Han Cong


Han Cong is a Chinese pair skater. With partner Sui Wenjing, he is the 2018 Olympic silver medalist, 2017 and 2019 world champion, 2019–20 Grand Prix Final champion, six-time Four Continents champion, three-time World Junior champion, 2009–10 Junior Grand Prix Final champion, and two-time Chinese national champion. Sui and Han have landed throw quadruple salchows and quadruple twists in competition.

Career

Sui and Han teamed up in 2007 without having previous pair skating experience. They both were inspired by 2010 Olympic Champions Shen Xue & Zhao Hongbo and started skating after watching them competing in the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Junior career

2009–10 season: World Junior Champions

They made their international debut in the 2009–2010 ISU Junior Grand Prix, where they placed 1st at their events. In the ISU Junior Grand Prix Final they placed 1st. They won the 2010 Chinese Figure Skating Championships and earned a trip to the 2010 World Junior Figure Skating Championships, where they placed 1st. They became the second Chinese pair winning the World Junior Figure Skating Championships after Zhang Dan & Zhang Hao who won the title in 2001 and 2003.

Senior career

2010–11 season: Gold at Junior Worlds

In the 2010–11 season, Sui and Han started their season by winning silver at the Junior Grand Prix Cup of Austria and gold at the Junior Grand Prix Blauen Schwerter.
The pair also made their debut on the Senior Grand Prix series by winning a silver medal at the 2010 Cup of China. At their second Grand Prix event, 2010 Skate America, they won the bronze medal. At the 2010–11 Grand Prix Final in December 2010, Sui and Han scored 61.49 in the short program, setting a new personal best and a personal best of 117.55 points in the free skate to win a bronze medal with 179.04 overall.
The pair then went on to win their second national title at the 2011 Chinese Figure Skating Championships.
Sui and Han ended their season by winning their second junior world title at the 2011 World Junior Figure Skating Championships.

2011–12 season: Gold at Four Continents and Junior Worlds

In the 2011–12 season, Sui and Han started their season off by winning the Junior Grand Prix Volvo Cup and the Junior Grand Prix Cup of Austria. They went on to win their second Junior Grand Prix title at the 2011–12 ISU Junior Grand Prix.
On the senior level, they were assigned to compete at the 2011 Skate Canada where they took the silver medal, and the 2011 Cup of China where they finished 5th. Sui and Han competed at the 2012 Four Continents Championships and won the gold medal placing 1st in both the short and free skate. They won their consecutive 3rd junior world title at the 2012 World Junior Championships held in Minsk, Belarus.

2012–13 season

In the 2012–13 season, Sui and Han withdrew from the Grand Prix series due to an injury to Sui. They competed at the 2013 World Championships despite Sui still being injured and placed 12th.
After that season they switched from longtime coach Luan Bo to Olympic pairs champion Zhao Hongbo, Han Bing, and Yao Bin.

2013–14 season: Gold at Four Continents

In the 2013–14 season, Sui and Han were assigned to two Grand Prixs and started their event at the 2013 Skate Canada where they won the silver medal. At the 2013 NHK Trophy, they won the bronze medal behind teammates Peng Cheng / Zhang Hao. They won bronze at the Nationals qualifying for the 2014 Winter Olympics but did not make the Olympic team. They then competed at the 2014 Four Continents Championships and won the gold medal setting a new personal best overall score of 212.40 points.
Sui and Han then competed at the 2014 World Championships after the withdrawal of Pang Qing/Tong Jian, where they finished 6th after placing 4th in the short program with a score of 72.24 and 9th in the free skate with a score of 119.86, with a total score of 192.10.

2014–15 season: Silver medal at Worlds

For the 2014–15 Grand Prix season, Sui and Han were assigned to Skate Canada and Trophee Eric Bompard.
At 2014 Skate Canada, Sui and Han won the silver medal after placing 2nd in both segments after scoring 65.22 in the short program, 119.42 in the free skate, and a total score of 184.64. At 2014 Trophee Eric Bompard, Sui and Han won another silver medal after placing 2nd in the short program with a score of 67.27 and 2nd in the free skate with a score of 133.41, with a total score of 200.68.
These results qualified them for the 2014–15 Grand Prix Final where they won their second bronze medal after finishing 3rd in the short program with a score of 66.66 and 5th in the free skate with a score of 127.65, with a total score of 194.31.
At the 2015 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships, Sui and Han finished 4th with a total score of 198.88, after placing 3rd in the short program with a score of 69.19 and 4th in the free skate with a score of 129.69.
At the 2015 World Figure Skating Championships, Sui and Han placed 3rd in the short program with a score of 71.63, 2nd in the free skate with a personal best score of 142.49, and a personal best combined total score of 214.12, which earned them the silver medal overall.
Sui and Han stated they would begin training the throw quad Salchow again for the 2015–16 season.

