2025 Cup of China Pairs’ Podium (From L to R): Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii (ITA), Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava (GEO) and Wenjing Sui and Cong Han (CHN).
2025 Cup of China: Pairs
Georgia’s Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava prevailed at Cup of China, taking the Pairs’ gold despite a fall in the free skate on Sunday in Chongqing. Defending champions Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii of Italy maintained second place overall for the silver—the seventh Grand Prix medal of their career. Wenjing Sui and Cong Han of China earned the bronze have a two-in-half year hiatus following the 2022 Winter Olympics where they won gold.
Anastasiia Metelkina and Luka Berulava
The two-time European medalists renewed their personal best in the short program, placing first with 77.77 points. Their routine to “Boléro” featured side-by-side triple Salchows, a level-four throw triple twist, and throw triple flip. The Axel lift and footwork were graded a level three, but the spin received a level four.
“We are in good shape, and it’s a shape that is prepared,” said Berulava. “We were in good form last season too. If there were any mistakes, they are purely our mistakes, because our coaching staff always prepares us perfectly; that’s the truth. And at every competition, we feel very good. The only thing for us is to get our heads together, that’s all. Because physically, we are always ready no matter the competition.”
Metelkina revealed that she had reached out to a psychologist after their Challenger event in Georgia
“I solved all the questions I had,” she said. “Of course, whether you want to or not, you start to load yourself with extra thoughts. ‘Can I do a performance like this again? Was that the skate of my life? Why is everyone saying that?’ You know, the typical girl thoughts. We worked through everything, and overall, we were well prepared for this event.”
She also pointed out that she has to use special tape on her arms to be able to do the arm stand in the starting pose.
The 2024–25 Grand Prix Final bronze medalists put out a good performance to “Le discours d’Arthur” and “Keeping Me Alive” which featured a solid level-three triple twist, side-by-side triple toes, throw triple flip and throw triple loop. Metelkina took a fall on the final jump of the triple Salchow-double Axel-double Axel sequence, and the team lost a level on an Axel lift, but the rest of free skate was clean. They finished first in the free skate and overall (139.47/217.24) to win their second consecutive individual Grand Prix gold.
“Today was a rather difficult day,” said Berulava. “I’m glad we fought for this gold medal and didn’t give up after the mistake on the jump. Then, of course, a very strange thing happened on the lift. That very rarely happens, to be honest, but you have to be prepared for everything. And I’m glad that Nastia and I saved that lift, because if we hadn’t managed it, we would have lost this gold today.”
They will compete again at Skate America next month.
Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii
The two-time World bronze medalists placed second in the short program with 73.41 points. Their routine to “El Toro Salvaje” and “Concerto de España” featured a triple twist, clean triple Salchows and a level three lift. The only error came when she put a hand down on a throw triple loop. The footwork, spin and death spiral were graded a level four.
“Today, the pressure was completely different from the other competitions we’ve done before, but this is the goal,” said Conti. “We love to compete in big events, with big athletes and a big crowd. But yes, it did feel different.”
“It’s not easy to skate last, especially after the big skate of the Georgians and sharing the ice with the Olympic champions,” admitted Macii. “We actually skated with them in Torino (2021 Gran Premio d’Italia). Back then, we were last and they won. Now, we’re getting closer to them.”
Conti was pleased that they met one of their goals by getting a level four on the death spiral.
“We did lose a level in the twist, though, and I don’t yet understand why.”
The two-time Grand Prix Final medalists opened their free skate with a level three triple twist and side-by-side triple toe-double Axel-double Axel sequence. Conti put a hand down on the triple Salchows as well as the throw triple loop and throw triple Salchow. However, all three lifts, the death spiral and spin were graded a level four. They placed second with a new season’s best of 136.47 for their expressive routine to “Caruso” and “Occhi Verdi” and finished second overall with 209.88 points.
“I think we did a pretty good free skate today,” Macii commented. “It really wasn’t easy skating after the Olympic champions. I mean, we already had the experience of skating behind Deanna (Stellato-Dudek) and Max (Deschamps) in Canada—but there, the ice wasn’t so full of plush. Here, after them, the ice was full of stuff, people were screaming, it’s not that easy. You’re not used to it.”
