Han Cong

Career

Sui and Han teamed up in 2007 without having previous pair skating experience. They both were inspired by 2010 Olympic Champions Shen Xue & Hongbo Zhao and started skating after watching them competing in the 2002 Winter Olympics.

2009–10 season: World Junior Champions

They made their international debut in the 2009–2010 ISU Junior Grand Prix, where they placed 1st at their events. In the ISU Junior Grand Prix Final they placed 1st. They won the 2010 Chinese Figure Skating Championships and earned a trip to the 2010 World Junior Figure Skating Championships, where they placed 1st. They became the second Chinese pair winning the World Junior Figure Skating Championships after Zhang Dan & Zhang Hao who won the title in 2001 and 2003.

2010–11 season: Gold at Junior Worlds

In the 2010–11 season, Sui and Han started their season by winning silver at the Junior Grand Prix Cup of Austria and gold at the Junior Grand Prix Blauen Schwerter.

The pair also made their debut on the Senior Grand Prix series by winning a silver medal at the 2010 Cup of China. At their second Grand Prix event, 2010 Skate America, they won the bronze medal. At the 2010–11 Grand Prix Final in December 2010, Sui and Han scored 61.49 in the short program, setting a new personal best and a personal best of 117.55 points in the free skate to win a bronze medal with 179.04 overall.

The pair then went on to win their second national title at the 2011 Chinese Figure Skating Championships.

Sui and Han ended their season by winning their second junior world title at the 2011 World Junior Figure Skating Championships.

2011–12 season: Gold at Four Continents and Junior Worlds

In the 2011–12 season, Sui and Han started their season off by winning the Junior Grand Prix Volvo Cup and the Junior Grand Prix Cup of Austria. They went on to win their second Junior Grand Prix title at the 2011–12 ISU Junior Grand Prix.

On the senior level, they were assigned to compete at the 2011 Skate Canada where they took the silver medal, and the 2011 Cup of China where they finished 5th. Sui and Han competed at the 2012 Four Continents Championships and won the gold medal placing 1st in both the short and free skate. They won their consecutive 3rd junior world title at the 2012 World Junior Championships held in Minsk, Belarus.

2012–13 season

In the 2012–13 season, Sui and Han withdrew from the Grand Prix series due to an injury to Sui. They competed at the 2013 World Championships despite Sui still being injured and placed 12th.

After that season they switched from longtime coach Luan Bo to Olympic pairs champion Zhao Hongbo, Han Bing, and Yao Bin.

2013–14 season: Gold at Four Continents

In the 2013–14 season, Sui and Han were assigned to two Grand Prixs and started their event at the 2013 Skate Canada where they won the silver medal. At the 2013 NHK Trophy, they won the bronze medal behind teammates Peng Cheng / Zhang Hao. They won bronze at the Nationals qualifying for the 2014 Winter Olympics but did not make the Olympic team. They then competed at the 2014 Four Continents Championships and won the gold medal setting a new personal best overall score of 212.40 points.

Sui and Han then competed at the 2014 World Championships after the withdrawal of Pang Qing/Tong Jian, where they finished 6th after placing 4th in the short program with a score of 72.24 and 9th in the free skate with a score of 119.86, with a total score of 192.10.

2014–15 season: Silver medal at Worlds

For the 2014–15 Grand Prix season, Sui and Han were assigned to Skate Canada and Trophee Eric Bompard.

At 2014 Skate Canada, Sui and Han won the silver medal after placing 2nd in both segments after scoring 65.22 in the short program, 119.42 in the free skate, and a total score of 184.64. At 2014 Trophee Eric Bompard, Sui and Han won another silver medal after placing 2nd in the short program with a score of 67.27 and 2nd in the free skate with a score of 133.41, with a total score of 200.68.

These results qualified them for the 2014–15 Grand Prix Final where they won their second bronze medal after finishing 3rd in the short program with a score of 66.66 and 5th in the free skate with a score of 127.65, with a total score of 194.31.

At the 2015 Four Continents Figure Skating Championships, Sui and Han finished 4th with a total score of 198.88, after placing 3rd in the short program with a score of 69.19 and 4th in the free skate with a score of 129.69.

At the 2015 World Figure Skating Championships, Sui and Han placed 3rd in the short program with a score of 71.63, 2nd in the free skate with a personal best score of 142.49, and a personal best combined total score of 214.12, which earned them the silver medal overall.

Sui and Han stated they would begin training the throw quad Salchow again for the 2015–16 season.

2015–16 season: Second Silver at Worlds

For the 2015–16 Grand Prix season, Sui and Han were assigned to compete at 2015 Skate America and 2015 Cup of China. They began their season by winning Skate America, which was their first ever senior Grand Prix gold medal. Sui/Han had planned to attempt a quad throw at 2015 Cup of China, however, Sui injured her Achilles tendon of the right foot on Nov 3, 2015. Nevertheless, they managed to take silver, missing the gold by only .38 points. Their Grand Prix results qualified them for the 2015–16 Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final, however, they withdrew due to Sui's injury.

Sui and Han won the 2016 Four Continents Championships with 221.91 points. At the 2016 World Championships they won the short program with 80.85 points, but were second in the free skate. They won the silver medal overall with 224.47 points, behind Canada's Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford.

2016–17 season

Sui underwent surgery on both feet following the 15–16 season. Sui / Han withdrew from the Grand Prix series because the recovery from the surgery took several months. At their first competition of the season, the 2017 Four Continents Championships, they won the gold medal with a new personal record of 225.03 points, almost 13 points ahead of the silver medalists. Their free skate included a quadruple twist.

Age controversy

In February 2011, Han's and his partner's ages became the subject of controversy. Although his ISU bio lists Han as born on August 6, 1992, a Chinese website suggested he was born in March 1989. This would mean that during the 2010–11 season he was too old for junior events. His partner's age also came under scrutiny. Her ISU bio states that she was born on July 18, 1995 but the Chinese website suggested she was born on May 7, 1997, making her 12 and thus, too young to compete in junior events during the 2009–10 season, including the 2010 World Junior Championships, as well as senior Grand Prix events during the 2010–11 season.

Competitive highlights

GP: Grand Prix; JGP: Junior Grand Prix

With Sui

Detailed results

(Small medals for short and free programs awarded only at ISU Championships – Worlds and Four Continents. At team events, medals awarded for team results only.)