2015–16 season: Second Silver at Worlds

For the 2015–16 Grand Prix season, Sui and Han were assigned to compete at 2015 Skate America and 2015 Cup of China. They began their season by winning Skate America, their first senior Grand Prix gold medal. Sui was injured in early November, shortly before the Cup of China, where they placed second. These results qualified them to the 2015–16 Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final, from which they withdrew due to Sui's injury.
Sui and Han won the 2016 Four Continents Championships with 221.91 points. At the 2016 World Championships, they placed first in the short program, second in the free skating, and second overall, behind Canada's Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford.

2016–17 season: World title

Sui underwent surgery on both feet following the 2015–16 season. Sui and Han then withdrew from the Grand Prix series because the recovery from the surgery took several months.
They made their season debut at the 2017 Four Continents Championships, where they won the gold medal with a new personal best score of 225.03 points. Their free skate included a quadruple twist.
Sui and Han won the 2017 World Figure Skating Championships in Helsinki, Finland, placing first in both the short program and free skating.

2017–18 season: Pyeongchang Olympics

Sui and Han competed on the Grand Prix series at the Cup of China and NHK Trophy. They won both events and qualified to the Grand Prix Final. At the final, they placed third in the short program, second in the free skating, and second overall.
Sui cut her lower leg near the shinbone in training before the 2018 Four Continents Championships and consequently withdrew.
Sui and Han did not compete in the team event at the 2018 Winter Olympics. In the individual event, they placed first in the short program, third in the free skating, and second overall, losing the gold by only 0.43 overall to Aliona Savchenko and Bruno Massot, who came from fourth after the short to win.
It was revealed that Sui's right foot injury at the Olympics was a stress fracture. As a result, the team withdrew from the 2018 World Championships.

2018–19 season: Second World title

Choreographer Lori Nichol, in designing the team's free program for the season, picked Ezio Bosso's "Rain, In Your Black Eyes", feeling that Bosso's own personal struggles connected to Sui's previous struggles with injury. Sui and Han were initially assigned to compete at the new 2018 Grand Prix of Helsinki and 2018 NHK Trophy for the Grand Prix, but withdrew from both events due to Sui's continued injury recovery. They competed the short program at the 2019 Chinese Championships, but withdrew afterward, having not planned to compete the free skate.
The duo made their comeback to international competition at the 2019 Four Continents Championships. Sui fell on her attempted triple toe loop, relegating them narrowly to second place behind Kirsten Moore-Towers / Michael Marinaro of Canada in the short program. Sui attributed the error to being "a little too excited" by the return to competition. Sui/Han then won the free skate, and their fifth overall Four Continents gold, despite a second fall from Sui on the side-by-side triple Salchow. They finished 0.06 points ahead of Moore-Towers/Marinaro. Both said that they needed more time to become familiar with their program in order to improve.
Sui and Han finished their season at the 2019 World Championships, skating two clean programs and setting personal bests in both segments of the competition. They scored 79.24 points in the short program, which stood as a world record until the pair of Evgenia Tarasova / Vladimir Morozov broke it later the same day. In the free skate, Sui and Han placed first with a score of 155.60, a new world record. They scored 234.84 points in total, setting another new world record and winning their second gold at the World Championships. They outscored silver medalists Tarasova/Morozov by 6.37 points. Han commented: "Thank you to the audience that supported us so well. We also want to show our appreciation to our team and the coaches. This season we had to overcome a lot of difficulties, but thanks to their support, we were able to overcome it."

2019–20 season: Grand Prix Final champions

Sui and Han started their season at the Cup of China, placing first in the short program with a personal best of 80.90 under the new +5 GOE system. They won the free skate as well, with Han doubling a planned triple Salchow as the only error, and received an overall score of 228.37. Han attributed the mistake to recovery from injury over the summer. At the 2019 NHK Trophy, Sui/Han set a new world record in the short program. They won the free skate as well, despite Sui falling on the opening to their jump combination, taking their second Grand Prix gold of the season and qualifying to the Grand Prix Final in first position.
Competing at the Grand Prix Final, Sui/Han placed first in the short program despite Sui putting a hand down on their throw jump. They came second in the free skate despite Han making errors on both of their planned jumping passes, and a few lost levels on lifts and their combination spin, and won the title, their first Grand Prix Final victory. They were the first Chinese team to win the Grand Prix Final since their coach Zhao Hongbo and his wife Shen Xue did so eleven seasons earlier.
The favourites heading into the 2020 Four Continents Championships in Seoul, Sui/Han placed third in the short program after inadvertently performing only a throw double flip. Sui attributed this to her costume. Winning the free skate despite errors on their side-by-side triple Salchows, they took their sixth Four Continents title. Speaking afterward, Sui said that training had been difficult recently due to concerns about whether they would be able to travel abroad because of the coronavirus pandemic. Han said they were "quite satisfied" with their performance.

Programs

Competitive highlights

GP: Grand Prix; JGP: Junior Grand Prix
With Sui

Detailed results

With Sui