Figuring out the future

Both starting at a youth gymnastics program in their native Guangxi province, the 17-year-old Yang and her 20-year-old partner Deng, made a bold decision in 2018 to switch to a winter sport that they'd never tried, believing that their fitness, strength and agility honed on mats and bars would help on ice.

The basics of skating, though, have proved to be the biggest challenge to their ambitions, even though they've perfected some high-difficulty jumps, lifts and spirals to elite standards.

Their fast progress on ice, highlighted by a bronze-medal finish in their senior international debut at last month's Shanghai Trophy 2024, bodes well for such cross-sport experiments to deliver further breakthroughs.

"I think we have sort of an advantage technically and physically from our years in gymnastics, as well as in the chemistry between us," Yang said.

"Our weakness remains the fundamental parts of skating, step sequences and the flow of our movement on ice," Deng added.

"Of course, we need more serious drills quickly to make up for our lack of experience on the big stage," he said.

The next invaluable test comes on home ice later this month, when China's youngsters take on the world's best at the Cup of China, the Grand Prix season's sixth and final leg, to be held in Chongqing from Nov 22-24.