by Matteo Morelli

From October 23–26, the Chongqing Huaxi Culture and Sports Centre in Chongqing will welcome back the Cup of China Grand Prix, the second event of this season.

Cup of China is one of the most recent Grand Prix events, only established since 2003; this will be the fifth consecutive edition held in Chongqing.

Teams at the event

Three-time world champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates will debut their programmes at Cup of China, including their new free based on a flamenco contemporary style piece, with costumes expected to be designed by Chock herself. Like last season, they have chosen the Grand Prix as the first event of their season; this one is even a more important one for them, with their eyes on the Winter Olympic Games of Milano Cortina.

They will be joined by two other teams from the USA: Caroline Green and Michale Parsons, who already earned a bronze at Cup of China a couple of seasons ago, and have so far collected a bronze medal at Nepela Memorial this season; and Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik, who earned a silver medal at Kinoshita Group Cup earlier in September. With the Olympic spots open for grab, both teams will aim to prove they deserve a chance to join team USA in Milano.

Spain’s Olivia Smart and Tim Dieck will be returning to Cup of China for a second time. Last year, they finished in fourth place after earning their first Grand Prix medal (a bronze) at Skate America. Following a fifth-place finish at the European Championships and a sixth place at Worlds, they aim to continue their progression this season, which has already started with a gold medal at Nepela Memorial, where they presented their Dune part two free dance.

Last season, Evgeniia Lopareva and Geoffrey Brissaud won their first Grand Prix event, in France, and with other bronze medal they won at Skate America, they secured they first qualification to the Grand Prix Final. This season, the French duo started with a second-place finish at French Masters and a fourth-place finish at Nepela Memorial, skating on their new free based on music by the iconic Björk.

Also from France, Loicia Demougeot and Theo Le Mercier return for a third consecutive time to the Grand Prix of China. This season, they finished third at the French Masters and firth at Nepela memorial.

South Korea’s Hannah Lim and Ye Quan will compete in their only Grand Prix this season. So far, they have participated at Lake Placid Ice Dance International, earning a bronze medal, and at Kinoshita Group Cup, finishing in fourth place.

Three teams will be representing China: Junfei Ren and Jianing Xing, in their second season together; Shiyue Wang and Xinyu Liu, who finished fourth at the Skate to Milano event; and Zixi Xiao and Linghao He.

Event info: The rhythm dance kicks off on Friday, October 24, at 1:45pm (CST); the free dance occurs on Saturday, October 25, at 2:30pm (CST).