Vincent Zhou

Zhou started skating in 2005.[2] As a young child, he had lessons with Julie Lowndes and Charlie Tickner. He was coached by Diana Miro at the juvenile level and represented the Peninsula Skating Club until the 2011–2012 season. When he was nine, Zhou started to be coached by Tammy Gambill[9][8] and became a member of the All Year Figure Skating Club in Riverside, California. Zhou admires Patrick Chan, Brian Boitano, Michael Weiss, Yuzuru Hanyu, and Richard Dornbush.[5][9]

He won three national titles at different levels in three consecutive years:[10]

• 2011 U.S. intermediate champion (youngest U.S. intermediate champion)
• 2012 U.S. novice champion
• 2013 U.S. junior champion (youngest U.S. junior champion)

Zhou intended to skate at the senior level in the 2013–2014 season,[13] but missed the season due to an injury. He was also forced to sit out the entire 2014–15 season because of a torn lateral meniscus in his right knee and a discoid meniscus. Zhou underwent surgery at the UCSF Orthepedic Institute in San Francisco to get his injuries treated.[7]

In the spring of 2015, Zhou began training at the Broadmoor Skating Club in Colorado Springs, Colorado with Tom Zakrajsek and Becky Calvin as his new coaches.[7] In May 2015, he returned to competition, at the Santa Fe Skatefest.[7]

Making his ISU Junior Grand Prix debut, Zhou won two silver medals at the 2015 JGP events in Bratislava, Slovakia and Linz, Austria. These results qualified him for the 2015–16 JGP Final in Barcelona, where he finished fourth.

In January 2016, Zhou placed 8th on the senior level at the U.S. Championships and was named in the U.S. team to the World Junior Championships in Debrecen, Hungary. At the March event, he placed fourth in both segments and fifth overall.

Zhou changed coaches ahead of the 2016–2017 season, returning to Tammy Gambill.[8] He has continued to train in Colorado Springs with one of his primary coaches, Drew Meekins, and Tom Zakrajsek. Starting his season on the Junior Grand Prix series, he won silver in Yokohama, Japan, having ranked first in the short and second in the free behind South Korea's Cha Jun-hwan, and then bronze in Tallinn, Estonia. In December, he made his senior international debut at the 2016 CS Golden Spin of Zagreb but withdrew after the short program.

Competing as a senior, Zhou won the silver medal at the U.S. Championships in January 2017. The following month, he stood on his first senior international podium, taking gold at the Bavarian Open. In March, he won the gold medal at the 2017 World Junior Championships. After placing 5th in the short program, he moved up to win the title with a personal best free skate.[14]

Zhou opened the season at the Finlandia Trophy, where he scored 6th in the short program, then moved up to a second-place finish behind China's Boyang Jin after winning the free skate. He made his senior Grand Prix debut, having received assignments to the 2017 Cup of China and 2017 Internationaux de France. In China, he scored 8th in the short program and 2nd in the free skate, landing just three points short of the podium; in France, he fell on the quads in his short program, ending up 10th in the short and 9th overall. After intense training and a shoulder dislocation, Zhou headed to the 2018 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, where he attempted a total of seven quadruple jumps. He took 5th in the short program and 3rd in the free skate, taking the bronze medal. His total score was just 0.68 points behind silver medalist Ross Miner.

Alongside Nathan Chen and Adam Rippon, Zhou was named in the U.S. Olympic figure skating team to Pyeongchang, South Korea.[15] During his short program on February 16, he became the first skater to land a quadruple Lutz jump at the Olympics.[1] After the free program, he ultimately placed 6th, behind US national champion Nathan Chen.

In April 2018, Zhou announced on Instagram that he and his choreographer Joshua Farris completed a new exhibition program to A-ha's "Take On Me". Zhou noted he had grown fond of the song while reading Ernest Cline's Ready Player One.[16]

At his first event of the season, the 2018 CS U.S. International Classic, Zhou placed sixth in the short, first in the free, and fourth overall.

Zhou's assignments for the 2018-19 Grand Prix series are Skate America and NHK Trophy.[17] At the 2018 Skate America, Zhou placed six in the short, third in the free, and fifth overall. At the 2018 NHK Trophy, Zhou placed fifth in the short, fourth in the free, and fourth overall. In late November Zhou competed at the 2018 CS Tallinn Trophy, where he won the silver medal.

