Harbin, China, August 13, 2025: Beijing-native Lehan Chen, the baby of the 47-strong group of young figure skaters in Harbin, is enjoying rubbing shoulders with an international group of older children hailing from 19 other Asian countries and regions.
“There are a few foreigners in my skating school in Beijing, but not as many as here,” says the shy schoolgirl.
At 11 years and 131 days – as of August 13 – Chen is the youngest athlete at this inaugural nine-day residential camp and one of five Chinese athletes in this first collaboration between OCA-ISU-CAIC.
Single-minded, Chen trains two-and-a-half hours every day after school finishes, returning home late at night. It is not a problem for her.
“I usually finish all my homework right after school, so that I don’t have to worry about it later. My favourite subjects are Maths and English, but what I want to become is a writer when I grow up,” Chen says.
Three years ago, she tried skating for the first time and liked it. But Chen has no visions of becoming China’s next heroine on ice. “I don’t want to aim high, I’m happy to just participate and not have big goals.”
At the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, Chen watched American-born Zhu Yi represent China in women’s singles figure skating. Zhu fell on her jump and twice more in the free skate segment resulting in the Chinese team finishing fifth. Her performance drew considerable criticism from Weibo users.
But despite being a fallen angel, Zhu remains an idol for Chen, underscoring a defiant literary nature.
“I want to write novels one day, maybe,” Chen reveals. She has a readymade storyline of a figure skater who changed nationalities and failed to win the love of the masses, perhaps.
