Ting Cui
American figure skater (born 2002)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ting Cui (/tsweɪ/;[1] born September 6, 2002) is an American figure skater. She is the 2018 CS Tallinn Trophy silver medalist. At the junior level, she is the 2019 World Junior bronze medalist and the 2018 U.S. junior national bronze medalist.
United StatesCui at the 2019 World Junior Championships | ||||||
| Personal information | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | September 6, 2002 Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. | |||||
| Height | 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) | |||||
| Figure skating career | ||||||
| Country | United States | |||||
| Discipline | Women's singles | |||||
| Coach | Tom Zakrajsek | |||||
| Skating club | Baltimore Figure Skating Club | |||||
| Began skating | 2009 | |||||
| Medal record | ||||||
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Personal life
Ting Cui was born on September 6, 2002, in Baltimore, Maryland,[2] the eldest child of Lily and Larry Cui.[1] She graduated from Towson High School in 2020.[1] She enrolled at Middlebury College in 2022, where she currently in the process of obtaining a bachelor's degree in Political Science and Government.[3]
Career
Early years
Cui began learning to skate in 2009.[2] She received a pewter medal after finishing fourth in the intermediate category at the 2015 U.S. Championships. Two years later, she won silver in the novice ranks at the 2017 U.S. Championships.
2017–18 season
Cui made her ISU Junior Grand Prix (JGP) debut in August, placing sixth in Brisbane, Australia. In January, she won the junior bronze medal at the 2018 U.S. Championships, having finished third behind Alysa Liu and Pooja Kalyan after placing eleventh in the short and second in the free. She placed seventh at the 2018 World Junior Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria. She was coached by Vincent Restencourt in Aston, Pennsylvania, until the end of the season.[4] In June, she joined Tom Zakrajsek in Colorado Springs, Colorado.[1]
2018–19 season: World Junior bronze
Cui began her season on the JGP series, placing fifth in Linz, Austria, and then seventh in Ostrava, Czech Republic. Making her senior international debut, she won silver at the 2018 CS Tallinn Trophy in November.
At the 2019 U.S. Championships, Cui debuted on the senior level domestically. She placed twelfth in the short program after falling twice and failing to execute a combination. She rallied in the free skate, where she placed third, rising to fifth place overall. Cui said afterward that it "felt amazing, and the audience was so different from juniors. I could feel the energy from the crowd, and I was just so happy, and people were on their feet too, which was really amazing." Cui was then assigned to the 2019 World Junior Championships alongside pewter medalist Hanna Harrell. Because both Harrell and gold medalist Alysa Liu were ineligible for senior international competition, Cui was also assigned to the 2019 Four Continents Championship.[5]
Competing at Four Continents, Cui placed seventh in the short program. Despite an edge call on her flip, she said it was "so much fun skating for the crowd, especially during my footwork, that was great. It’s my first Championship event, and I really want to enjoy every moment of it."[6] In the free program, she fell three times and finished in eleventh place overall.[7]
She won the bronze medal at the 2019 World Junior Championships after placing third in both segments, becoming the first American lady to medal at Junior Worlds since Gracie Gold in 2012.[8]
2019–20 season
Cui suffered from a serious ankle injury over the summer but returned to compete at the 2019 U.S. Classic, where she finished fourth.[9] On October 9, 2019, Cui announced that she had reinjured her ankle in training and would consequently withdraw from her Grand Prix assignments for the year, the Internationaux de France and NHK Trophy.[10]
In January, Cui qualified for the 2020 U.S. Championships but withdrew in December 2019 to focus on recovering from her ankle injury.[11]
2020–21 season
Cui switched coaches from Tom Zakrajsek to Natalia Linichuk in Newark, Delaware during the offseason.[12] She did not compete at either 2020 Skate America or the 2021 U.S. Championships. Cui struggled with continuing ankle issues and developed an eating disorder that hampered her recovery, though a skating friend helped her to begin improving her mental health.[13]
While appearing on Polina Edmunds's podcast, on an episode that was released in February 2021, Cui said she was training in Lake Placid, New York, with Paul Wylie and was still recovering from her injury. She said she was working on getting her triples consistent and looking to return and compete for the next season. Cui also said her coaching situation for the upcoming season would be dependent upon several factors, including where she decided to attend college.[14] Roland Burghart would eventually become her new coach.[15]
During the following season, Cui would only appear at small domestic events.[16] She considered ending her competitive career after she entered college, but she continued to skate for fun and eventually decided to return to competitive training.[13]
2022–23 season
Competing at the 2023 Eastern Sectional Championships in early November, Cui would win the silver medal, which allowed her to qualify for the U.S. Championships.[16]
