Lu Tingsong just didn’t understand why a small train song could be chosen as a song in the short program?
Is it possible that it is now popular in domestic figure skating to arrange programs using children's songs?
Is it because he has been retired for too long and can't keep up with the trend?
Lu You practiced women's singles until she was eleven years old, and only switched to pair skating after forming a partnership with Xie Yunjun. "The Little Train" was a program that the club's choreographer arranged for them when they participated in their first competition at the age of twelve. Based on the idea that children cannot have a deep understanding of music, they simply chose a children's song with a cheerful rhythm, and then asked someone to adapt it into a piano version, which was performed in line with their temperament.
But in fact, Lu You and Xie Yunjun have been using another newly-compiled program in the competition since a few months ago. However, Lu Tingsong took into account that Lu You and Xie Yunjun had been skating the "Little Train" program for a year and a half and were already familiar with every rhythm point. In order to ensure a better score, he discussed it repeatedly with the choreographer and finally decided to adapt the difficulty of the program based on the original one and continue to use this program.
Originally, the song "Little Train" was a niche song that was so weird that it was even sung in Antarctica. It was still sung like this. Lu Tingsong didn't know what to say and could only buy a lottery ticket to show his respect.
"My uncle looks so nervous," Lu You was sitting on a small bench in the waiting area, looking at Lu Tingsong who was drawing lots not far away. He turned around and asked Xie Yunjun beside him, "It's not him who's playing, why is he so nervous?"
Xie Yunjun was drinking water from a sports bottle and shook his head to indicate that he didn't know why. When he finished drinking the water slowly and was about to put the cup away, he found that the lid of the bottle had fallen under the stool and he had to bend down to get it.
He put the cup aside, and when he picked up the lid and looked up, Lu You had already picked up his cup and started drinking water.
Xie Yunjun: “……?”
Lu You held the cup and said, "Didn't you ask me to drink some water?"
"Drink slowly," Xie Yunjun didn't say I just wanted to put it aside and pick up a lid, "Just drink a little, wait until it's finished sliding down, don't drink too much before the game."
Lu You nodded. She was not very thirsty in the first place, but Xie Yunjun had handed the cup to her and she couldn't not drink it. After Xie Yunjun put the cup away, Lu You started to discuss with him a Snow White-shaped costume of a little contestant.
Xie Yunjun commented seriously: "The skirt of that costume is too long. It will affect my jumping and may block my eyes when I do twists."
Lu You: “…”
She just simply exclaimed that it was so beautiful.
The two discussed for a while, and An Jing, who had confirmed her score in the free skating, rushed in front of Lu You like a small top.
She grabbed Lu You's hand and said excitedly: "Lu You, Lu You, it's a pity that you didn't watch my show just now. This is the first time I clean in my life!"
Clean is an idiomatic term in figure skating, meaning that the skater completed the performance without making any mistakes and without receiving any points deducted by the judges. Completing a performance cleanly is definitely something every figure skater dreams of doing.
Lu You patted the quiet little head and praised him generously: "You are awesome!"
The quiet coach Qiu Hai walked over with a small score sheet and a dreamy look on his face.
The score sheet clearly indicated that 3S3T (triple Lutz + triple Lutz), a jump combination that An Jing had only a 40% completion rate, earned her a basic score of 6.5 points in this competition, plus 2.13 points for GOE, for a final score of 8.63. In addition, there were no major mistakes in An Jing's free skating, which was rare in a thousand years. Among the seven jumps, only the last 2A shook a bit, and miraculously she stabilized it, so she did not receive any points deducted by the referee.
The A jump is the most difficult of all the jumps in figure skating. It is already very good if the average skater can practice it at this age.
When the final results came out, An Jing's score in this free skating ranked second, less than three points away from the first place.
The first one is undoubtedly the player with the advanced triple jump.
An Jing could achieve such results, Qiu Hai originally thought that he must have prayed to the Buddha in a dream one day, exchanging his ten years of luck for his apprentice's clean performance. But when the overall ranking came out, the free skating score plus An Jing's short program score, which was like a bumper car, her total score actually squeezed into the top three in the Huai City race.
