Vincent Zhou Withdraws from 2019 Grand Prix Series | Page 5 | Golden Skate

Vincent Zhou Withdraws from 2019 Grand Prix Series

DSQ

Record Breaker
Joined
Apr 14, 2018
Country
United-Kingdom
This must have been a difficult decision to make but I think it might be for the best. This way he can come back stronger for Nationals.
 

ribbit

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 9, 2014
Wow, thank you so much for writing all of this down! :thank:

No problem! The rules are more or less the same as they were when I was an undergrad, and I know where to look to check that I've got the details right, so it's easy to post about Yale. :)

Unfortunately, I've never studied at Brown and know nothing about the regulations that Vincent is working with. Each of these top schools is unique and takes a different approach both to upholding its standards and to encouraging its students to balance academics and extracurriculars (to say nothing of looking after their well-being), so what goes for Yale (and Nathan) doesn't necessarily go for Brown (and Vincent) at all. I hope we have posters from the Brown community who can clue us in!
 

MarkinBerkeley

On the Ice
Joined
Oct 22, 2019
I wonder if Vincent's passing up a chance to become the #2 US skater. Right now it still looks pretty contested between him and Jason, and Jason has that edge of being seen as one of the most artistic active skaters in Men's Singles.

I wonder how this plays out if Vincent wants to go to Worlds. They will have to make that determination based solely on his score at the U.S. Championships, rather than also considering the Grand Prix events. If he doesn't do well at Nationals, they might even leave him off the team.
 

oly2018

Final Flight
Joined
Feb 13, 2018
I wonder how this plays out if Vincent wants to go to Worlds. They will have to make that determination based solely on his score at the U.S. Championships, rather than also considering the Grand Prix events. If he doesn't do well at Nationals, they might even leave him off the team.

Nationals will definitely be interesting, if Vincent actually goes. If the Semester ends in December and you factor in holidays, he would only have a few weeks to train before Nationals. If he really only wants to compete when he is in peak shape, idk if Nationals this year will happen. But, if he does attend, you're right, it makes selection harder. Especially if someone like Tomoki has a good GP season and then beats him at nationals. It will definitely be interesting.
 

1111bm

Final Flight
Joined
Dec 31, 2016
Nationals will definitely be interesting, if Vincent actually goes. If the Semester ends in December and you factor in holidays, he would only have a few weeks to train before Nationals. If he really only wants to compete when he is in peak shape, idk if Nationals this year will happen.

But he will have a month after his semester ends, not just a few weeks. I also don't think skaters take that much of a break over the holidays, unless they can allow themselves to, but this wouldn't apply to Vincent.

And it was also never said that he stops training altogether while he's at Brown. He just doesn't have the added pressure of all the travelling, jetlag and strain of competing, with school on top of it. It also means, that he doesn't need to be competition-ready this early in the season and can take his time to get into shape and peak for Nationals.

So I certainly don't think that he's at a disadvantage here, especially if he felt that there was a high risk to not deliver during his GP assignments, which would be a lot more detrimental to building momentum than not competing at all.

And he could always compete at Golden Spin of Zagreb, should he feel the need to get another outing before Nationals in a lower pressure comp and with a weaker field (I believe?) compared to the GP. As long as he doesn't feel that it interferes too much with preparing for his finals.

Based on Vincent's quad arsenal, that he can in theory execute in a program, usfed might still prefer sending him to Worlds over someone like Tomoki, and send the latter to 4CC instead.
 

VegMom

On the Ice
Joined
Aug 25, 2017
Well, that's disappointing, but he needs to do what's best for him. I have to wonder why some of these skaters don't defer college for a while. You can always go when your skating career is over.

I agree, that's the logical choice if you intend to do both and do both well. However at that age the craving for independence and the desire to be 'normal' like peers is very strong. College might be just such a wonderful life experience for Vincent that he prefers to do it over skating at the moment.

He might also have scholarship or other decisive factors influencing him. He did say that he's really struggling to even practice where he's at in Providence, regardless of other issues like time, money, or academic commitments. I guess they just don't have the best ice or best ice time available.

But also, its important to remember that male figure skaters basically have their entire 20s to achieve. Unlike the females, the males are not written off as too old at age 24 or 26, even 28 or 30, so Vincent has time.
 
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