Vincent Zhou Continues Carving Complicated Path Toward More International Success

Between his first college semester, brutal commutes to training, two months off ice, a coaching change, going four months between competing and a global pandemic that canceled the season's biggest competition, Vincent Zhou had a tumultuous 2019-2020 season to say the least.
 
Coming off a breakout 2018-19 campaign where he won bronze medals at both the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championships and ISU World Figure Skating Championships – and helped Team USA return to gold at the ISU World Team Trophy, Zhou was looking forward to continuing his momentum and earning another World medal in 2020. He couldn't foresee the obstacles that would stand in his way the next season.
 
It all started when Zhou began his college career at Brown University – an Ivy League school in Providence, Rhode Island – in the fall of 2019. Upon learning the ice on campus was rented out to ice hockey teams and that Brown's ice was not deep enough for him anyway, he tried training at the Skating Club of Boston, which was a four-hour round-trip commute from Providence. Having one foot in figure skating and the other in college was not working and he withdrew from both his grand prix assignments.
 
The pull back and forth between his two worlds became so overwhelming that Zhou considered saying farewell to his skating career and committing four consecutive years to his studies at Brown.
 
After consulting with others – including the U.S. Figure Skating high-performance staff – Zhou was "brought back from the edge," as he said, and made the move to Toronto after his first semester at Brown once he decided to switch coaches to Lee Barkell and Lori Nichol; he would continue to work with Japan-based Mie Hamada as well. Zhou, 19, still plans to return to Brown after the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 and pursue a double major that likely includes economics.
 
After two months off the ice and two weeks to prepare for the 2020 Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships, he finished fourth in Greensboro, North Carolina, and was selected for the Worlds team.
 
"Last season was, well, first and foremost it was a struggle," Zhou said. "Beyond that, as with all my other seasons, it was a huge learning experience with lots of new challenges, lots of new experiences with me going to college and then being in a situation where I only had two weeks to prepare for nationals and couldn't even do a triple Axel in training. It was just a very interesting season where I learned a lot.
 
"I think the most important thing for me was during my time training in Canada and at nationals, I learned to appreciate more the small steps I made in everyday training and not put so much pressure on myself to have to be able to do five quads in a program, for example. I did two quads between both my programs in nationals, which is less than I've done in years, and even that was a huge personal victory for me. Coming back to being able to skate two almost clean programs at nationals and earning a spot on the podium, that was just incredible for me and goes to show you don't have to be standing on top of the podium to accomplish something and be proud of yourself. That's my biggest takeaway from last season."
 
Zhou returned to the Granite Club in Toronto and focused on training for the World Championships with his new coaching team.
 
"We outlined step-by-step progress in the weeks leading up to worlds," he said. "Of course we made sure to include program work and fitness and skating skills along the way, but I used quads as a unit of measurement. I found myself making progress every week and appreciating the steps I was taking toward putting myself back in shape… I'm not saying I was in as good shape as I was last year before worlds but the week before nationals I couldn't do a quad Salchow in my program. Once I got back to doing three quads in a program leading up to worlds it meant I could possibly medal again, so I'm really proud of myself for the way I approached my training at the end of last season."
 
When the ISU canceled the World Championships just days before the event was set to start, Zhou experienced "a very sharp feeling of disappointment that dulled and then faded into acceptance."
 
Immediately switching gears, he flew to Colorado Springs, Colorado – his former training base – to work on a new short program for the 2020-2021 season. In what has continued to be a journey of unexpected twists and turns for the 2018 Olympian, Zhou has remained in Colorado Springs for the past five months and is unsure where he will end up next, under whose tutelage and when that next move may come. Whether he ever returns to Toronto depends on his ability to cross the border and the risk of being in a country where he does not have health insurance. Zhou admitted that if he remains in the U.S., it would make more sense to have an in-person coach.
 
Regardless of what his future holds, the brief time he already had with Barkell and Nichol helped Zhou immensely.
 
"I think my skating skills improved greatly – being able to spend more time with Lori than before," he said, referring to the fact Nichol had choreographed two programs for him in the past. "I think Lee has a very well-rounded approach to training his skaters and that also contributed to improvement in spins and choreography. I also think that the level-headed approach to my training those few weeks helped me learn a lot about myself as an athlete and helped me learn more about what works for me and what doesn't in my own training."
 
For now, he has taken occasional lessons from former coach Christy Krall for his skating skills – and had some remote coaching from his Toronto team – but is primarily on his own.
 
Despite the uncertainty, the time in Colorado has benefitted his mental health and he has made the most of his experiences off the ice.
 
"It's actually really nice," Zhou said. "Colorado Springs has so much outdoors – backpacking, hiking, mountain climbing – to do, so I've been enjoying myself."
 
Facilities in Colorado closed upon his arrival, but after nearly two months off the ice he was able to work on his short program, which will be set to the Josh Groban version of "Vincent (Starry, Starry Night)" and was choreographed remotely by Nichol.
 
"I chose the music because obviously the title is very unique to me, but beyond that it's such a beautiful song and interpreting it with Lori was a very interesting, creative process," he recalled. "Sometimes it's cool to be able to see a program where you're not necessarily playing a character but rather interpreting the lyrics."
 
The short program will feel similar to the Zhou fans are used to seeing, as it has a slower tempo, while his free skate has a far more modern and refreshed look. For that, he flew to California – following all the necessary safety precautions – to have Misha Ge, a two-time Olympian for Uzbekistan, choreograph the program to Muse's "Algorithm."
 
"It has a Matrix feel to it, like a cyber punk vibe," Zhou explained. "It's a very dynamic program, it has different paces and ends really strong, but also has a beautiful slow part. Misha is very, very hard working and put a lot of dedication into this program. I really want to bring everything out in this program that we worked on that he wanted. There's a little Misha flair in it, especially at the end, so I'm excited to show that in competition, if they ever happen this year."
 
Zhou feels lucky to have a place to train, knowing that not all athletes have been able to return to their previous training locales and routines, and noted that the skaters he shares the ice with – which includes other top men's competitors Tomoki Hiwatashi, Camden Pulkinen and Andrew Torgashev, plus 2018 Olympian Karen Chen – are all wearing masks and following social distancing.
 
He is not sure, however, how to feel about the uncertainty of the upcoming season, which is throwing him more curveballs, but is keeping a level-headed approach and has his eyes on a longer-term goal.
 
"As with most situations, there's so many things that you can control, be it how you train and how you skate, so that's what I'm going to be focusing on and not worrying about whether competitions are going to happen. I'm going to focus on making sure I'm in the best shape I can be, so that when the 2022 Olympics happen I'm ready to fight for a medal."