Chapter 39: The athletes with good rankings are jumpers and peers...

In the hotel, Xia Yuezi sat on the bed and looked through the published free skate configuration list.

Lin Ye plans to include a 4T, a 4T+2T, and a 3A in the second half of his free skate. Judging from his performance today, he's probably planning to go the jumper route.

This is not surprising, as Lin Ye has always made up for his deficiencies in rating and speed skating by using high-difficulty jumps in later years. However, as the difficulty level increased, his stamina began to decline, and he was eventually relegated to the type of person who only focused on jumping and not landing at the end of his career.

Kevin skated a double triple A in his free skate, placing the combination jump first and the single jump in the second half.

He used this setup in the US race, and it ended up being a disaster. Moreover, the US race and the China race were back-to-back, with less than a week in between. It remains to be seen whether he can maintain this setup.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Lin Ye's free skate will undoubtedly have the highest bv, but if we take into account the point score and goe, it's hard to say who will win the gold medal.

On the day of the free skate, there were more people in the stands than during the short program.

In the short program, Zhang Mengyi and Jiang Shuyu were both in the top five, while the pairs skating team Lu Sheng and Cao Jinhui ranked third. Including the men's singles event, Chinese athletes have three events in which they can compete for a podium finish.

The men's singles free skate starts at 4:30 pm, and after the competition, we can go straight back to the hotel for dinner.

Xia Yuezi stood near the ice rink, her fingers gently tapping the barriers.

Feng Simai was the first of the three to skate. Before he skated onto the ice, he looked up at the stands and saw a support sign in one spot shake rapidly twice.

Last night, Yang Yiyan said they would sit in a fixed spot to cheer him on. Feng Simai took a deep breath, rushed to the ice rink, and got into position.

The melodious cello music accompanied Lu Ying's commentary: "He is a rare male singles skater with a very high degree of fluidity in skating and spinning. I think his skating is not only due to his good knee elasticity, but also his control of the center of gravity. For example, his move just now was to step on the inside edge with his left foot and use the shift of the center of gravity to deepen the use of the edge to gain speed."

No sooner had he finished speaking than Feng Simai lifted his left foot and, using the speed of the slide, performed a 4T.

"This is a quadruple toe loop around the foot, with a straight-line entry, considerable height, and very beautiful footwork."

"His jump was even better than the Canadian stand."

Lin Ye stood beside the coach, his eyes filled with admiration and an expression of the importance of this match.

"That's right, he still needed to control his balance during the Canadian Grand Prix, but his exit arc is already very beautiful now."

Like Xia Yuezi, Lin Ye's head coach is also paying attention to this rising domestic men's singles player.

Feng Simai's performance gradually improved, drawing everyone in the audience into the world of the Dragon Warrior.

When he landed a 3A, the whole stadium cheered, and Yang Yiyan excitedly stood up and waved the support sign in her hand.

Lu Ying, in the commentary room, frowned slightly, not forgetting her task: "The takeoff was very beautiful, and the tightening posture in the air was also good, but the exact number of rotations may need to be checked in the replay."

Another commentator seized the opportunity to ask, "Do you think there's a problem with the number of rotations in this jump?"

"Yes, but placing the triple Axel in the latter half of the program is itself a very challenging move, and it is a huge test of physical endurance. Regardless of the judges' final evaluation, the athlete's courage is commendable."

After giving her opinion, Lu Ying didn't forget to offer emotional encouragement to Feng Simai.

A qualified commentator should not only explain the movements clearly and offer their own reasonable opinions, but also provide appropriate encouragement and comfort to the athletes.

Feng Simai spun faster and faster, burying his head between his legs, and his face was flushed red when he switched feet.

When he stood with his fists clasped, the whole audience erupted in applause, and the plush toys fell to the ground. This is the advantage of playing at home; after the game, you can see the support from your own people.

During the division process, Feng Simai's performance was replayed on the big screen. Lu Ying focused on observing the 3A jump and confirmed that the jump was indeed about 120 degrees less, but apart from that, the other movements were very clean.

The two coaches sat on either side of Feng Simai as usual. Before the scores were released, Meng Xin teased him, "Do you know what Lu Ying just said about you? She said you have the potential to become an artist."

Feng Simai couldn't possibly be distracted by Lu Ying's commentary, but the two coaches listened to the whole thing.

"So, Senior Sister Lu Ying is saying I skate well?" Feng Simai asked with a smile as she wiped the ice chips off her skates.

Xia Yuezi took the towel and repeated Lu Ying's words to him: "Of course, she said you are good at ballet and are very eye-catching on the ice rink."

Lu Ying was a female singles player known for her expressiveness and spins during her active career, and the referees never heavily penalized her.

Although many commentators mostly praise, her relentless emphasis on Feng Simai's performance suggests that she genuinely believes it.

Meng Xin looked at her child with satisfaction and exclaimed, "I never thought that one day our country could produce an artistic jellyfish."

