On the morning of February 18, the Chinese team's bus set out from the Olympic Village and arrived at the entrance of the Assago Stadium half an hour later.
A group of ice fans gathered at the entrance since early morning. Some of them were from China, and some were from other countries. They all held posters and little rabbits, and looked expectantly at the slowly approaching bus.
The driver, who could feel the enthusiasm of the fans through the car window, turned around and asked: "Coaches, should we go through the main gate or the athlete channel?"
Xue Chengze did not hesitate: "Go through the contestant channel."
"Wait," Lu You pulled his scarf, "Coach, should I open the window and say hello to everyone from a distance?"
Xie Yunjun also looked out the window: "Many of them came to the gate early in the morning and waited."
Xue Chengze and Lu Tingsong looked at each other and tapped Lu You's head from a distance: "The competition is about to start, and you two are really not nervous... Okay, you can only open the windows and not get out of the car."
Lu You narrowed his eyes and said "Ah", then after opening the window, the cheering team instantly became excited, everyone waved their cheering objects faster, and all spoke in unison to Lu You and Xie Yunjun.
"Lulu, thank you for the free skating!"
"The Chinese team will win!"
The imagined scene of ice fans rushing forward did not appear. This year, the fans had already restrained each other in the cheering group before coming to watch the game. At this time, everyone stood far away, just waving the banners in their hands to convey their expectations to Lu You and Xie Yunjun.
Lu You found several familiar faces in the cheering team, such as Yamamoto Nanako who was always there, Li Yan, a painter who had collaborated with the national team many times, and many faces that looked very familiar but whose names he couldn't remember.
Many of them have been following in the footsteps of Lu You and Xie Yunjun since the youth group, and have accompanied them through the peaks and troughs.
Lu You took off his mask, smiled and waved at them, and shouted, "It's very cold outside, everyone, please come in quickly, we also need to go in and prepare."
The ice fans originally just wanted to take a look at the national team bus from a distance, so being able to see their favorite players at this time was already a pleasant surprise. After the bus drove away, everyone gathered together and exchanged photos of the players that they had taken themselves according to the cheering habit, and then walked into the venue.
At the same time, Lu You, Xie Yunjun and their team were completing a series of complicated pre-match procedures, including routine luggage security checks and handing over Costen to the Olympic Committee for inspection.
There were a total of sixteen pairs of pair skating teams shortlisted for the free skating. Among them, the Israeli pair ranked 14th had to withdraw temporarily because the male partner suddenly suffered from acute appendicitis. They were replaced by Ukrainian players Nicola & Lans, who ranked 17th in the short program.
Nicola and Lance, who were hit by a piece of cake, received the news that they would participate in the free skating late at night. They were both happy and terrified. Unfortunately, they were only the second combination of Ukraine, and the coach's focus was on the number one Ukrainian who was ranked seventh.
As an artistic powerhouse that was once able to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Big Goose, the Ukrainian national team did not pay much attention to this combination, whose average age was less than 18 years old and who had been shortlisted for the free skating by accident.
The Ukrainian head coach only came over to give a few instructions, and then let the two warm up on their own. Nicola opened her mouth, but finally silently pulled her male partner to spread out the yoga mat and sit down.
After a while, the Chinese team, which had completed registration, also entered the warm-up room. As soon as Lu You and Xie Yunjun put down their backpacks, Carlo shouted at them from a distance and threw something over: "You, Jun, take this!"
Xie Yunjun raised his hand to take it. Lu You curiously leaned over, picked up the small silver chain in his companion's hand and took a look. It was two round-shaped pendants with a small lock on the side, engraved with some exquisite patterns.
Erica blinked and said, "It's a lucky pendant. I take it to church every week. Kavira and Anatoly also have it."
"Thank you."
Lu Youyang held the chain in her hand. After Xie Yunjun helped her put it on, he also bent down on his own initiative.
"Do you want to wear it too?" Lu You asked doubtfully, but still put his arms around his neck, and fumbled with the hook of the pendant to fasten it for his male companion. "Didn't you dislike believing in these things before?"
Xie Yunjun's eyes fell gently on the pendant on Lu You's collarbone, and he said, "It's the last free skating, what if it comes in handy?"
"It's better to warm up than to do these things," Lu Tingsong quietly appeared from nowhere and said quietly, "Feudal superstition is not good."
Xue Chengze looked at him with a puzzled look on his face. "Before you say this, can you take off the lucky crystal on your neck, the good luck charm on your bag, and the red string on your hand?"