Although assigned to compete at the 2023 Winter World University Games, she would withdraw following a nineteenth-place short program due to illness.[16][17] Shortly following the event, Cui competed at the 2023 U.S. Championships, where she finished in twelfth place.[16]
2023–24 season
Competing at the 2024 Eastern Sectional Championships, Cui won the bronze medal.[16]
2024–25 season
During the summer, Tatiana Malinina and Roman Skorniakov became her head coaches; due to the distance between their rink and Cui's college, they coached her virtually when she was at school.[13]
Cui began the season by competing at the 2025 Eastern Sectional Championships, where she won the gold medal, thus qualifying for the 2025 U.S. Championships. She ultimately placed seventeenth at the latter event.[16]
In May 2025, she underwent surgery to treat a longtime ankle injury.[18]
Programs
| Season | Short program | Free skating | Exhibition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016–2017 [19] |
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| 2017–2018 [4] |
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| 2018–2019 [2] |
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| 2019–2020 [20] |
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| 2020–2021 |
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| 2021–2022 [21] |
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| 2022–2023 |
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| 2023–2024 [22] |
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| 2024–2025 [23][24] |
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Competitive highlights
- JGP – Event of the ISU Junior Grand Prix Series
- CS – Event of the ISU Challenger Series
- WD – Withdrew from competition
| Season | 2018–19 | 2019–20 | 2022–23 | 2023–24 | 2024–25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Four Continents Championships | 11th | ||||
| U.S. Championships | 5th | 12th | 17th | ||
| CS Tallinn Trophy | 2nd | ||||
| CS U.S. Classic | 4th | ||||
| Kings Cup | WD | ||||
| Winter University Games | WD |
| Season | 2017–18 | 2018–19 |
|---|---|---|
| World Junior Championships | 7th | 3rd |
| U.S. Championships | 3rd | |
| JGP Australia | 6th | |
| JGP Austria | 5th | |
| JGP Czech Republic | 7th | |
| Philadelphia Summer | 1st |
Detailed results
| Segment | Type | Score | Event |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total | TSS | 199.79 | 2018 CS Tallinn Trophy |
| Short program | TSS | 70.20 | 2018 JGP Czech Republic |
| TES | 40.43 | 2018 JGP Czech Republic | |
| PCS | 30.96 | 2018 CS Tallinn Trophy | |
| Free skating | TSS | 132.23 | 2018 CS Tallinn Trophy |
| TES | 72.11 | 2018 CS Tallinn Trophy | |
| PCS | 61.84 | 2019 CS U.S. International Classic |
| Segment | Type | Score | Event |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total | TSS | 180.39 | 2018 World Junior Championships |
| Short program | TSS | 62.22 | 2018 World Junior Championships |
| TES | 36.33 | 2018 World Junior Championships | |
| PCS | 25.89 | 2018 World Junior Championships | |
| Free skating | TSS | 118.17 | 2018 World Junior Championships |
| TES | 65.16 | 2018 World Junior Championships | |
| PCS | 54.01 | 2018 World Junior Championships |
- Small medals for the short program and free skating are only awarded at ISU Championships.
Senior level
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | Score | P | Score | P | Score | ||
| Nov 26 – Dec 2, 2018 |  2018 CS Tallinn Trophy |
2 | 67.56 | 2 | 132.23 | 2 | 199.79 |
| Jan 19–27, 2019 |  2019 U.S. Championships |
12 | 54.64 | 3 | 139.66 | 5 | 194.30 |
| Feb 7–10, 2019 | 2019 Four Continents Championships |
7 | 66.73 | 14 | 98.11 | 11 | 164.84 |
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | Score | P | Score | P | Score | ||
| Sep 17–22, 2019 | 2019 CS U.S. International Classic |
3 | 63.10 | 4 | 114.37 | 4 | 177.47 |
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | Score | P | Score | P | Score | ||
| Jan 13–15, 2022 | 2023 Winter World University Games |
19 | 47.33 | N/a | N/a | – | WD |
| Jan 23–29, 2023 | 2023 U.S. Championships |
10 | 57.11 | 12 | 104.16 | 12 | 161.27 |
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | Score | P | Score | P | Score | ||
| Oct 5–7, 2023 | 2023 Kings Cup International |
3 | 55.72 | N/a | N/a | – | WD |
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | Score | P | Score | P | Score | ||
| Jan 20–26, 2025 | 2025 U.S. Championships |
18 | 43.94 | 17 | 82.69 | 17 | 126.63 |
Junior level
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | Score | P | Score | P | Score | ||
| Aug 3–6, 2017 | 2017 Philadelphia Summer International |
1 | 54.01 | 1 | 97.78 | 1 | 151.79 |
| Aug 23–26, 2017 |  2017 JGP Australia |
5 | 55.34 | 7 | 95.61 | 6 | 150.95 |
| Dec 29, 2017 – Jan 8, 2018 | 2018 U.S. Championships (Junior) |
11 | 45.55 | 2 | 119.96 | 3 | 165.51 |
| Mar 5–11, 2018 |  2018 World Junior Championships |
7 | 62.22 | 7 | 118.17 | 7 | 180.39 |
| Date | Event | SP | FS | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | Score | P | Score | P | Score | ||
| Aug 29 – Sep 1, 2018 |  2018 JGP Austria |
6 | 53.25 | 5 | 102.79 | 5 | 156.04 |
| Sep 26–29, 2018 |  2018 JGP Czech Republic |
2 | 70.20 | 7 | 102.54 | 7 | 172.74 |
| Mar 4–10, 2019 |  2019 World Junior Championships |
3 | 67.69 | 3 | 126.72 | 3 | 194.41 |