Chapter 141 A Sense of Security As long as the coach is always there cheering me on…

The women's singles competition is the last of the four figure skating events to start, and it is also the most anticipated. The forum was flooded with posts about how to prepare for the competition just the day before it began.

In fact, the men's singles predictions are far more unpredictable than the women's singles predictions, but the number of prediction posts and the level of interest on forums are not as high as those for the women's singles.

After China won gold and medals in pairs figure skating and men's singles, Chinese figure skating is once again poised to win gold.

Yang Yiyan, bronze medalist in women's singles at the Sochi Winter Olympics, silver medalist at the World Championships, and champion at the World Tour Grand Finals, has almost matched the legendary achievements of Chinese women's singles players from the last century.

Her competitors are not to be underestimated either, especially the two who have been entangled with her since the last cycle.

Therefore, many figure skating fans jokingly refer to this match as a "Sochi replay".

"Listen, it would be best if Xiaoyan could win the gold medal, but even if she doesn't, she can't perform too poorly and give others something to hold against her."

The day before the women's singles short program began, Li Tan made a special phone call from China to Xia Yuezi's mobile phone, and spoke quite frankly.

Perhaps it's because the figure skating team's performance this year has been unexpected, that in addition to sports fans paying attention to the competition, the leaders of the domestic figure skating association are also putting pressure on them.

All three female singles players came from the Beijing team. As the head coach of the Beijing team, Li Tan was under immense pressure. However, from the end of the men's singles competition to the start of the women's singles competition, Xia Yuezi and Meng Xin only received this one phone call. The rest were probably blocked by Li Tan.

"What should we do about this?"

Meng Xin looked at Xia Yuezi, who had tossed her phone aside and was lying casually on the bed with her hands behind her head.

"What can we do? The players are banned from the internet before the competition anyway, so we'll just keep it from them for now. Xiaoyan and Mengyi are both veterans, so they can handle the pressure. The main problem is Xiaorui, who is the type to get nervous easily. Telling her about this will only make her break down faster."

"That's true. Xiao Rui developed a low-grade fever on the second day after arriving in Pyeongchang, and it took a while for it to subside. It wouldn't be good if it relapsed."

Meng Xin looked up at the ceiling and asked another question: "That's all we can do for now, but what if Xiao Yan asks us first?"

Yang Yiyan had always been aware that she was the key to winning the gold medal and understood the burden she carried. In addition, the girl had grown up and matured, and her mind had become more delicate and agile, so many things could no longer be kept from her as before.

Xia Yuezi blinked, clenched her hands loosely, and sighed deeply: "If she wants to ask, then let's tell her. But if she pretends to be stupid, there's no need to press her for an answer."

On the day of the competition, the venue was almost full of people, most of whom were of Asian descent, holding banners supporting Chinese, Japanese, and the host country's athletes.

According to the points ranking, Yan Rui was the first of the three to go on stage, and she was in the second group.

She jumped twice on the ice, sniffed, solemnly grasped the coach's hand, nodded to them, and her expression was very tense.

Xia Yuezi reached out and placed her hand on Yan Rui's shoulder. The muscles under her hand were stiff. She didn't say anything, but just patted her hard, indicating that she should be careful.

This is Yan Rui's second year competing in the senior group. The female singles players seem to have been given a growth hormone, and at this age they have to learn to stand on their own on the ice. Xia Yuezi can no longer be coaxed like she was in the junior group before each competition.

Yan Rui noticed the problem himself, his brows furrowed slightly, he took a deep breath to adjust his state, and turned to rush to the battlefield.

Will this work?

After Yan Rui left, Meng Xin's expression turned serious.

Xia Yuezi put her hands behind her back, lowered her eyes, and concealed the emotions in them: "Now we can only choose to believe her."

I believe she will not let down the Olympic spot she fought for.

Yan Rui's short program was already on the dark side, so even if she was expressionless, no one would think there was a problem. After the music started, she slowly hugged herself and slid out with her arms outstretched in time with the music.

When this show was first performed, it showed signs of being a bit overdone at the beginning, but now it has become more natural and blends more harmoniously with the character of Cathy.

When Yan Rui took her first jump, she was not far from where the coaching team was standing. Xia Yuezi clearly saw her exhale as she gathered her strength, and she felt something was wrong.

With his center of gravity slightly behind him in mid-air, Yan Rui leaned his upper body completely backward the instant his ice blade touched the ice. He placed his left hand behind him to support himself on the ice, and squatted down on the ice, rotating half a circle, relying on his knees and core strength.

This jump wasn't exactly a fall, but it was definitely not a good look. Moreover, this mistake directly cost him the subsequent combo jump. If he couldn't connect it on the 3F jump, it would be a real loss.

However, given Yan Rui's current condition, it's questionable whether he can maintain his subsequent movements. Furthermore, in preparation for the Winter Olympics, Yan Rui moved the 3F jump to the latter half, further increasing the difficulty of the supplementary jump.

Xia Yuezi's breathing became lighter, and she could almost hear her own heartbeat. For a moment, she even thought it was Yan Rui's heartbeat.

