In early July, the temperature in the capital had exceeded 30 degrees Celsius. The central air conditioner in the industrial park figure skating hall had been running for too long and had been stuck for half a month. It finally stopped working completely on a Saturday.
Although the ice surface has its own independent circuit and is not kept warm by air conditioning, the increase in perceived temperature also makes the surface of the ice rink wet. The hot air condenses when it encounters cold air, and the entire figure skating hall is shrouded in mist.
Although it looks as beautiful as a fairyland, such an ice rink is useless. None of the players who went on the ice escaped, and they all fell flat on their faces, each with their own unique tricks.
Well, if we have to find a comparison, it would be the ice rinks in France, which are generally recognized to be toxic.
After Chi Hui returned from training in Canada, he was recruited into the national youth team. Deng Manyue and Fu Wenxing were about to be promoted to the national second team. With the addition of newcomers, Rabbit Village figure skating is now full of talents. Lu You and Xie Yunjun, who have been holding on for several seasons, finally got the opportunity to take a breath and calm down to consolidate their skills.
The year Lu You and Xie Yunjun joined the national team, the Jianglin provincial team was almost blamed. Xue Chengze was ruthless in poaching Jiang Yang's players, from the adult group to the youth group and even the coaches and team doctors, all those related to Lu You and Xie Yunjun's team were taken away.
Looking at the sports world, every world champion has a team behind him to support his operations.
For example, Nie Hanhan and Han Feiyang, who became coaches after retiring, are almost the exclusive coaches of Lu You and Xie Yunjun. Apart from guiding their fellow students Deng Manyue and Fu Wenxing, they do not recruit students from outside like other coaches.
It’s not that I have a problem with money, but anyone who has practiced sports should know that there is a high probability that an excellent athlete will not become an excellent coach.
——Excellence means they are talented, and geniuses have a different understanding of movement techniques than ordinary people. What geniuses can do is not something ordinary people can do. If you force your own experience on ordinary athletes, it will only backfire.
For example, the twist that Lu You assured us was easier with just raising the hands than with split legs, and the extremely weird short arc spin, if these were taught to ordinary children, they would probably lose interest in figure skating immediately.
Even the Xingyue combination, who were known as the most talented in the youth group, often blurted out words like "Can it be like this?" or "Is this really okay?" when Nie Hanhan and Han Feiyang were instructing them on twisting and throwing techniques.
The temperature was sultry in the summer. Less than half an hour after going on the ice, Xie Yunjun's training suit was soaked with sweat. The thin fabric stuck to his skin, outlining his beautiful muscle lines vaguely.
The smell of sweat on the boy's body was not unpleasant. On the contrary, when the skin was wet with sweat, the fragrance of the bath soap became stronger. It was a smell that Lu You was very familiar with, belonging to Xie Yunjun.
While the coaches went to the speed skating team next door to discuss borrowing the venue, the figure skating team stopped their training, some drank water, some stretched their bodies, in short, they just looked for excuses to be a little lazy.
The off-season is often boring and busy for figure skaters. In order to achieve better results, they must practice new repertoire and new techniques over and over again. Because of this, athletes can easily enter a period of burnout.
Practicing a new bug... Oh no, the new difficulty Lu You fell on the ice with a thud. She failed to do the 4S throw and simply lay dead on the spot.
"I'm so tired. I have to drink Coke and eat hotpot with fried chicken and cheesecake to stay alive!" The girl lay flat on her back, touching her belly which had no fat at all, like a salted fish.
Lu You: I miss Coach Sergey for the nth day. When will he come back to arrange another muscle-building activity for me? Even if I can't eat the above foods, it would be good to eat more carbs!
Jiang Shi also sighed quietly beside him: "You talk like you still remember what hot pot fried chicken and cheesecake taste like. Who among the serious figure skaters remembers it? Sinan, do you remember it?"
Sinan: Thank you for inviting me. My child hasn’t had a full meal for three months.
There is no need to think about hot pot, fried chicken and cakes. Coke is more realistic. After all, Lu You, Jiang Shi, Si Nan and Yi Zhu have done this before, buying a bottle and sharing a few sips when the coach was not around.
When the players have practiced the three programs for the new season, the team will arrange a few ice performances for them to find their form.
Compared to the situation in previous years where investors would immediately flee overnight on trains upon learning that there would be a commercial ice show of Flowering Skating, the commercialization of Flowering Skating has been booming recently.
Led by several leading ice and snow sports clubs such as Dream Tree, Speed Star and Ice Point, Rabbit Village established a local ice performance brand Muse On Ice (MOI) last year.
Having learned from the experience of the previous ice performance brands that flopped, the organizers of Muse on Ice said that they would make the show well-known even if they lost money in the first session. Not only did they invite popular domestic contestants such as Lu You, Xie Yunjun, and Lin Yinian, they also called back Jiang Yu, Nie Han, and Tian Diyun who had retired.
The organizer sincerely stated that everyone can invite more international players they are familiar with, and the price and other things can be negotiated.
The world's top players actually don't care about the money for an ice show, but if they are invited by friends, the situation is different. In the latter case, they are very willing to come and show support.
As a result, after a few rounds, the lineup of the first Muse on Ice event was so luxurious that it was stunning.
As expected, the list of participants shocked the figure skating community after it was announced. This, this, this... the medals these people have won in international competitions could fill up a truck, right? Is this really the lineup for an ice show?
On the night when MOI released the tickets, in less than a minute, all 5,500 tickets were snatched up by the ice fans who were waiting at various venues.
