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Synchro skating is developing in China


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C-star Junior, Beijing, China. /Credits : C-star

Our sport is becoming increasingly popular in China. Since a few years, synchronized skating teams have appeared in recent years. Interview with C-star, the only Chinese team that attends ISU competition.

Based in Beijing, C-star is a Junior team coached by Cao Yue and Wang Yu. Huang Feng is the team manager. C-star means Century Star, which is the name for their club in China. Interview of one of the team’s captains, Rachel.

Jura Synchro: What’s the story of your team?
Rachel: We started in August 2015, with only 6 skaters. Then suddenly more people started to join the team and we had a complete team by September 2015. Everyone at the team at first was unfamiliar with synchronized skating. We had a hard time when it comes to choreography because we were new to this type of skating but we manage to get our short dance and free dance done (this was last season).

Did you participate in competitions during your first season?
During February 2016 we traveled to Milan, Italy to participate in Spring Cup. During the short dance and free dance we skated well but unfortunately came in the last place. We were about 1 or 2 points away from the 8th place in the short dance and around 10 points away from the 8th place during the free dance. But it was still pretty good considering the fact that we just had our team formed in less than 6 months. After Spring Cup, we traveled to the Chinese city of Shanghai, where we performed at Shanghai Trophy 2016. There, we saw the top elite teams and we were all so excited!


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C-star, one of the only Junior team in China. /Credits : C-star

How is developed synchronized skating in China? 
China actually has actually Mixed Age synchronized skating teams but the majority of the teams have less than 16 people. In our club, we also have a Novice team. C-star Novice went to Hungary Budapest in February 2016. Our teams are actually the first teams that skate for the ISU competitions. Shanghai Trophy 2016 has inspired more Chinese people to learn about synchronized skating. Now more and more clubs in China are forming a synchronized skating team and we wish them the best of luck.

What’s your team’s dream? 
Junior Worlds!

What are your team’s goals for this season? 
Junior Worlds, to beat our seasons best score, as well as developing our techniques throughout this season.

In which synchro competitions will you participate in? 
This season, we will be attending a competition in China, and a Junior ISU B competition but we’ve still not decided yet which country we are going to visit. 

How could we do to help synchronized skating to be recognized and more popular in China? 
I think that we can try to put synchronized skating as an event at the 2022 Olympics, which is in China! Also holding more synchronized skating competitions in China and to follow C-star team on Instagram to stay updated ;) !