Jin Boyang
Jin Boyang is a Chinese figure skater. He is a two-time World bronze medalist, the 2018 Four Continents champion, a two-time Four Continents silver medalist, the 2017 Asian Winter Games silver medalist, a six-time Chinese national champion and a two-time Chinese national winter games champion. On the junior level, he is the 2015 World Junior silver medalist and the 2013 JGP Final champion. He is the first Chinese skater to medal in the men's singles event at a World Championships.
Jin is the first skater ever to land a quad Lutz-triple toe loop combination in competition, the first skater to ever have landed three different types of quads in a single competition, the first skater to have landed four quad jumps in a single program in international competition, and the first skater to have landed six quads in international competition. He is credited as being one of the people who fueled the "revolution" based around quadruple jumps in figure skating.
Personal life
Jin was born on 3 October 1997, in Harbin, China. His parents formerly competed in middle to long-distance running. Jin enrolled at the Harbin Institute of Physical Education in 2013. In 2019, he enrolled for a Master's Degree at Beijing Sport University. His family name Jin means "gold", and he is called "Golden Boy" by some media sources.He likes pets, electronics, music, the internet, remote-controlled cars, car racing, and collecting shoes. He enjoys go-karting, motorcycling, and skiing but avoids them to prevent injury.
Career
Early years
Jin started skating at age seven and a half, having become interested in the activity when he attended one of Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo's ice shows. His first coach was Wang Junxiang. He took ballet, Latin dances, jazz, and street dance classes before he started focusing on competitive skating. At first, his parents opposed the idea of a career in figure skating, because he was good at school at the time. However, he began to demonstrate his talents in skating, especially with dance movements, during his second year of primary school, and his parents started to support him.At the age of 11, he started focusing on jumps, and by 2009–10, at the age of 12 or 13, he had landed five triple jumps. He landed his first triple Axel in May 2010. He landed his first quadruple toe loop at the age of 14, and his first quadruple Salchow at the age of 15. The first time he succeeded in jumping the quadruple Lutz in practice was in 2013.
Junior career
2011–12 season
Jin won the junior division of the Asian Open Trophy 2011 by "a landslide". He earned a total of 177.17 points; if he were competing in the senior men's division, he would have come in second place. His feet were so small that he had to wear girls' skates with black boot covers because there were no men's skating boots in his size.2012–2013 season: Junior Grand Prix debut
Jin debuted on the Junior Grand Prix series in the 2012–2013 season. After taking gold in France and silver in Slovenia, he finished fifth at the JGP Final, held in Sochi, Russia. He won a bronze medal at the 2013 Chinese Championships, and placed fourth at the 2013 World Junior Championships in Milan, Italy.2013–2014 season: Junior Grand Prix Final gold and first senior National title
In the 2013–14 JGP series, Jin won his assignments in Latvia and Estonia. He qualified for the JGP Final in Fukuoka, Japan, where he placed fifth in the short program but rebounded in the free skate with three quads and six clean triples. He won the gold overall and stated he was "very happy" to skate well. Jin won his first senior national title at the 2014 Chinese Championships. He finished sixth at the 2014 World Junior Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria.2014–2015 season: Silver medal at Junior Worlds
Jin won both of his Junior Grand Prix events in Slovenia and Japan, and was the top qualifier for the Junior Grand Prix Final held in Barcelona, Spain, as the only skater to win both of his events. He placed second after the short program. However, a fifth-place free skate left him in fourth overall. He won his second national title at the 2015 Chinese Championships. Jin concluded his season with a silver medal at the 2015 World Junior Championships in Tallinn, Estonia, having placed fifth in the short program and first in the free skate.Senior career
2015–2016 season: Senior international debut and bronze medal at Worlds
A video of Jin landing a quadruple Lutz-triple toe loop combination in practice circulated during the summer. At a national event early in the season, Jin completed this jumping pass in his short program and landed four quadruple jumps in his free skate, although with a step-out on the quad Lutz. He landed a total of six quadruple jumps during the competition.Jin received two 2015 Grand Prix assignments. At the 2015 Cup of China, he won the silver medal behind reigning World champion Javier Fernández. He became the first person to ever land a quad Lutz-triple toe combination in competition and also the first to land a quad lutz with a positive grade of execution in international competition. Jin was also the first person to attempt four quadruple jumps in one program. He set a record for the most points scored on one element, with the jump combination in the short program scoring 19.19 points.
