Vincent Zhou plans gala return: "I'm looking forward to skating on Olympic ice again"

This wasn't the way Vincent Zhou had planned on connecting with one of his personal heroes.

The American figure skater, having tested positive for Covid-19 at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, found a silver lining when his chance for Olympic gold was suddenly taken away.

It came in the form of a direct message from famed singer Josh Groban, whose cover of Don McLean's 'Vincent' accompanies Zhou's short program.

"That was a wholesome moment," Zhou told reporters on Wednesday (16 February) after it was announced he had been released from isolation. "That made me feel supported and appreciative to know that he had seen my short program. That was a big honour for me."

Another big honour awaits Zhou whose free skate helped the U.S. to second place in the team event. He'll perform in the end-of-Games exhibition gala, set for Sunday.

While Zhou found out about his positive Covid test the day after the team event free skate and the day before the men's event was set to start, he couldn't bring himself to watch the men's singles proceedings, where teammate Nathan Chen went on to capture the gold medal.

"I did not watch the other events, but I did follow the results," Zhou said. "I am beyond thrilled for what Nathan and Jason [Brown] were able to accomplish."

"I'm so impressed by the level of the Olympic performances that the men were able to bring out."

Despite that, Zhou said he feels as though he could have placed among the top three men and finished with his first individual medal, having made his Games debut at PyeongChang 2018.

"It was too emotionally difficult to actually watch it," he said. "I was extremely happy when both Nathan and Jason knocked it out of the park. It was extremely difficult for me to see the results because I knew that I could have medalled. I know I could have pulled a score like that."

Chen won with a 332.60, followed by Japan's Kagiyama Yuma (310.05) and Uno Shoma (293.00).

Having been stuck in quarantine for a week, Zhou did off-ice workouts with his trainer via video, while also doing program walk throughs with his coaches and watching Netflix for the first time in his life.

He also caught up with friends - some old and some new - including Groban.

"I thought about a lot of things," said Zhou. "I connected and talked to a lot of friends that I hadn't talked to in months or even years. I found the bright side talking to a lot of people."

His exchange with Groban was obviously a meaningful one. He had requested to do his short program performance for the gala, but competition programs are not allowed meaning he'll do a planned exhibition program otherwise.

What comes next? While he plans to return to school at Brown University this August, Zhou isn't sure if he will carry on skating competitively. But he does he wants to compete at next month's World Championships in Montpellier, France, which will carry extra meaning after his disrupted Olympics.

"I do plan on competing at Worlds," he said. "I don't want to put that pressure on myself. In a way it will be my personal Olympics... don't use that as the headline, but it's a... you-know-how-it-is quote."

The gala is set for Sunday at 1200 local time.