and the free skate and won the gold medal by a margin of about 33 points over the silver medalist, her teammate Alena Kanysheva. Trusova upgraded her earlier free skate world record score. At this competition Trusova became the first female skater to land a quadruple lutz in international competition.
A few days earlier Anna Shcherbakova had landed two quadruple lutz jumps in a domestic competition. With 2 JGP gold medals Trusova qualified for the 2018–19 Junior Grand Prix Final. At the JGP Final she won the silver
Petra Burka
Petra Burka is a Canadian former competitive figure skater and now coach. She won the 1964 Olympic bronze medal in women's figure skating and the 1965 World championship in the sport. Petra Burka was born in Amsterdam, Netherlands on November 17, 1946, the daughter of figure skating coach Ellen Burka and a Czech-born artist, Jan Burka; the family moved to Canada in 1951. Her parents divorced in the mid-1950s. Raised as Christians and her sister, were in their late teens when their mother told them about her background as a Holocaust survivor. Petra Burka began skating lessons at the age of 10 or 11, her mother her coach, was advised by Osborne Colson of her talent. At the 1962 Canadian Championships, Burka became the first woman to land a triple Salchow and came away with the silver medal, she finished 4th in her World Championship debut in Prague in the same year. The father of one of Ellen Burka's students, Stafford Smythe, arranged for Petra –, in need of extra ice time – to train at Maple Leaf Gardens at 7 a.m. every day before the hockey players arrived at 9:30.
Burka won the first of her three consecutive senior national titles in 1964 and represented Canada at the 1964 Olympics in Innsbruck, winning the bronze medal. Unaware that she was expected to skate an exhibition, she was brought back to the rink in a police car just before she was called onto the ice. Burka became the first Canadian skater to perform in the Soviet Union when she appeared in a two-week tour in Moscow and Kiev. Burka won bronze at the 1964 World Championships in Dortmund, she was the gold medalist at the 1965 World Championships in Colorado Springs, becoming the first Canadian woman to win Worlds since Barbara Ann Scott in 1947. At the event, she became the first woman to complete the triple Salchow at a World Championships, her other achievements were winning Canada's Outstanding Athlete of the Year in 1964 and twice winning Canada's Outstanding Female Athlete of the Year in 1964 and 1965. In 1965 she was inducted to the Canada's Sports Hall of Fame. Burka retired from competition.
She signed with Holiday On Ice, skating with the tour until 1969. Burka took on coaching as well as being a commentator on figure skating events for CBC and CBS for Olympic, World and Canadian championships. Petra Burka was inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 1995. Karen Magnussen Elizabeth Manley Kaetlyn Osmond Joannie Rochette Barbara Ann Scott
Nathan Chen
Nathan Chen is an American figure skater who competes in the men's singles discipline. He is a two-time World champion, the 2018 Winter Olympic bronze medalist in the team event, the 2017 Four Continents champion, a two-time Grand Prix Final champion, three-time U. S. national champion. On the junior level, Chen is the 2015–16 Junior Grand Prix Final champion, 2013–14 Junior Grand Prix Final bronze medalist, 2014 World Junior bronze medalist. Chen is the first and only skater competing with five quadruple jumps: toe loop, loop and lutz. Nathan Chen was born in Salt Lake City, Utah and he has four older siblings, he attended West High School in Salt Lake City and Rim of the World High School in Lake Arrowhead and graduated from California Connections Academy. In addition to figure skating, Chen trained in ballet with Ballet West Academy and competed in gymnastics at the state and regional levels for seven years, he is enrolled at Yale University, in the class of 2022. Nathan Chen started figure skating at age three in a pair of his sister's white skates.
He entered his first skating competition in 2003. From 2007 to 2009, he qualified to compete in the U. S. Junior Nationals at the juvenile and intermediate levels, he placed 3rd in juveniles at the 2007 and 2008 Junior Nationals. At the 2009 Junior Nationals, he won the intermediate men's silver medal. Chen advanced to the novice level in the 2009–10 season, he became the youngest novice champion in the history of U. S. Figure Skating at age 10 by winning the national novice title at the 2010 U. S. Championships in Spokane, Washington. Due to his young age, he opted to remain at the novice level for the 2010–2011 season and defended his novice title at the 2011 U. S. Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina. In the 2011–2012 season, Chen moved up nationally to the junior level, he was coached by Genia Chernyshova and traveled to Lake Arrowhead, California, to work with jump specialist Rafael Arutyunyan. Arutyunyan became his main coach in mid-December 2011. Chen won the junior men's title at the 2012 U.
S. Championships in San Jose, California on January 24, 2012. Making his first international appearance, he won the novice men's event at the 2012 Gardena Spring Trophy in Selva Val Gardena, Italy. Chen became age-eligible to compete in the ISU Junior Grand Prix series, his first assignment was JGP Austria in Linz from September 12–16, 2012. He won the gold medal with the highest score awarded at the time in the JGP series. A lower leg injury resulted in Chen's withdrawal following the short program at JGP Croatia in early October 2012, ending his chances of qualifying for the JGP Final. Nationally, having stayed at the junior level, he won the junior men's bronze medal at the 2013 U. S. Championships in Omaha, Nebraska, on January 22, 2013. Chen started his season by winning gold both at the ISU Junior Grand Prix in Mexico, in September 2013, JGP in Belarus, he qualified for the Junior Grand Prix Final in Fukuoka, where he won the bronze medal. On January 9, 2014 Chen broke a six-year U. S. junior men's record of 213.76 at the 2014 U.
S. Championships in Boston, Massachusetts, en route to his second U. S. junior title. His final combination spin in the short program received 4.86 points, the highest among active male skaters in the world. Chen was awarded the bronze medal at the 2014 World Junior Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria in March 2014; the results of Chen and his teammates, Jordan Moeller and Shotaro Omori, gained three entries for the United States to the 2015 World Junior Championships. Chen moved up to the senior level domestically. At the Pacific Sectional Championships in November 2014, he landed a clean quadruple toe loop and double toe loop combination in his free skate, winning the senior men's division, advanced to the 2015 U. S. Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina, he developed a growth-related heel injury one week before the national championships, ended up competing with scaled-back versions of his short and long programs. He placed eighth overall in his senior national championship debut in January 2015.
After the competition, Chen was named to the U. S. team for the 2015 World Junior Championships. He finished 4th at the event in Tallinn, Estonia, on March 8, 2015. In the 2015–16 ISU Junior Grand Prix series, Chen won gold in both Colorado Springs, Colorado and in Logroño, Spain. In December 2015, he stood atop the podium at the JGP Final in Barcelona. In January 2016, Chen made history at the U. S. Championships by becoming the first American man to land two quadruple jumps in the short program. On January 24, he became the first man in the world to land four quadruple jumps in a long program, he finished third overall behind Adam Rippon and Max Aaron, who landed zero and two quads reigniting the debate over whether artistry should trump athleticism in figure skating scoring. While attempting a jump during exhibitions on the same day, Chen sustained an avulsion injury to his left hip, leading to surgery on January 27; as a result, he withdrew from the 2016 World Junior Championships in Debrecen and the 2016 World Championships in Boston.
Chen underwent a month of rehabilitation at the U. S. Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, by May was training off-ice at OTC in Colorado Springs, Colorado, he resumed full-strength on-ice training around July. Ahead of the 2016–2017 season, Chen traveled to Canton, Michigan, to have his programs choreographed by Marina Zueva. "I spent a week there, we hit it off well. We talked it over and thought it'd be a good idea to go to Michigan and work on PCS a little bit." By September 2016, six months after his hip surgery, Zueva and Ol