Feng Simai's lips twitched, and his face scrunched up like a bitter gourd: "Coach, that's not a nice word."

Meng Xin ignored him and turned to his head coach to complain: "Look at this kid, he always complains that we don't praise him during training, but now that we've praised him, he's complaining again."

Xia Yuezi looked away, not wanting to get involved in the dispute, and pointed to the big screen: "The scores are out."

Technical score 71.42, program component score 69.45, free skate score 140.87, total score 221.37.

Upon hearing the score, all three members of the waiting group breathed a sigh of relief, and Feng Simai also showed a relieved smile.

Sitting in the audience, Feng's mother gently patted her chest, her eyes red-rimmed, clutching the corner of her support sign, her knuckles showing an abnormal white from long-term exertion.

In contrast, Kevin, who was about to take the stage, had his lips pursed into a straight line. From the side, his jawline was taut, and even the air around him seemed heavier than elsewhere.

Under immense pressure, Kevin managed to land his opening triple A jump, but before he could even celebrate, he fell on his next jump.

Xia Yuezi felt that this scene was somewhat familiar.

Kevin got up with a long face and completed two sets of spins with a droopy expression.

Lu Ying's voice rang out in the stadium: "He might have been a little excited, so he opened up the jump too early, but he didn't give up and performed even better after the mistake."

Kevin's rotations, whether in terms of axis or displacement, are flawless, demonstrating his solid fundamentals.

As expected, he fell during the second half of his 3A jump, falling twice in a row. Even though the judges raised his score, he still missed out on the gold medal.

The American coach looked a little unhappy, but when Kevin got off the ice, he still raised his hand and gave him an encouraging hug.

When Lin Ye made his final appearance, the entire arena fell silent as he stood in the center of the ice rink.

To everyone's surprise, his first set of jumps was 4T+2T+2lo, with a base score of a terrifying 13.3, which was even higher than the score of 3lz+3lo placed in the second half.

This also means that Lin Ye has completely mastered the 4T jump.

The coach from Heilongjiang Province raised his hands and cheered, waving his knife sheath like a cheering stick.

Xia Yuezi rested her hands on the partition, quietly enjoying the program.

The first half of the program was rather dull. In order to ensure that the quadruple jumps in the first half were not affected, Lin Ye only put one set of spins at the beginning and spent most of the time preparing, making the whole program seem very empty.

After completing the 3A in the second half of the program, Lin Ye was clearly struggling. He put all the remaining two sets of spins and footwork after the jump, so naturally he didn't get a good rating.

Meng Xin leaned closer and lowered her voice as much as possible: "Last year's National Championships should have been his peak ranking."

The domestic judges were lenient, and the spins and footwork in that program were reasonably distributed, which at least guaranteed a level three rating for the first half. However, this program clearly abandoned spins and footwork.

Xia Yuezi nodded silently: "I heard that he asked Teacher Mi to choreograph this program, but I don't think any choreographer would choreograph the program like this. It was probably their own suggestion."

Teacher Mi is one of the top choreographers in China. His choreography is very suitable for the contestants' own styles. Compared with foreign choreographers, top domestic contestants prefer to have him choreograph their programs.

Meng Xin also skitted through the program he had created, and her expression immediately became somewhat complicated: "When Teacher Mi was creating that program, I guess his hairline must have receded quite a bit."

The real-time score record sheet shows that both rotations were marked with a "V", and the grades were one level 2 and one level 3. Including the two sets of steps that followed, the follow-up steps were only level 2.

The technical score, which was dragged down by the rating, eventually reached 75.12, while the program component score was only 66.37. The free skate score was 141.49, and the total score was 222.72, ranking first.

When the final rankings were announced, with two Chinese athletes taking home the gold and silver medals, the cheers from the audience nearly lifted the ceiling of the Capital Indoor Stadium.

Xia Yuezi looked at the disappointing P score on the big screen and secretly pouted, thinking that Lin Ye really had a bad trade-off. He used such a difficult configuration, and in the end, he only scored one point higher than Feng Simai.

But looking at the master and apprentice in Heilongjiang who were embracing and celebrating, he swallowed back some of his words.

On the podium, Lin Ye and Feng Simai smiled at each other, raised the national flag draped behind them to salute the audience, and the medals around their necks shone brightly in the light.

Lu Ying came out of the commentary room and stood on the stands, looking at the Chinese twin stars with a look of satisfaction in her eyes.

As a former top star, she understands better than anyone the hardships these two children have faced.

Xia Yuezi looked up and saw her standing on a high place. Suddenly, she remembered what Lu Ying had said when Lin Ye finished his free skate.

"China is not a major figure skating nation, so it is not easy for them to stand up and represent their country in the competition despite the difficulties. But competition breeds competition, and success breeds success. I believe that in the near future, these outstanding athletes will become the backbone of the development of this sport."

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Author's Note: The last sentence in this article is adapted from an ISU commentator's remarks. I forget which match it was, but it left a deep impression on me.