Caroline Zhang

Caroline Zhao Zhang (born May 20, 1993) is an American figure skater.

Caroline Zhang was born on May 20, 1993, in Boston, Massachusetts.

Her parents are from Wuhan, China, and her older sister, Yang Yang, was born in China.

Caroline is bilingual in English and Mandarin.

The Chinese media refers to her by her Chinese given name, Yuanyuan (, which means "round-round").

She moved to California at a young age.

The Zhang family lives in Brea, California.

Zhang is proficient at the piano, was concert master in her middle school's orchestra on violin, and was a ballet dancer before switching to figure skating.

In the 2002–03 season, Caroline Zhang skated on the juvenile level, which is the lowest qualifying level in the United States.

Zhang began her season by winning the silver medal at her regional championship to qualify for the 2003 U.S. Junior Championships.

There she won the pewter medal (fourth place), juvenile level.

In the 2003–04 season, Zhang moved up to the intermediate level, which is one level up from juvenile.

Zhang won her regional championship, which qualified her for a second time for the U.S. Junior Championships, this time at the intermediate level.

She won the bronze medal.

In the 2004–05 season, Zhang moved up to the novice level, which was the first level then included at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

Zhang won the silver medal at her regional championship to qualify for her sectional championship, where she won the pewter medal.

At her first U.S. Championships, she won the novice pewter medal.

Li Mingzhu became her coach in 2005.

Zhang moved up to the junior level in the 2005–06 season.

She won the silver medal at her regional championship to qualify for her sectional championship, where she won the bronze medal.

This medal qualified her to compete on the junior level at the 2006 U.S. Championships, where she placed 8th at the age of twelve.

Zhang made her debut on the international stage in the 2006–07 season.

She competed on the 2006–07 ISU Junior Grand Prix and won her first event in Mexico by a record fifty-three points.

She went on to win her second event by thirty-three points and then the Junior Grand Prix Final by twenty.

Zhang became known for her creative spin positions, musicality and spiral extension, prompting comparisons to Sasha Cohen and Michelle Kwan by those in the figure skating community, including international judge Joe Inman.

Qualifying for the Junior Grand Prix Final qualified her for the 2007 U.S. Championships without having to qualify through her regional or sectional championships.

Competing on the Junior level, Zhang won the silver medal behind Mirai Nagasu.

Zhang was named to the U.S. team to the 2007 World Junior Championships, where she beat Nagasu to win the title.

Zhang, Nagasu, and Ashley Wagner completed the first ever sweep by the United States of the World Junior ladies podium.

For the 2007–08 season, Zhang moved up to the senior level both nationally and internationally.

She made her Grand Prix of Figure Skating debut at the 2007 Skate America, where she won the bronze medal.

At this competition, she earned a level 4 and a +3 Grade of Execution for her trademark Pearl spin, which is the highest score a skater can receive under Code of Points.

Zhang received deductions for underrotating jumps, costing her 17 points overall.

Zhang went on to the 2007 Cup of China, where she received fewer deductions and won the silver medal.

She is a two-time (2010 and 2012) Four Continents bronze medalist, the 2007 World Junior Champion, the 2006 Junior Grand Prix Final champion, and a three-time U.S. national medalist (bronze in 2009, pewter in 2008 and 2012).

In April 2016, she became engaged to fellow figure skater Grant Hochstein.

As of February 2017, she is a student at Cerritos College in California.

On April 19, 2021, Zhang gave birth to a daughter, Charlotte Grace Hochstein.

Zhang started taking skating lessons at age five.

They married on August 18, 2018.