Qiu Hai was so happy that he couldn't stop smiling.
When Lu Tingsong came back from drawing lots, Qiu Hai was still staring at the score sheet and grinning foolishly, while Lu You was chattering with An Jing about the experience of buying Costumes, and forced Xie Yunjun to join their clothing shopping topic.
Sometimes Lu Tingsong didn't know whether his niece's big heart of "I can stay calm as long as you can" was a good thing or a bad thing. Although this could greatly avoid the possibility of a collapse due to mentality, Lu Tingsong couldn't help but worry that she didn't take the game seriously enough.
——And Lu You not only wants to relax alone, she also wants to relax with her male partner. In the distant past, Xie Yunjun was also a young player who would have a serious face before going on stage, but after partnering with Lu You for these years, he was led further and further astray, and later he simply let himself go with Lu You.
"After I go back, I'll ask my mother to send you and Xie Yunjun the name of the shop where I customize Costen," An Jing said happily, "You can get a discount when you mention my mother's name when you place the order."
Lu You: "Okay, okay, but just send it to me. Xie Yunjun and I live together."
An Jing: “…Ah?”
"That's a long story."
Lu You showed an expression of reminiscing about the past, as if she was going to give a 10,000-word plot explanation in the next second. Seeing this, Lu Tingsong hurried over to interrupt her: "Stop telling your little story, you have been drawn to be the first to appear in the second group."
Qiu Hai, who was immersed in happiness, took the time to talk to him: "That's good, it just happened that you went on stage not long after warming up."
If this draw is used in any international competition, it will definitely be an order that will make the players complain. The routine of international figure skating judges is to give lower scores to the players who appear earlier in the order to avoid the players in the front scoring too high and giving lower scores to the players behind. Moreover, the judges' preference for European, American and Russian players is no longer something that needs to be secretly discussed on paper. It can only be said that it is a blatant preference.
If an Asian player is unlucky enough to draw the first place in a group, he will basically be doomed to have his points reduced to zero by the referee.
However, in domestic competitions, these concerns do not exist. On the contrary, the earlier the draw position, the more conducive it is for the players to perform, because it is not long since the warm-up, the players' muscles are active and their condition will be more stable.
The first group of contestants' six-minute practice time ended quickly. The group of contestants who had the same song as Lu You and Xie Yunjun came out third in the first group. The impact of the same song on them didn't seem to be that big. The two of them did a 2lz during practice, and the quality of the performance was pretty good. Qiu Hai couldn't help but sigh, "It's the same song, why is there such a big difference in mentality between people?"
He was as quiet as a chicken, pretending that he didn't hear anything.
Lu Tingsong said: "There is also someone with the best attitude, isn't he sitting here with us?"
Qiu Hai was simply amazed at Lu You and Xie Yunjun's mentality. He turned around and asked Lu You and Xie Yunjun, "Are you two really not nervous? The provincial team coaching staff is watching you from the bottom of the stage. Even head coach Jiang Yang is here."
"He was transferred from the national team to coach the provincial team. He was the man who deservedly stood in the T1 team in pair skating." Qiu Hai added.
"Why should I be nervous?" Lu You blinked. "Being nervous won't make me do one more turn. Besides, they should be the ones who are nervous, right? Xie Yunjun?"
"???"
"But it's true. Although pairs skating is our country's advantage now, there is almost no new generation of strength to fill the gap except for the two active groups of players. Once the active players get injured or retire, the domestic pairs skating will be interrupted immediately," Qiu Hai murmured. "If we can't find a good seedling to take over, the coaches of the provincial and national teams should really be nervous."
Lu You was very satisfied with this understanding and nodded his head.
Lu Tingsong said in a deep voice: "I have told you everything."
The time for the pairs skating short program is 2 minutes and 30 seconds (±10 seconds). There are five athletes in the first group. Including the scoring, it was only a little over half an hour when it was Lu You and his team's turn to go on the ice for practice.
Before the start of a figure skating competition, each group of skaters has six minutes to practice on the ice, and this period of time is also called the six pre-match practices.
