The end of the 2025 World Championships also means that most of the seats for the Milan Winter Olympics have been secured. The athletes of Rabbit Village have completed the quota indicators given by their superiors and happily put a successful end to the 2024-2025 season.
Among them, the pairs skating and men's singles, which had the best development momentum, won three tickets to the Winter Olympics. The Lu-Xie combination and Lin Yinian rushed forward, and the reserve team also performed well, successfully going ashore for free skating, firmly grasping the three tickets in their hands, and completely saying goodbye to the bloody qualifying round.
In the women's singles, Jiang Shi, whose condition has been improving since leaving the lake, took the lead in women's singles skating, punching Europe, America and Russia, and kicking Japan and South Korea. With the mentality of an old dog, she watched a group of fifteen or sixteen-year-old girls falling to the ground in order to win the quadruple head.
Jiang Shi: I am feeling very weird right now. I don't know how those little girls who were fighting around me threw two Winter Olympics tickets into my arms.
Yi Zhu and Wu Tianrui, who are known as the light of ice dancing in Asia, also tried their best to squeeze into the top ten.
Yi Zhu, who had completed the task in excess, breathed a sigh of relief: "Next year at the Winter Olympics, we will definitely be able to enter the free skating in the team competition. Now we have earned an extra spot for ice dancing, and it will be easier for everyone to take turns in the team competition."
That's right. According to the schedule of the organizers of the Milan Winter Olympics, there is not much time between the team competition and the individual competition. If the pressure is all on the same group of athletes, it will easily affect the status of the more important individual competitions later.
Since entering the period of technical improvement, Lu You always feels that time passes very quickly. The scene of trying his best to fight for the bronze medal in the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Winter Olympics is still vivid in his mind. When he came to his senses, he found that the new Milan Winter Olympics is about to come.
This time, their goal is the gold medal.
When people look back at the end of their journey, they will sigh that a few years have passed in the blink of an eye.
Lu You, who was lying on the sofa watching videos, turned over. She and Xie Yunjun had built their personal information website for several years, from the youth group to the present. It was originally built spontaneously by an ice hockey fan who studied programming. As the traffic grew, the developer simply rented a server and added a posting and discussion module.
Over time, this place has become the base camp for domestic ice fans, and is also the most commonly used figure skating forum.
Lu You leaned into Xie Yunjun's arms, pointed at a cut of the short program of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Winter Olympics, and looked up at him: "You actually kissed me secretly. I was crying so sincerely at that time, and you actually took advantage of me."
In the short program of pairs skating at the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Winter Olympics, a young man in Chinese clothing covered his female partner's eyes with his fingers and bent his head to kiss her, which was frozen in the camera.
Xie Yunjun put down the fruit knife. On the plate in front of him were several apple slices cut into the shape of little rabbits. Lu You grabbed a piece and stuffed it into his mouth, staring at Xie Yunjun's profile. After chewing and swallowing it, he suddenly propped himself up and pecked him on the face.
Lu You quickly lay back on the sofa, turned on the video, and continued to watch: "Okay, now we're even."
Xie Yunjun, who was sitting on the other end of the sofa, remained calm and first slowly swept the fruit peels into the trash can, then went to the kitchen to wash his hands and knife.
A few seconds later, Lu You, who was lying on the sofa, was suddenly picked up and turned over. A pair of slender hands turned his mobile phone upside down, and then, the fingers with thin calluses stroked her lips again. Xie Yunjun lowered his eyes and looked at her, his dark pupils were deep.
The boy had just finished taking a shower and was wearing a white T-shirt and casual pants for sleeping. His black hair fell by his ears, and his stunningly beautiful features against the light added a touch of distracting color.
Xie Yunjun asked him, "Are the apples sweet?"
Lu You: “Not bad.”
After saying that, Lu You blinked and reached out to help the other person tidy up her hair. Xie Yunjun tilted her head slightly and kissed the back of her hand first. Then, the scent of shower gel came over her head.
Lu You raised his neck obediently.
The night was quiet, and the sounds of hot breathing and kissing were faint and ambiguous in the study.
When the competition and studies came to a temporary end, Lu You and Xie Yunjun began to concentrate on overcoming new difficulties.
