BINGWA Geng! | Golden Skate

BINGWA Geng!

feraina

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 3, 2007
Yeah, she's wonderful. I think this is the best I've seen her skate in international competitions (the previous were in juniors). She's got Caroline's old coach (Mingzhu Li), so it's not hugely surprising they skate a little alike, although I think maybe the resemblance was already there even before Mingzhu took over. Thankfully she doesn't have Caroline's mule kick or iffy 2A entry, nor the flutz. But she needs to work on her lip, her loop (not used in this comp), and she also doesn't have the same classical layback position that Caroline (and many American girls) have. Good layback overall, though.
 

bigsisjiejie

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 22, 2009
She's good, really improved. I'm not really seeing that many reminders of Caroline Zhangisms in her skating, though. I'm assuming that Yan Liu is pretty much out of the picture by now, and Binshu Xu kind of topped out with her own limitations and inconsistency. So Bingwa and junior Zijun Li will likely be carrying the Chinese ladies banner over the next few years. I'm sure Mingzhu Li dreams of finding the same caliber of skater she had with Lu Chen, who developed into an extraordinary talent. The raw talent is out there somewhere in China, I have no doubt about that--it's just finding and nurturing it, and developing tough and consistent competitors.
 

silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
China seems to have a number of promising young skaters now. I was really impressed by Bingwa's SP, not so much the FS but you can still see she has a lot of potential. Zijun Li is also very promising, as is Kexin Zhang when she is "on" (looking at her results on the JGP this season, she seems to be pretty inconsistent, she could be injured though). I also liked the other young Chinese girl Qiuying Zhu who competed in the SP at CoC, her jumps weren't great but I assume her injury has something to do with that. She had great flexibility and nice posture and flow though and she's also just 16 as well, so overall, the future of figure skating in China is looking a lot better now than it has in the past.
 

cooper

Medalist
Joined
Mar 23, 2010
I love this girl, she has the potential. Love her sp in Cup of China.
 

burntBREAD

Medalist
Joined
Mar 27, 2010
Her name means "Ice Doll"! Both her parents are coaches, she started at age two...she's just made for figure skating!
 

silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
I like what I see with this girl, but I'm not sold on her yet. She didn't have great results on the junior ranks and I have to wonder if she possibly just had the SOHL at CoC and received a boost in her scores due to skating in her own country. Ming-Zhu Li seems to have helped her improve a lot, but she doesn't look fully pubertized yet and you never know what that will do to a skater. Bingwa has some lovely qualities but still seems a bit juniorish to me. She smashed her former PB scores at CoC so it will be interesting to see if she can keep it up and put up similar scores at her other competitions this season or if her scores will go back down closer to what they used to be. This girl definitely has potential, but I'm going to be cautiously optimistic at this point. The buzz about Bingwa sort of reminds me of the buzz Min-Jung Kwak received last season at 4CC and the Olympics, where she smashed her former PB scores and was skating really well and showed lots of promise. Now though, she seems to be scoring closer to what she was scoring before she had her big break, and likely it's just due to injury, but at the moment, though I think she is very promising and has lots of potential, she is a bit of a question mark.
 

miki88

Medalist
Joined
Dec 28, 2009
She's nice but nothing special. Zijun Li has more potential and I still believe if China were to have another breakout star, it would be her.
 

feraina

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 3, 2007
I like what I see with this girl, but I'm not sold on her yet. She didn't have great results on the junior ranks and I have to wonder if she possibly just had the SOHL at CoC and received a boost in her scores due to skating in her own country. Ming-Zhu Li seems to have helped her improve a lot, but she doesn't look fully pubertized yet and you never know what that will do to a skater. Bingwa has some lovely qualities but still seems a bit juniorish to me. She smashed her former PB scores at CoC so it will be interesting to see if she can keep it up and put up similar scores at her other competitions this season or if her scores will go back down closer to what they used to be. This girl definitely has potential, but I'm going to be cautiously optimistic at this point. The buzz about Bingwa sort of reminds me of the buzz Min-Jung Kwak received last season at 4CC and the Olympics, where she smashed her former PB scores and was skating really well and showed lots of promise. Now though, she seems to be scoring closer to what she was scoring before she had her big break, and likely it's just due to injury, but at the moment, though I think she is very promising and has lots of potential, she is a bit of a question mark.