"..." Lu Tingsong floated away silently and found a corner to help Lu You and Xie Yunjun lay out the yoga mats.
Xue Chengze coached Si Nan and Xu Zhen, while Deng Manyue and Fu Wenxing were coached by Nie Hanhan and Han Feiyang. The coaches kept the six players' water cups in their hands at all times.
Because each player has a different way of warming up, the six Chinese players were led by different coaches to conduct pre-match adaptation exercises in an orderly manner.
Lu Tingsong said: "First, stretch yourself for 20 minutes, then jog and jump for half an hour."
Lu You, who was warming up, soon discovered that after he and Xie Yunjun finished stretching, Nicola and Lance from Ukraine, who were not far away, also stood up and looked over here from a distance, as if waiting for their next move.
The two children didn’t seem to speak English very well and they stuttered when communicating with others. There was no translator or coach around them and they even dared to put their water cups only where they could see.
In the event of figure skating, it is actually quite normal for various factions in different countries to fight among themselves. Lu You had long heard that a pair of Ukrainian doubles were marginalized in the national team because they refused to break up, but she did not expect that someone would actually engage in internal fighting in such an important occasion as the Olympics.
Thinking of this, Lu You turned over and shouted to Nicola and Lance in Russian: "Hey, do you want to come over and warm up with us?"
"We are going to start jogging with a stopwatch. You won't be able to hear us clearly standing so far away," said Lu You.
Nicola was stunned and hesitated for a while, but finally she came over with Lance holding her yoga mat.
The little girl, who just turned sixteen this year, held the hand of her male companion and bowed politely: "I'm sorry to trouble you."
Lu Tingsong looked at them and for no reason brought up the childhood of Lu You and Xie Yunjun. Uncle Lu felt distressed and said in all the English he had learned in his life: "It's okay, just follow us... By the way, you two are the first to go on stage, right? Then I'll help you stretch first."
Lu You helped translate it, and Nicola finally understood. The little girl's eyes turned red, as if she had finally found her backbone. The small girl hugged Lu Tingsong's waist and stammered in English: "Thank you, black-haired coach."
Lu Tingsong said "Oh", thought about it, and touched her head.
At ten o'clock in the morning, the free skating competition of the Milan Winter Olympics officially kicked off.
Nicola and Lance, who ranked 17th in the short program, were the starters of the free skating. Just before they went on stage, the Ukrainian head coach seemed to have just remembered that there was such a person and came over to lead them to the ice rink.
After the free skating, coach Georgia Tan in the warm-up room looked at the TV broadcast thoughtfully. Nie Hanhan whispered to Han Feiyang: "Georgia seems to be thinking of poaching people. After all, their pair skating has been interrupted in recent years."
Han Feiyang: "For Nicola and Lance, it might be better to go to other countries than to be suppressed at home."
On the Chinese team, Deng Manyue and Fu Wenxing appeared in the second group. Their single jump was very difficult, and as it was their first time participating in the Olympics, they were extremely nervous. During the performance, they failed a set of triple Salchow jumps, and several of their lifts were badly caught by the referee.
Si Nan and Xu Zhen are veterans who have experienced many ups and downs. They continued their stable performance in the team competition and perfectly inherited China's iconic high-quality throws, twists and supports. Although the overall difficulty is not high, it is by no means low. At least they will have no problem competing for the top ten in the world.
At 1:30 p.m. Italian time, the cleaned ice surface was as bright as a mirror under the strong spotlight.
Tang Baifeng's voice rang out through various broadcast channels: "China Central Television."
Guan Lin: "China Central Television."
"This is the Assago Arena in Milan, Italy, the venue for the Winter Olympics figure skating pairs free skating competition. After a brief ice repair, our competition will continue. I am Tang Baifeng, the commentator of this game."
"I'm the commentator for this game, Guan Lin."
As the current rankings appeared on the broadcast screen, Tang Baifeng said, "The first four groups of the free skating competition have ended. my country's Deng Manyue/Fu Wenxing ranked tenth, Si Nan/Xu Zhen ranked fourth, and the next players to appear are, in order, Japan's Anji combination, Russia's AB combination, and my country's Lu You and Xie Yunjun."
Guan Lin: "As one of the only three teams in the world that can throw four and twist four, they have a lot in common. When these people compete together, it will definitely be a visual feast."
Xue Chengze muttered, "They do have something in common. All six of them got the same treatment. They all received several injections."
