Early years Jin started skating at age seven and a half, having become interested in the activity when he attended one of
Shen Xue and
Zhao Hongbo's ice shows. His first coach was Wang Junxiang. At first, his parents opposed the idea of a career in figure skating, because he was good at school at the time. However, he began to demonstrate his talents in skating, especially with dance movements, during his second year of primary school, and his parents started to support him. He landed his first triple Axel in May 2010. he finished fifth at the
JGP Final, held in
Sochi,
Russia. He won a bronze medal at the
2013 Chinese Championships, and placed fourth at the
2013 World Junior Championships in Milan, Italy.
2013–2014 season: Junior Grand Prix Final gold and first senior National title In the
2013–14 JGP series, Jin won his assignments in
Latvia and
Estonia. He qualified for the
JGP Final in Fukuoka, Japan, where he placed fifth in the short program but rebounded in the free skate with three quads and six clean triples. He won the gold overall and stated he was "very happy" to skate well. Jin won his first senior national title at the
2014 Chinese Championships. He finished sixth at the
2014 World Junior Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria.
2014–2015 season: Silver medal at Junior Worlds Jin won both of his
Junior Grand Prix events in
Slovenia and
Japan, and was the top qualifier for the
Junior Grand Prix Final held in Barcelona, Spain, as the only skater to win both of his events. He placed second after the short program. However, a fifth-place free skate left him in fourth overall. He won his second national title at the
2015 Chinese Championships. Jin concluded his season with a silver medal at the
2015 World Junior Championships in Tallinn, Estonia, having placed fifth in the short program and first in the free skate.
Senior career 2015–2016 season: Senior international debut and bronze medal at Worlds A video of Jin landing a quadruple Lutz-triple toe loop combination in practice circulated during the summer. Jin received two
2015 Grand Prix assignments. At the
2015 Cup of China, he won the silver medal behind reigning World champion
Javier Fernández. He became the first person to ever land a quad Lutz-triple toe combination in competition and also the first to land a quad lutz with a positive grade of execution (GOE) in international competition. Jin was also the first person to attempt four quadruple jumps in one program. He set a record for the most points scored on one element, with the jump combination in the short program scoring 19.19 points. At the
2015 NHK Trophy, Jin took silver behind reigning Olympic champion
Yuzuru Hanyu. Hanyu stated after the competition "When I look at the future of figure skating (and quads), I see Boyang". Jin thus qualified for the
2015 Grand Prix Final in Barcelona, where he finished fifth. At the 13th
National Winter Games of China, he represented the city of Harbin and finished first in both short program and free skate, completing all of his planned quadruple jumps. Making his
Four Continents debut in Taipei, Jin landed a total of six quadruple jumps in his programs With a quad Lutz, quad Salchow, and two quad toe loops in his free skate, he also became the first skater to land three kinds of quads in a single program as well as becoming the first person to land four quads in a single program in international competition, and he ultimately placed second overall behind Canada's
Patrick Chan by a narrow difference of 0.38 points. Jin placed fifth at the
2016 Skate America and won silver at the
2016 Cup of China. He ranked seventh in the series standings and thus did not qualify for the
2016–2017 Grand Prix Final. Later in the season, at the
Chinese National Championships, Jin placed second in the short program but rebounded in the free and was able to win his fourth straight national title. He was assigned to both the
2017 Four Continents Championships and the
2017 Asian Winter Games, where he finished 5th and 2nd, respectively. At the Four Continents Championships, he attempted a quad loop in competition for the first time. Jin repeated as world bronze medalist at the
2017 World Championships in Helsinki, achieving new personal bests for his short program, free skate, and total score. He received 2.57 GOE for his quad Lutz attempt in the free skate and surpassed a total of 300 points for the first time. Jin's program components score improved by ten points compared to the previous world championships, and he obtained a score of 8.71 in skating skills. He started his season at the
2017 CS Finlandia Trophy, where he placed second in the short program and third in the free skate and won the gold medal overall. He placed second at the Cup of China However, he withdrew from the Grand Prix Final and the Chinese Championships due to the injuries. At the
2018 Four Continents Championships, Jin surpassed 100 points in the short program, earning a new personal best of 100.17. In the free skate he scored 200.78 points, for an overall score of 300.95, winning his first senior international gold medal at an ISU Championship. His quad Lutz in the free skate received 2.71 GOE, with six judges awarding it maximum GOE, for a total element score of 16.31. He said that he had worked hard on both recovery and training after withdrawing from the Grand Prix Final. Jin added that the result gave him confidence to challenge himself to give two perfect performances in
Pyeongchang. Jin placed fourth at the
2018 Winter Olympics with a new personal best of 103.32 points in the short program, and a total score of 297.77. His placement was the highest of any Chinese athlete competing in men's single skating in Olympic history. At the
2018 World Championships, he placed fourth in the short program but dropped to nineteenth overall after ranking twenty-third in the free skate.
