Caroline Zhao Zhang

Caroline Zhao Zhang (born May 20, 1993) is an American figure skater. She is the 2010 and 2012 Four Continents bronze medalist, the 2007 World Junior Champion, the 2006–2007 Junior Grand Prix Final Champion, the 2009 U.S. bronze medalist and the 2008 and 2012 U.S. pewter medalist. Zhang has performed a spin position that her mother has called the Pearl spin,  a cross between a catch-foot layback spin and aBiellmann spin. In this spin, the free leg is brought up to waist-height and the free blade is grasped with both hands. The back and head are bent down towards the knee, with the free leg held above the head in a Biellmann position. This makes the spin, in essence, a catch-foot layback in a Biellmann position, because the Biellmann position, according to regulations, is achieved when the level of the boot passes the head so that the boot is above and behind or over the head.  It is a layback spin because it is an upright spin with the head and shoulders dropped backwards and the back arched downwards toward the ice.  This position has become Zhang’s signature spin. Zhang worked on a triple loop-triple loop combination for the season.  She was third in the short program at 2011 Skate America and finished 6th overall. Zhang competed at the2012 U.S. Nationals and finished 4th. She then went on to compete at the 2012 Four Continents Championships and won her second bronze medal at the event

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