Vincent Zhou readies for World Championships after "one of the most challenging times in my life" with Beijing 2022 heartbreak

At Beijing 2022, Vincent Zhou received the devastating notification that no athlete wanted to get – the American had tested positive for Covid-19, ruling him out of the men's singles event.

He had made it to his second Olympic Games, and already taken part in the figure skating team event that opened the competition, helping Team USA to a medal position in the process. (The full results of the team event are provisional.)

But it was certainly not how the 21-year-old, whose four grandparents all live in the Chinese capital but could not see him, had hoped his Olympic Games would go.

A system of rigorous daily testing followed and when he finally produced a negative result, Zhou was allowed to skate in the exhibition gala on 20 February, the final day of the Games – some two weeks after he had skated in the team event.

"Honestly, after being in isolation for so long, I was just grateful to have any sort of thing," he told reporters on a conference call this week, in quotes reported by IFS Magazine. "I was still very grateful to have had the offer to do the gala.

"It was just really fulfilling and awesome to be on the ice with all the Olympic greats. It was a huge honour to be in the gala."

Since returning to the United States, Zhou said, he has been dealing with the lows of how his Olympic experience went.

That, in turn, is shaping how he's approaching his preparations for next week's ISU Figure Skating World Championships, to be held in Montpellier, France, from 23–27 March.

"Coming off the Olympics has been really challenging for me," he said. "I would say [it has been] one of the most challenging times in my life.

"I have been taking a lot of time to process things, just trying to take it one day at a time, one step at