2018–2019 season Over the summer, it was initially announced that Jin would be moving to train with
Brian Orser and
Tracy Wilson at the
Toronto Cricket, Skating & Curling Club in preparation for the
2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. However, these plans were subsequently called off, with Shen Xue stating on behalf of the Chinese Skating Association that Jin was "more familiar with the training environment and methods in China." Debuting on the
Grand Prix series for the season, Jin placed fifth at the
2018 Grand Prix of Helsinki and ninth at the
2018 Internationaux de France. In an interview after both of his Grand Prix assignments had concluded, Jin revealed that he had experienced travel-associated difficulties and arrived at both his assignments later than expected. He further stated that he was training at a rink in Beijing, separate from the national team, and that he traveled between Beijing and Harbin whenever he "felt stagnant" and had also hired his own dance teacher. Jin said that he felt more confident after the Olympics and that he and choreographer Lori Nichol worked together to choreograph his programs, with Jin contributing some of his own ideas for the choreography. he competed at the
2019 Four Continents Championships, where he placed third in the short program and second in the free skate, winning the silver medal overall. Jin stated that he had adjusted himself mentally a little bit. His performances were enough to qualify for the
2019–20 Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final for the third time in his career, and he was able to attend for the first time since the 2015–16 Grand Prix Final. At the Final, he popped his opening quad Lutz and finished sixth in the short program. He remarked that he went into the quad with too much force, but "not on the right point", and that he had skated quite "tight". Jin fell twice in the free skate but rose to fifth overall. He stated that he had not expected to qualify for the Final and had not adjusted his training properly after the Cup of China. Jin also noted that he was adjusting his skates, which had affected his ability to train. He said that he hoped to learn from the experience and "be more matured mentally" to deliver a stronger performance at his next competition. these were cancelled as a result of the
coronavirus pandemic. Jin was invited to the
2020 Cup of China. He won the competition with a clean short program and a long program that had the highest technical difficulty of the competitors despite some errors. He challenged himself technically as well as artistically, choosing short program music that had a slower tempo than his previous programs. After the 2021 Cup of China was cancelled, he was reassigned to its replacement event, the
2021 Gran Premio d'Italia. At the Asian Open Trophy, Jin won the bronze medal. In November, at the Gran Premio d'Italia, he placed first in the short program in but dropped to seventh place after a problematic free skate. Jin began the Olympic games as the Chinese entry in the men's short program of the
Olympic team event. He placed sixth in the segment, securing five points for the Chinese team. He earned a score of 179.45, and a total of 270.43, for an overall finish of 9th place. He finished ninth overall. He said in an interview that he wished to "represent China and let everyone know that there is still a person fighting in men's singles" for "the next four years". He also felt the responsibility to encourage more children to participate in figure skating and make more people love the sport. He was assigned to the
2022 Skate Canada International and
2022 NHK Trophy as his
Grand Prix events of the season; however, he withdrew from both events, citing injury. Jin was unable to complete many jumps in practice during his first months with his new coaching team due to a lack of strength, and his programs were not finished until December. He scored 129.18 in the free skate and finished 22nd overall with a score of 204.22. He said that his strength was still very lacking because of his series of health concerns and that he hoped to "make progress every day" in order to have a good performance at the