The girl in black stood on the ice, a stark contrast to the surrounding landscape. Her face was cold and stern, and the styling on her arms was flesh-colored, revealing thin skin when she swung them.

As the preparation phase for the jump began again, not only the two coaches, but everyone who was following the competition held their breath.

Yan Rui lifted one foot, turned three into 3F, landed steadily on the ice, then slammed his foot on the ice surface, and followed up with a 3T.

Xia Yuezi pursed her lips and carefully watched her footwork: "This triple jump is a bit too much."

So far, Yan Rui has no experience with combining jumps in the second half of a short program, and this corrective combination jump was achieved with all her might.

Looking from Xia Yuezi's perspective, the next 3T clearly had insufficient cycles and would definitely get a "<" penalty. The replay view from the referee's side was probably similar.

"As long as they can connect, it means the child isn't confused yet."

Meng Xin has always been easygoing and patient with young children, which contributes to a great atmosphere in the entire Xia group, except for Coach Xia, who often plays the "bad cop" in the group.

But in competitions, all coaches have the same attitude. Even in women's singles, a sport where results are achieved at a very young age, they never bring the training requirements to the competition.

Because they know that athletes want to achieve results more than anyone else.

After the show, Yan Rui stood on the ice with a somewhat remorseful expression. When he bowed to the audience, the smile on his face was less enthusiastic.

Xia Yuezi placed her hand on the little girl's head and rubbed it a few times, her voice unusually gentle.

"What's that saying again? Once you've finished an exam, forget about it and don't go back to check the answers. The same goes for competitions. Your short program withstood the pressure, and that's enough. Don't keep dwelling on one mistake. Go back and prepare well for the free skate."

Yan Rui took a tissue to wipe his nose, but perhaps he wiped it too hard, and the foundation on both sides of his nose was wiped off, revealing his original skin color.

Meng Xin frowned: "Before we go to the mixed zone, wipe off the sweat on your body to prevent the fever from coming back after it has just subsided, and then touch up your makeup."

The little girl put on her team uniform, obediently zipped it all the way up, and nodded sweetly.

Due to a mistake in the program, Yan Rui only received a score of 63.17, but still temporarily ranks first.

The level of the contestants after that was similar. When the second to last group of contestants took the stage, the cheers on the field became noticeably more enthusiastic. Xia Yuezi looked up and saw that the sixth contestant to take the stage was Park Young-ri, the host country's contestant.

After Sung Eun-hee's retirement, Park Young-rye firmly secured her position as the top female player. Last season, she single-handedly brought home two spots at the World Championships. Although she was still quite far from the podium, her popularity remained high when she was on the court.

Her short program this season is Chopin's Serenade No. 20 in C minor, a very classic piece of classical music, and also a style she is very good at.

Often, you can judge a competitor's condition just by their first jump. At least in Xia Yuezi's opinion, Park Young-rye's short program is definitely good enough to get a good result.

She turned her head, looked at Zhang Mengyi who was ready to go on the court at any moment, and the white coach who was standing to the side who had just changed into the Chinese team uniform, and silently returned to the backstage.

Yang Yiyan was relaxing in the corridor by jumping rope. The sound of the rope hitting the ground echoed in the corridor. Her eyes were fixed on a single point in front of her, as if that was her goal.

Xia Yuezi sat next to her, not disturbing the athlete, until she raised her hand to look at her watch and softly reminded her, "It's time to go on stage."

Yang Yiyan stopped what she was doing, rolled up the jump rope and put it in her bag, then handed everything over to the coach.

Before the sixth practice session, contestants need to arrive at a designated location and wait until the organizers call their names before going on stage.

Before they parted, Yang Yiyan gently tugged at Xia Yuezi's sleeve, her voice barely audible.

"Coach, can I hug you one more time?"

Xia Yuezi paused for a second, then reached out and wrapped her hand around Yang Yiyan's hand, her palm still warm and sweaty from the warm-up, and hugged her.

"Why are you getting more and more backward as you get older?"

Xia Yuezi teased softly, but there was a complex look in her eyes that was hard to understand. She quickly hid it after standing up to face Yang Yiyan.

Back when she first brought Yang Yiyan to the competition, Xia Yuezi used this method to gradually build trust between them in order to alleviate Yang Yiyan's nervousness and lack of security.

As Yang Yiyan matured, this pre-match hug, which took place backstage, turned into a forehead-sticking gesture in front of the camera.

Or for Yang Yiyan, whether or not such a move is made, seeing Xia Yuezi before the competition makes her feel at ease.

However, for Xia Yuezi, making this move now might not be a good sign.

"It's been a long time since I've done this move. Even though it's been longer than during the Sochi Winter Olympics, my coach said he would keep encouraging me like this."

Xia Yuezi's tense lips relaxed, then she raised a slight smile, looking at her first student with a smile in her eyes, raised her left hand to her head, and turned to say goodbye.

"As long as the coach stands by my side cheering me on, I won't be afraid."