International ice fans are also spreading the word: A silly ice show organizer in Rabbit Village is holding a commercial show for the first time. The people invited are big enough to play in a World Championship, but the ticket price is even lower than that of ordinary ice shows! Come and grab some bargains!
In the end, because the real-name system was not implemented, the ordinary seat tickets for Muse on Ice, which cost 500 RMB each, were almost sold to 3,000 RMB by scalpers.
Feeling the popularity of figure skating, the investors adopted a lottery system this year and moved to a larger venue that can accommodate tens of thousands of spectators. They also stepped out of the country. In addition to three tour performances in the capital, Shanghai and Fog City, there will also be a MOI ice show in Osaka, Japan.
Those who win the tickets can enter at the original price, but those who don’t win the tickets but really want to go can only go to second-hand platforms and buy H-price tickets at a premium of more than 10 times.
In the 2024 Muse on Ice, Lu You and Xie Yunjun participated in the Capital and Osaka games. In addition, Osaka's MOI also invited the retired popular player Yoshimaru Hinata.
This Japanese player's popularity remains as high as it was before his retirement. The non-Australians in Rabbit Village and Sakura Village have been waiting to resell his second-hand tickets online until their feet are numb.
After the lively ice show ends, the training season before the Winter Olympics will begin.
If the Beijing-Zhangjiakou cycle was the dream-come-true moment for Tucun figure skating, then the Milan cycle that followed was a rare era of prosperity for Chinese figure skating in decades.
Women's singles, men's singles, pairs and ice dancing have all burst into new vitality this year. As the 2024-2025 season, which is approaching the new Winter Olympics, medals for the team are pouring in, and in the two events of pairs skating and men's singles, they have never stepped down from the podium.
Not long after the new season began, Lu You and Xie Yunjun successfully married the double four, becoming a difficult monster that could use the throwing four and twisting four at the same time.
Their new short program "The Sun Also Rises" and free skating "Orfeo" broke three world records at the beginning of the season. At the Grand Prix Final, "Orfeo" became the best in the world and was called the most thrilling pair skating program in history.
Using shows to tell stories has always been what Lu You and Xie Yunjun are good at. This opera about love cleverly appeared at the time when it should have appeared the most - the period when Lu You and Xie Yunjun's skills were rising, and it was also the time when they confirmed their feelings to each other and moved from partners to a more intimate relationship.
Everything is just right, and it is this kind of perfectness that makes the free skating "Orfeo" recorded in the history of figure skating.
However, although "Orfeo" is a story centered around love, it is essentially a tragedy... Maybe it's because a real boat is not afraid of big waves. In short, this year's several pair skaters who have confirmed their relationships have all let go of themselves, determined to show tear-jerking BE stories.
True lovers never look back at the explosion.
"Opening move, twist and lift four times."
In the third act of the opera, on the banks of the Santu River, the recorder player Orfeo is alone searching for the entrance to the underworld, wanting to find a way to resurrect his lover, but is cruelly told by the ferryman: no living person is allowed to pass.
The quadruple twist, which is considered hellish for other pair skating combinations, was made to look as easy as playing by Lu You and Xie Yunjun. However, only those who have actually practiced it know how high the physical fitness of the female partner is and how much discomfort she has to overcome when doing it.
Deng Manyue said to Fu Wenxing: "Before, I pestered Coach Nie to let me try the four-twist on the circular hanging rail. He made me vomit. I really vomited."
"Joint jump, 3S+1Eu+3S."
After the combined jump, the story reached its climax, which was also the focus of Lu You and Xie Yunjun's performance. Three and a half minutes of the entire free skating were used to tell the story of the fourth act of the opera.
Proserpina, the queen of the underworld, was deeply moved by Orpheus' song of searching for his wife. At her request, Hades finally agreed to bring Orpheus' wife Eurydice back to the human world. Before leaving, Hades warned him: Remember not to look back until you have completely left the underworld.
In this scene, Lu You and Xie Yunjun used spirals, lifts and choreographed steps to perform. In the background music, the elves also sang a chorus to praise the victory of love.
The European Sports commentator, who has watched "Orfeo" many times this season, was not afraid of trouble. He smiled and reminded the audience: "Oh, don't forget that "Orfeo" is a tragic story. The most heartbreaking part is coming."
The new commentator who was co-commentating the game with him was watching this program for the first time. At this moment, he just wanted to stuff his colleague's mouth with his smelly socks.
Orfeo sang happily solo as he walked back to the human world. At the moment he was about to reach the ground, he finally forgot Pluto's warning and couldn't help but look back at his wife whose figure was blurry.
At this moment, when the music was about to turn from joy to sadness, the crisp sound of ice pops as Xie Yunjun swung her body seemed to symbolize that Eurydice was about to turn into foam. Lu You jumped lightly with her skirt flying.
She completed a jump that was estimated to be three to four meters long.
——Throwing a quadruple toe, the most difficult among active pair skaters.
When the double four configuration was completed, the outcome of the game was no longer in suspense. A year later, Lu You and Xie Yunjun set a new record with their masterpiece and won the World Championships again.
Even though Orfeo's story ended, as long as the childhood sweethearts are real, ice fans have nothing to fear. Everyone wiped away their tears, held the little rabbit, and swung their arms to smash it into the ice rink.
The new commentator from the European Sports Academy was so tortured by the free skating that he almost became autistic and directly handed the commentary of the award ceremony to his colleagues.
The young man sat next to him with his microphone muted. He wiped his tears and took out his cell phone. He skillfully walked into the Old Ford of Rabbit Village and began to search for the He fan fiction of Orfeo×Euridice.
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