2026 Olympics.
2023–2024 season Rika Kihira, one of Jin's new training mates, interviewed that Jin inspired her a lot. She continued, "I witnessed him starting off from doubles, and now he's showing us stunning jumps like Quad Lutz. There's a lot that I can learn from him in off-ice too." Jin began his season with the
2023 CS Autumn Classic International, where he earned 79.32 in the short program and 151.67 in the free skate. He finished in fifth overall with 230.99 points. Jin said in an interview that his recovery was "totally fine", and that he was looking forward to the season. He finished third at the
2023 Shanghai Trophy with a score of 238.33. His first
Grand Prix event for the season was the
2023 Grand Prix de France, where he finished in eighth place overall with a score of 226.79. In his second, the
2023 Cup of China, he finished in seventh place with a score of 237.28. He then competed at the
2023 Golden Spin of Zagreb and won both segments of the event and the gold medal with a total score of 258.67. Jin scored 89.41 points for a fifth place in the short program at the
2024 Four Continents Championships in Shanghai. He remarked, "Being capable of performing difficult tricks means that I'm in a good state. But for me at the moment, I would rather pursue the completeness of the program more". He landed a quad Lutz in his long program, which earned a grade of execution score of 3.61, and placed fifth in the segment with a season's best score of 167.48. He finished fifth overall with a total score of 256.89. Jin expressed satisfaction with his performance, and he noted that rushing through the program had led to making mistakes on his easier jumping passes. In February, Jin participated in the
14th Chinese National Winter Games held in
Hulunbuir, where he competed in both the Team and Individual Events. He finished first in both the short program and the long program of the Team Event, and his team won gold overall. In the short program of the Individual Event, he placed first with a score of 93.60 points. He said in an interview that he had decided to do a quad Lutz-triple toe loop combination as the first jump of his short program during the last two minutes of the warmup. He scored 173.89 points and placed first in the long program, and he won the event with an overall score of 267.49. Jin participated in the
2024 World Championships, where he scored 58.53 points in the short program and did not qualify for the free skate.
2024–2025 season Jin revealed that he had chosen
Sam Ryder's
Fought & Lost as the music for his short program, because the lyrics represented his situation, and that he liked it very much. Jin began his season with the
2024 Grand Prix de France. He landed a quad toeloop, a triple Axel and an "impressive" triple Lutz-triple toeloop combination in the short program and leapt to the top of the leaderboard, with 88.12 points, which was considered a surprising result after his struggles the previous season. He said after his skate that he was surprised at his performance, because he had felt unwell after he arrived to compete two days before. Although he was assigned to perform in the gala, he withdrew, citing injury. He finished eighth again at the
2024 Cup of China. He did not compete for the remainder of the season.
2025–2026 season: Milano Cortina Olympics Prior to the season, Jin left Toronto and returned to
Beijing to train under longtime coach,
Xu Zhaoxiao, full-time. Following this, he was named to the
2026 Winter Olympic team. In January, Jin finished sixth at the
2026 Four Continents Championships in his eighth appearance at this event. "In these five days of training and competition, I think I have performed well," he said after the free skate. "If I maintain this state until the Winter Olympics, I will have more confidence. I think what needs to be improved most is the details." On 7 February, Jin placed seventh in the short program in the
2026 Winter Olympics Figure Skating Team Event. "I’m enjoying the Olympic Games very much!” he said. "This is the third and also the last Olympic Games for me. I was not that nervous, but very excited about the performance. I love the vibe and the enthusiasm of the audience and the fans. This is what I am doing this for." Team China ultimately finished in eighth place overall. == Coaches ==