Looking back at the development history of figure skating, the era of men's quadruple jump arrived during the period from Sochi to Pyeongchang, and from Pyeongchang to the Beijing-Zhangjiakou cycle, women's singles skating has officially entered the era of quadruple jump competition in the past four years, and some crazy men's singles have even begun to try 4A.
What is coming will eventually come. As a pair skating sport that also has jumping movements, even if the ISU intends to suppress the basic score for quadruple jump, everyone cannot escape the law of quadruple jump being the best in the end.
This is the charm of competitive sports, as athletes use their mortal bodies to break through limits and reach new heights time and time again to prove one thing: as human beings, our potential is limitless.
Recently, whenever it is time to go on the ice, the sound of wrestling can be heard constantly in the ice rink in the industrial park.
Lin Yinian is practicing the new 4S+3T black technique, Jiang Shi is preparing to work on a quadruple jump during the off-season, while Lu You and Xie Yunjun are working hard to throw the 4S.
Even with a shock-proof hip guard, Lu You still often gets thrown down and sees stars. The throw jump is very dependent on the initial height given by the male partner. Although the female partner is the one who completes the jump, it is impossible for her to control every detail as accurately as in a single jump.
That’s right, even childhood sweethearts who have a mutual understanding can’t do it.
Faced with the quad jump team that comes to his place to lie down every day, Xu Yangbing feels like he is about to turn into a villain in the early stage of a Qiong Yao drama. After getting injections here and there, he has to sigh over those physical assessment reports. Even his favorite game has not been online for more than ten days.
"You guys on the national team value technology over life, right?" Xu Yangbing said with dead eyes. "If you don't want to retire young, take it easy."
"No, I must find a way to practice a quadruple jump. Why can Maozi do it but I can't!" Jiang Shi shouted, then turned to Lin Yinian and asked, "Speaking of which, what does it feel like to do a quadruple jump?
Lin Yinian thought for a moment and answered seriously, "Nothing special, just click - whoosh whoosh whoosh - click."
“…”
Jiang Shi gave an awkward but polite smile.
Lu You lay on the physiotherapy bed, laughing so hard that her stomach hurt. Xu Yangbing glanced at her and said, "You're still laughing. Among the few people, you have the most red marks on your medical report. What's going on? Did the ISU lift the ban on the quadruple throw in the short program? Isn't one quadruple throw enough for you?"
Xu Yangbing was absolutely right.
Nowadays, the world's top pair players are all doing quadruple roll. In addition to her and Xie Yunjun, there are also the AB combination of Big Goose and Anji combination of Neon Country. They all have the throw quad + twist quad configuration on paper. Although the other two pairs do not use it often, you can be sure that they will show off their skills in some important competition.
There is an old saying in flower planting that success is easy but maintaining it is hard, which is the most appropriate way to describe Lu You and Xie Yunjun today.
Having won two consecutive World Championship gold medals, everyone has high hopes for them, and many people even assume that they will definitely lock in the gold medal at the Milan Winter Olympics.
But in the unpredictable figure skating arena, there are never so many certainties.
The needles on his waist were emitting electricity, and Lu You rested his head on his arms: "Of course it's not enough. Under the current pair skating rules, even if there is a god who can do all kinds of quadruple throws, he can't guarantee a gold medal."
In pair skating, the difference between a quadruple and a triple axel is not overwhelming. If you want to use a quadruple to increase the score, you must ensure that the quality of the throw-quad and twist-quad is perfect. If the grading elements are unclear or there are landing errors, it is better to do a high-quality triple axel.
In short, the current throwing four and twisting four is in a helpless position of "knowing it is not cost-effective, but having to do it."
However, these don't matter to Lu You. He and Xie Yunjun have never won by relying on just one toss-four or one twist-four. And in her opinion, no matter what the score of toss-four and twist-four is, she wants to challenge it.
The difficult quadruple throw is very dangerous for the female partner, because she often falls and gets hurt everywhere. Xie Yunjun's body pressure has been very low these days, and Lu You knows that he is a little angry.
Xue Chengze, the coach, saw all of this, but compared to the duo who would break up at the slightest disagreement and whose poor training affected their results, Lu You and Xie Yunjun already gave him less worries.
Reality is not as beautiful as in youth literature. No matter how strong the relationship is, friction is inevitable in the long flow of life. Even Lu You and Xie Yunjun, who will create pink bubbles when standing together in the eyes of outsiders, are no exception.
