Han Yan Now Out of Worlds

Shoulder injury now upgraded to a fracture, which caused dislocations; too much to skate through.

Wednesday night, while the world reeled from the intrigue of China’s ladies situation, Chinese men’s skate Han Yan gave an update on his own situation. At the time, it wasn’t clear, at least to Western readers, whether or not he had decided to withdraw. However, too much became clear when the Han Yan Fan Van did a full translation of his latest Weibo posts.

It is beyond doubt now that he cannot compete next week.  Some injuries can be skated through, but a broken shoulder isn’t one of them. Very shortly after, International Figure Skating Magazine even announced his withdrawal from Worlds.

It’s a painful end to a painful season. He did not skate well at either of his Grand Prix events (he still came in fifth at Cup of China, but everyone skated badly there), or the Four Continents Championships, where he’d medaled in 2016. His final competition of the season, however, proved to be a more positive note. That was the Asian Winter Games, where he skated his best since that Four Continents, and won bronze.

At least he doesn’t have to worry about making the Olympics, provided his shoulder recovers without complications. Barring disaster, top Chinese man Boyang Jin should earn the country two men’s berths, and there’s no one on the radar who can unseat Yan from the second. With Yan also goes China’s chances of getting three, but those were never the highest. His replacement, Yuhang Guan, should make the free skate with a decent short program, but is likely to manage little else.

Next: Satoko Miyahara Out of World Championships

His name remains on the Worlds roster as of late Thursday, but is likely to go on the next update. At the same time, the ladies entries remain unchanged. It’s now late enough in the game that whoever are listed after Yan’s name goes are probably the ones that are going.