Among the current doubles trio, Apollova and Biman are already veterans with many injuries. Lu You and Xie Yunjun have been struggling in the adult group for four or five years. It is impossible for them not to have some problems. To be on the safe side, both of them applied for a closed injection before the game.
The Anji combination, who are of similar age to them, have had an even more unfortunate fate. Haruna Anjo broke the Achilles tendon of her left foot two years ago and missed the entire 2024-25 season after the operation.
In order to avoid retiring after skating the Olympics, Haruna Anjo and Kentaro Yoshioka did not use the quadruple throw. They only inserted a quadruple twist into "A Letter to You at the Age of 15" in the individual competition. However, the final score reached an astonishing 159.73, which was enough to prove how complete this program was.
The penultimate pair were Apollova and Biman. Their song of the year was a mashup of "We Are the Champions" and "Time! Forward". When this song was first released, it was criticized by ice fans because it was the usual Russian style of segmented editing.
The so-called segmented style means that the mixed songs in the figure skating soundtrack are severely fragmented. Basically, each of them is separate. Often, while skating, they suddenly cut into the next section of other music. This abrupt turn without any transition will make people feel very distracted.
[The choreography of the goose is really terrible... So these two songs have anything to do with each other? ]
[Satisfied, right? When the Big Goose was at its craziest, it still had five stages. This year, at least it’s not a five-stage or a three-stage, but a two-stage.]
[However, AB's performance of "We Are the Champions" was really heartbreaking. It was about Sister Sun Baby's dream of becoming an Olympic champion... AB was born at the wrong time. She was sandwiched between Jiang Yu and Lu Xie. If it were any other time, she would have won the Grand Slam long ago.]
Just like the men's singles players born between Yoshimaru Hinata and Lin Yinian, Apolova and Biman, as Russia's number one duo, are strong enough to be called the best in the world. They have the strength of a king, but unfortunately, their careers are sandwiched between two pairs of unprecedented talented players.
The AB combination lost in the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Winter Olympics cycle because they were too young, but four years later in the Milan Winter Olympics, they had become experienced veterans and found that the "youth" that once limited them had become their opponents' biggest advantage.
Looking at the two groups of opponents full of vigor and vitality, while they don’t know how long their own condition can last, Apolova and Biman are not actually jealous. But the feeling of not achieving the goal yet and having to watch themselves being dragged down by injuries is the most torturous feeling for athletes.
So Apolova and Biman chose "We Are the Champions" and "Time! Forward" this year.
Although the tide of the times pushes us forward, even though we as veterans are already scarred, our dream of winning the championship will never fade.
Apolova and Biman, who had received nearly five injections in total, completed an amazing double quadruple configuration in the free skating. Although they made a mistake of holding the ice with one hand when challenging the final 3F single jump, the two veterans still received standing ovations from the audience.
Lu You and Xie Yunjun also stood up and applauded the respectable opponents.
After the performance, Apollova and Biman hugged each other tightly. Both of them were close to collapse. They supported each other and sat on the ice, gasping for breath. Apollova kissed the Olympic rings on the ice with tears in her eyes, kissing the dream that had been deeply rooted in their hearts since they were young.
No matter what the result is, they have tried their best. Apolova and Biman believe that this is the limit of what they can do, and they will have no regrets even if they cannot win.
After the scores came out, the commentator shouted excitedly: "Apolova and Biman's free skating score is 161.98! They broke the free skating record set by Lu You and Xie Yunjun at the 2025 World Championships!"
At the same time, as the announcement sounded, Lu You and Xie Yunjun took off their sword sheaths.
"The People Republic's of China, You Lu and Yujun Xie."
Tang Baifeng: "The next players to take the stage are the bronze medalists of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Winter Olympics, 20-year-old Lu You and 21-year-old Xie Yunjun."
"Four years ago, they were ordered to embark on the Olympic journey in a time of crisis. When no one was optimistic about them, Lu You and Xie Yunjun, who had just been promoted to the group, secured a precious bronze medal for China, proving to everyone that the more a dream is ridiculed, the more meaningful it is to achieve it."
"Four years later, the duo that has been together for more than a decade is once again on the Olympic stage as the world's No. 1 team, fighting for their dreams and mission."
The introduction column flashed on the broadcast screen.
Free Skate Song: You Raise Me Up
Performers: You Lu & Yunjun Xie
Nationality: China
Short program ranking: 1
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