But I will always be patient with you, and even if we quarrel, I still want to be with you.
Not long after, the door of the therapy room was pushed open, and Xie Yunjun, who was said to be angry because his female companion insisted on practicing 4S throw, walked in.
Jiang Shi and Lin Yinian looked at each other, quickly closed their eyes and pretended to be dead, but their ears stood up like antennas.
Three seconds later.
Xie Yunjun silently took out a red apple from his bag.
Lu You curled his eyes, inserted his fingers into the other person's fingers, and shook them: "I want to eat the bunny-shaped one."
…
Because two Olympic tickets were won in the women's singles event, and the national team was extremely short of players, the coaching staff made careful selections and finally chose a female singles player who was half-missing in the second team. They packed the team and sent her to the Jianglin Provincial Team, hoping that they would help rescue this athlete who was about to be forgotten due to development.
Looking at the current national team members, half of them are from the Jianglin Provincial Team, and Jiang Shi, who is known as the miracle of the older women's singles, was fished out from the bottom of the lake by Lu Tingsong.
The Jianglin Provincial Team's ability to revive the world and help athletes swim freely in Lake Baikal has been recognized by the industry.
As we all know, last year Kazakhstan's number one women's singles player Skaya encountered a development bottleneck and was about to sink into the lake, so she was sent to grow flowers for half a year. However, at this year's Grand Prix, Skaya successfully returned to the court with 3A, and by the way, she also practiced an advanced three-three.
After the Grand Prix Finals, Lu Tingsong brought Li Xiaoyue from the national team's second team to the capital.
When they arrived at the industrial park training center, Lu You was still practicing the spiral line. Xie Yunjun pulled her waist upside down, and everything she saw was upside down.
The girl exclaimed in surprise: "Xie Yunjun, there is a person outside the barrier who looks like my uncle."
Lu Tingsong: "...It is me."
Lu You was stunned for a moment, then he stood up, shook his dizzy head, cheered, and jumped onto the foam baffle with joy.
Lu You asked: "Uncle! Why are you here?"
Lu Tingsong smiled and poked his niece's head: "I came here with Li Xiaoyue to participate in 4CC, and came to see you by the way."
Li Xiaoyue is the female singles player from the national second team who was halfway through the game. After a series of recovery training, she has now regained two high-level three-threes. Although she has no hope of standing on the podium, she should have no problem competing for the top 15 in the world.
With Li Xiaoyue around, the Olympic team competition can also share some of the pressure with Jiang Shi.
Lu You said "Oh", and then he heard Lu Tingsong ask: "I heard that your spiral line was caught by the referee at the Grand Prix Finals and only had two levels left? Why is it sliding back and forth?"
Xie Yunjun said, "Before, they said that the number of low-profile laps was not enough. After Teacher Xue appealed, it was reset to level three. But later they said that the top-level elements were not clear enough, so it is being revised now."
"Maybe they think other factors are hard to grasp," Lu You put his hands on his hips, "After all, Xie Yunjun and I are the best quality duck throwers in the world!"
Li Xiaoyue, who was standing next to them, smiled. For figure skaters, self-confidence is also an important part of success. Only when you believe in yourself can you muster the courage to move forward.
"If it's a mistake, it's a mistake," Lu Tingsong said seriously, "The list of referees for the Winter Olympics has been announced, and the composition is not optimistic for us. Russia and Japan are chasing closely behind you. Don't lose points unnecessarily on elements like the spiral."
Lu You stuck out his tongue: "Got it."
In the later stages of preparation for the Olympics, Li Xiaoyue, a fresh member of the Olympic team, joined the team, and Lu Tingsong, as her coach, also temporarily stayed in the national team.
After many twists and turns, the right to host the Four Continents Championships in January 2026 returned to Zhonghua again. At the closing ceremony of the Four Continents, more than ten minutes were reserved for the warm-up promotional video of the Milan Winter Olympics.
Four years later, when red lanterns were hung in the streets and alleys of the capital, the clarion call for the Olympics was sounded again.
The national team gave all the players a short vacation.
Xue Chengze smiled and said, "Those who live in the capital can go home, and those who live outside the capital can stay in the team and celebrate the New Year in advance. Although we won't be able to have a reunion dinner this Spring Festival, we will try to let our relatives and friends see us on the podium."
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