China Cup World Figure Skating Grand Prix kicks off in Shenzhen "Ice Ballet" sparks another ice and snow craze in Pengcheng

China News Service, Shenzhen, November 7 (Zhang Lu Suo Youwei) The 2026 China Cup World Figure Skating Grand Prix (referred to as the "event") kicked off at the Shenzhen Universiade Center Gymnasium on the 6th. On the first competition day, ice dance rhythmic dance, as well as short program competitions for women's single skating, pairs skating, and men's single skating were held.

The China Cup was founded in 2003 and is the top category A event of the International Skating Union. This competition is the first time that an ISU Category A event has been held in Shenzhen. It is the first time that Shenzhen has hosted the ISU’s top figure skating event after hosting several consecutive Ice Hockey World Championships. It is also the third stop of the six-station ISU Figure Skating Grand Prix in the 2026/2027 season.

At the opening ceremony that night, 18 children entered the venue holding flags of participating countries and regions and skated on the ice in a uniform formation.

The first competition of the day was the ice dance rhythmic dance competition. Lila Fair/Lewis Gibson from the United Kingdom was the last to appear. With their outstanding performance, they scored a high score of 80.00 points and ranked first with a slight advantage of 0.69 points; the Georgian combination Davis/Smolkin and the Czech combination Taschlerova/Taschler temporarily ranked second and third. Among the Chinese combinations that played that day, Xiao Zixi/He Linghao scored 62.48 points, breaking their season-high score in the rhythmic dance event and temporarily ranking eighth. Ren Junfei/Xing Jianing, Lin Yufei/Gao Zijian ranked ninth and tenth.

In the ensuing women's singles short program competition, Japan's Momon Chiba, Georgia's Anastasia Gubanova and the much-anticipated Trusova (Ignatova) were temporarily ranked among the top three. Chinese athletes Zhu Yi and Zhang Ruiyang ranked seventh and eighth.

Trusova said after the game: "After coming to Shenzhen, I felt that my overall condition was relatively good, and I also felt that I was in good condition during the competition, but there may be some areas where the rotation is not quite in place. I will continue to improve." When asked if she would show multiple quadruple jumps in the free skate the next day, she smiled and said: "I won't tell you in advance what moves to do. Everyone is looking forward to tomorrow's competition."

The competition in the pairs skating short program was held that night. Mishina/Galyamov ranked first with 74.69 points, with a lead of 7.63 points. Metelkina/Berulava and Akopova/Rachmanin ranked second and third respectively. The Chinese combination Zhang Jiaxuan/Huang Yihang fell twice during the competition and was temporarily ranked eighth.

After the game, Huang Yihang said: "Both of us made mistakes today. We still need to use a stern mentality to look directly at our respective problems, and at the same time use a relaxed mentality to deal with the next pressure."

The last event of the day was the men's single skating short program. Japanese players Yoshio Miura and Shun Sato are temporarily ranked first and second, while Xiemenenko is ranked third. Chinese players Peng Zhiming and Chen Yudong ranked eighth and ninth.

According to the schedule, the ice dance free dance, as well as the women's singles and pairs free skating competitions will be held on November 7 to determine the champions of the three events. (over)