At the 2019 US Championships, he won the silver medal after placing third in the short program and second in the free skate. He said "I’m happy with the results, but there is still so much room for improvement,” That gives me hope for the future, because to achieve what I did this week, and still have room for growth, is a good thing. I look forward to Four Continents and the World Championships."[18] He was assigned to compete at the 2019 Four Continents Championships in early February and the 2019 World Championships in March.

At the 2019 Four Continents Championships, Zhou ranked first in the short with a personal best score of 100.18, and fifth in the free. He won the bronze medal, achieving his first podium finish at an ISU Championship. Speaking afterward, he said "I thought that I skated great today, The most important thing that I got from today was the love for the sport. The audience was absolutely incredible and they helped me feel good about how I skated. I think that I did a good job at this competition and I made many improvements upon my previous performances. I did a very good quad Lutz at the beginning, but then my mind got a little blurry going into the quad Salchow and that could have been better.".[19]

At the 2019 World Championships, Zhou scored a new season's best of 186.99, placing third in the free skate and won the bronze medal. Afterwards, he stated, "I do not think there is one stone left unturned when it came to the organization itself, Everyone here has been so kind and so supportive. I am super proud that I was able to put together two strong performances, and I built upon what has been made on the nationals and Four Continents. To end the season like this is really incredible. It has been the first time since 1996 since two Americans have been on a podium, and I think it is really noteworthy. I am really honored to compete here and having the opportunity to skate here in Japan."[20] Zhou concluded the season as part of the gold medal-winning Team USA at the 2019 World Team Trophy.[21]

Zhou left his longtime coach Tom Zakrajsek, announcing that he would train with Tammy Gambill in the United States and also with Japanese coach Mie Hamada, who he had been working with for some time previously.[12] Zhou chose to attend Brown University, stating that the curriculum was flexible enough that it would be viable to both skate and study.[22]

Zhou debuted at the 2019 CS U.S. Classic, placing first in the short program but dropping to the bronze medal position after a fourth-place free skate.[23] He withdrew from both of his Grand Prix assignments for the year, stating that they conflicted with adequate preparation for his midterm examinations.[24] In January 2020, Zhou announced that he would take a gap year from Brown University for the following season, and would henceforth be coached by Hamada, Lee Barkell and choreographer Lori Nichol at the Granite Club in Toronto.[25]

Only able to train for approximately four weeks prior to the 2020 U.S. Championships, he nevertheless placed fourth in the short program.[26] Fourth in the free skate as well, he won the pewter medal. Zhou performed only one quadruple jump in each program, saying that he had only started to land them the week of the competition.[27] Despite his fourth place, he was assigned to one of the United States' three men's berths at the 2020 World Championships.[28] The World Championships were subsequently cancelled as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.[29]

The pandemic caused Zhou to conclude that his coaching arrangement in Toronto was no longer viable due to restrictions on international travel, and he parted ways with Barkell, saying that he had been refreshed by his time at the Granite Club. With Japan also not an option, he returned to Colorado Springs and former coaches Krall and Zakrajsek.[30] He was assigned to compete at the 2020 Skate America in Las Vegas, the ISU having made Grand Prix assignments based primarily on training location to minimize travel.[31] Zhou placed second in the short program, despite landing his quad Salchow on the quarter mark.[32] He was second in the free skate as well despite falling on his opening underrotated quad Lutz and underrotating another quad Salchow attempt, taking the silver medal behind Nathan Chen and ahead of Keegan Messing. On winning his first Grand Prix medal he said "obviously there were a few hiccups in the program, but overall, I’m really proud of myself for what I did at this competition."[33]

Zhou competed next at the 2021 U.S. Championships, also held in Las Vegas. He placed second in the short program, landing both a quad Lutz and a quad Salchow.[34] Second in the free skate as well despite two errors on quad attempts, he won the silver medal. He was assigned to the American team for the 2021 World Championships in Stockholm.[35]

Small medals for short and free programs awarded only at ISU Championships. Current ISU world bests highlighted in bold and italic.

• ISU Personal best highlighted in bold.