At the 2015 NHK Trophy, Jin took silver behind reigning Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu. Hanyu stated after the competition "When I look at the future of figure skating, I see Boyang". Jin thus qualified for the 2015 Grand Prix Final in Barcelona, where he finished fifth. At the 13th National Winter Games of China, he represented the city of Harbin and finished first in both short program and free skate, completing all of his planned quadruple jumps.
Making his Four Continents debut in Taipei, Jin landed a total of six quadruple jumps in his programs and achieved new personal bests in his short program, free skate, and combined total scores. With a quad Lutz, quad Salchow, and two quad toe loops in his free skate, he also became the first skater to land three kinds of quads in a single program as well as becoming the first person to land four quads in a single program in international competition, and he ultimately placed second overall behind Canada's Patrick Chan by a narrow difference of 0.38 points.
At the 2016 World Championships in Boston, Jin won the bronze medal and became the first Chinese man to medal in men's singles at the World Championships.
2016–2017 season: Second bronze at Worlds
After the 2016 World Championships, Jin went to the United States to take footwork classes. He said about these classes "The footwork class was very tiring. During training, I had to squat with a shot put and control the balance of the body with my hands".Jin placed fifth at the 2016 Skate America and won silver at the 2016 Cup of China. He ranked seventh in the series standings and thus did not qualify for the 2016–2017 Grand Prix Final. Later in the season, at the Chinese National Championships, Jin placed second in the short program but rebounded in the free and was able to win his fourth straight national title. He was assigned to both the 2017 Four Continents Championships and the 2017 Asian Winter Games, where he finished 5th and 2nd, respectively. At the Four Continents Championships, he attempted a quad loop in competition for the first time.
Jin repeated as world bronze medalist at the 2017 World Championships in Helsinki, achieving new personal bests for his short program, free skate, and total score. He received 2.57 GOE for his quad Lutz attempt in the free skate and surpassed a total of 300 points for the first time. Finishing behind Hanyu and Shoma Uno, Jin was a part of the first all-Asian men’s podium at a World Championship. He said that he was "very satisfied" with his performance, calling his repeat bronze medal a "real bronze medal" because he won it based on his own abilities instead of by relying on other skaters making mistakes. Jin's program components score improved by ten points compared to the previous world championships, and he obtained a score of 8.71 in skating skills.
2017–2018 season: First senior international gold and Olympic debut
Jin had a car accident in August 2017, resulting in left thigh injuries. He started his season at the 2017 CS Finlandia Trophy, where he placed second in the short program and third in the free skate and won the gold medal overall. His Grand Prix assignments for this season were the 2017 Cup of China and 2017 Skate America. Jin said that he had sprained both of his ankles due to loose boot laces, which was confirmed by Zhao Hongbo as having happened before the Cup of China. He placed second at the Cup of China and fourth at Skate America, thereby qualifying for the 2017–18 Grand Prix Final. However, he withdrew from the Grand Prix Final and the Chinese Championships due to the injuries.At the 2018 Four Continents Championships, Jin surpassed 100 points in the short program, earning a new personal best of 100.17. In the free skate he scored 200.78 points, for an overall score of 300.95, winning his first senior international gold medal at an ISU Championship. His quad Lutz in the free skate received 2.71 GOE, with six judges awarding it maximum GOE, for a total element score of 16.31. He said that he had worked hard on both recovery and training after withdrawing from the Grand Prix Final. Jin added that the result gave him confidence to challenge himself to give two perfect performances in Pyeongchang.
Jin placed fourth at the 2018 Winter Olympics with a new personal best of 103.32 points in the short program, and a total score of 297.77. His placement was the highest of any Chinese athlete competing in men's single skating in Olympic history. At the 2018 World Championships, he placed fourth in the short program but dropped to nineteenth overall after ranking twenty-third in the free skate.