Well, Bingwa never skated with so few mistakes in junior or senior competitions before, that's a fact. And I don't think she was overscored for what she put out there this time. In fact, her SP probably deserved a little more PCS than what she got.

Mingzhu Li only became her full time coach in the summer, so it's possible that this improvement we see her is something substantial and not just a fluke.

I feel like she had a little more speed/power when she was younger somehow, and a little bit more natural in her presentation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZvlPovCoVM
That was before she had any instruction from Mingzhu Li. The resemblance to Caroline was already there (she even does the pearl!) -- I think they naturally skate similar. Her jumps are now better and more consistent, but the speed and movements... maybe they shouldn't use Karen Kwan as a choreographer. I really don't like the excessive hand movements. And the music always sounds similar, elevator background similar at that...

ETA: I also think Zijun Li has more potential at this point. But Zijun has clearly not gone through puberty, so her future is still a big question mark. Plus, there's nothing like a good training mate/rival to motivate an athlete. Zijun and Bingwa are lucky to have each other.
 
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silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
I like Zijun too, she definitely has loads of potential!

As for Bingwa, the one thing I noticed is that it seems like she skates really slowly. Her jumps get good height so it's working for her now, but if her body changes, she might have trouble pulling them off if she doesn't increase her speed, sort of like what happened to Caroline Zhang. Also, if she was prone to mistakes in the past, she may be a nervous competitor and will be inconsistent. Definitely she's improved a lot since last season, and I assume we will be seeing her at 4CC and Worlds in a few months, so depending on how she does there we might have a better idea of where she's at, if she's made further improvements, and what to expect in the future, etc. We also don't know if she will have a dramatic body transformation like Bebe Liang or Caroline Zhang did, looking at Bingwa now, she could stay about the same size but also could change a lot in the coming months.
 

russell30

Final Flight
Joined
Dec 14, 2004
I really like Bingwa, great talent, we will see what will happen to her when her body changes?, the body change seems to hurt most of the girls from excellent juniors to flops in seniors.:disapp:

I know this thread is on Bingwa, But we really have not seen or heard of Yan Liu this season, has she retired?
 

feraina

Record Breaker
Joined
Mar 3, 2007
Definitely she's improved a lot since last season, and I assume we will be seeing her at 4CC and Worlds in a few months, so depending on how she does there we might have a better idea of where she's at, if she's made further improvements, and what to expect in the future, etc. We also don't know if she will have a dramatic body transformation like Bebe Liang or Caroline Zhang did, looking at Bingwa now, she could stay about the same size but also could change a lot in the coming months.

Compared to 7 months ago, she's in much better skating shape, and maybe trimmer, too:
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTY2NzIwNjM2.html

Of course puberty could still alter her physique drastically, but at least the current trajectory in her development seems very positive.

And yes, Yan Liu retired.
 

Ginask8s

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 27, 2008
I really enjoyed her skating. I love her body line and her wonderful flexibility in her back. I havent enjoyed too many ladies thus far, so this is a real treat and a surprize. As far as puberty, how old is she? many girls start by 13 unless they train like dogs or gymnasts. I wonder what her parents look like. Thats always a good prediction of what is to come.
 

silverlake22

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2009
I really enjoyed her skating. I love her body line and her wonderful flexibility in her back. I havent enjoyed too many ladies thus far, so this is a real treat and a surprize. As far as puberty, how old is she? many girls start by 13 unless they train like dogs or gymnasts. I wonder what her parents look like. Thats always a good prediction of what is to come.

She'll turn 17 on January 3rd. Usually though, weight is gained after puberty, usually around age 16-18. Kimmie and Caroline were both around 17 when their builds changed a lot, going from really thin to sturdier and muscular, even though at that point they were probably past puberty. Mirai Nagasu also looks to have filled out some since last season, though in her case it hasn't seemed to affect her jumps negatively.
 
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