He noted that they lost a level on the twist again.
“But overall, we’re very happy,” he said. “We were a bit afraid we might place behind them, so of course it was a big relief to take second place here. As I said yesterday, we’re starting a bit slow. We’re like a diesel car—we need a little more time to speed up. But overall, we skated pretty well, we’re pleased with the points, and we’re happy.”
The Italians will skate next at NHK Trophy in two weeks.
Wenjing Sui and Cong Han
The 2022 Olympic gold champions received an exciting and warm welcome from their home crowd after they took the ice after a nearly four-year hiatus. Han had retired in August of 2023 with Sui following the same path. However, they announced their return this past June.
Skating to “Habanera,” they opened with side-by-side triple toes, but Sui fell on jump. The team quickly recovered to produce a level-four triple twist and throw triple Lutz. The lift on the other hand, has created a debate on the internet. It was graded as a Group 5 reverse lasso lift, however, coaches Chris Knierim and Daniel Aggiano, among others, pointed out that it was a Group 4 lift (hand-to-hand press lift). The footwork received a level four, and all elements, except for the triple toes, received positive GOEs. They scored 72.45 points for third place.
“It was really hard to get all the elements back,” said Han. “So, I leave the ice and still go to the university as a teacher (a PE instructor at Tsinghua University in Beijing), and Wenjing also needs to face many challenges. I think for us the most important thing is that we love figure skating, and we wanted to go back and compete on the ice. We try to skate with our hearts, that encourages us. Also, the audience and our families give us a lot of energy to push us to keep forward.”
“I wasn’t nervous today. It’s true, we haven’t competed for a long time, but I really enjoyed that,” Sui added. “I want to say thank you to my family, to my team, and my university (Beijing Sports University). I think we will keep moving from here.”
The two-time world champions made a few mistakes but produced a solid throw triple flip and throw triple Salchow in their free skate to music from A Tapestry of a Legendary Land. They produced a level-four triple twist, but Han singled the last jump in the side-by-side triple toe-double Axel-double Axel sequence. Sui doubled the triple Salchows, but the veteran team earned a level four on the death spiral, spin and final lift. They placed third in the free skate and overall (130.47/202.92).
“This is the fourth time we did a full free program, so it’s already a big achievement,” said Han. “After the competition, we will review that we have to work on and we will keep improving in the future.”
“I did a part of our choreography, and I am not satisfied with the way we skated today, so we will work on that as well,” Sui added.
They will compete next month at NHK Trophy
Jiaxuan Zhang and Yihang Huang
China’s Jiaxuan Zhang and Yihang Huang scored a new personal best of 68.96 points in the short program in their Grand Prix debut. Their routine to “Nemesis” by Benjamin Clementine included a triple twist, side-by-side triple toes, a huge throw triple flip, and level four lift. The finished fifth going into the free skate.
The 2024-25 Junior Grand Prix Final champions were “satisfied” with the performance despite some small mistakes. They trained for a month following the Beijing Olympic qualifying event where they finished first, using the time to improve and work on their elements.
The national champions placed fourth in the free skate to “O” by Coldplay with another personal best of 126.45 points. The team opened with a triple twist, but then Zhang stepped out of the second jump of the triple toe-double Axel-double Axel sequence, popping the final jump. Huang underrotated the side-by-side toes, but the throw triple Lutz and throw triple loop were solid, earning many positive GOEs. They also earned a level four on all three lifts, and moved up to fourth place overall with a total score of 195.41 points.
“I feel still feel a bit nervous because it is my first senior Grand Prix event,” Zhang confessed. “We’ve made a few mistakes, like small mistakes in the program. This is okay, but it’s not our best level, and we want to keep working on the program to do better next time.”
Both skaters said they felt “very honored” to compete and share the ice with Sui and Han, who are their skating idols.
Their next event will be Finlandia Trophy.
Rebecca Ghilardi and Filippo Ambrosini of Italy placed fifth overall (186.85), followed by Germany’s Annika Hocke and Robert Kunkel (183.74) and USA’s Katie McBeath and Daniil Parkman (181.70).
Lucrezia Beccari and Matteo Guarise of Italy withdrew before the free skate citing injury.
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