Lu Tingsong pointed to a certain audience seat in front of him and said to Xie Yunjun, "Jiang Jiao is sitting there. When you have a chance during practice, take Lu You to show off in front of him. But don't be too aggressive, or you might get hurt."
Xie Yunjun nodded, and Lu Tingsong continued, "Only you can take care of Lu You. Make sure you keep an eye on this brat. Don't let him play too much during practice and waste all his energy."
Lu You pursed his lips and listened to Lu Tingsong's few more words before the two of them officially stepped onto the ice.
Xie Yunjun went on the ice first, and then brought Lu You in. Lu You was afraid of the cold, so Kosten put on a small vest on the outside. They skated around the ice rink first, and then helplessly found that the other four groups were crowded in a corner in the front left to compete with each other. One pair of players wanted to do 2A, but was affected by the people next to them and fell hard on their buttocks in front of Jiang Yang.
There were too many people on the small ice rink in front of Jiang Yang, which actually affected his performance. Besides, they couldn't squeeze in anyway, so Xie Yunjun and Lu You simply didn't go over. After skating hand in hand for a while at the other end of the ice rink, the two of them directly threw a 2LoTh.
"A very beautiful double Lutz jump." Qiu Hai commented.
Lu You landed lightly on the ice, and when the practice was almost over, the two of them did one more twist, and the sixth practice was completed.
The group of contestants who were competing against them breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that both of them performed two double turns. However, a coach from the provincial team in the audience not far away leaned over to Jiang Yang's ear and said, "Coach Jiang, when the other group of contestants comes on stage, you should pay attention."
"This group didn't come to you during the six practice sessions before the game, so I was afraid you didn't notice." The coach said, "They just did a 2Lo throw and a 2Tw (double twist), and they did it very easily and at a beautiful height. I guess their technical skills are more than two weeks."
Jiang Yang nodded, picked up the appearance list, and found that they were the first to appear. At this time, they were preparing to go on stage. The little boy was holding a box of tissues in his hand, waiting for the little girl in front of him to blow her nose, and then naturally took her hand and skated to the center of the ice rink.
Jiang Yang couldn't help but think back to when he was very young. At that time, he and his female partner had just met each other not long ago. Before the game, they would skate to the center of the ice rink from a distance, and would not hold hands until the performance began when they had to cooperate. They would let go immediately after the performance, and it was several years later that they were able to hold hands naturally.
Unfortunately, his female companion could not stay with him until the end.
The announcement on the field interrupted Jiang Yang's thoughts.
"The next performers are Xie Yunjun and Lu You from the Speed Star Club, who will perform the short program song "The Little Train."
Cheerful music sounded.
As the train whistle sounded, Lu You put his hands on his hips and made a small jump, creating some distance between him and Xie Yunjun. At the beginning of the program, the two of them choreographed a circular step sequence. Jiang Yang nodded and commented, "It's really good. The edge is clear, the gliding is smooth, and he knows how to press the deep edge."
“Their twirl synchronization is also very high,” another female coach covered her chest. “To have such tacit understanding, these two children must have been partners for quite some time. The main reason is that they are so cute, especially the little girl. I was wondering if it would be childish for a 13 or 14-year-old to skate to a nursery rhyme, but now it seems not at all.”
At the beginning of the show, Xie Yunjun didn't have much expression, but under the leadership of Lu You, his movements gradually became more lively.
When the step sequence was about to end, Lu You tilted his head and winked at the referee.
With the song "Little Train" and Xie Yunjun's height of nearly 1.7 meters, Lu You looks very small, so adorable.
The referees were so overwhelmed by the cuteness that they couldn't help but laugh.
However, figure skating is ultimately a sport that relies on technique. Being cute can gain impression points from the judges, but real strength is the bottom line. Without sufficient technical reserves, no matter how high the performance score is, it will be useless.
Jiang Yang pondered silently in his heart.
After sliding into the difficult bracket step, two small figures on the ice rink pulled up from the ice, and ice flowers flew.
A triple lutz (3S) lands steadily on the ice.
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