Chapter 104 Xin Gao Sets an Example as a Senior Sister
Feng Simai set new career highs in both her free skate and total score, reaching 270 points, securing her a podium spot.
Xia Yuezi pulled out her phone's memo app and wrote down the competition abbreviation and her latest P score on the paper score sheet. Turning up a page, she could see a note she had made after a certain number. That number was lower than the other scores, probably because she had made a mistake in the corresponding competition.
As she looked down and flipped through her memo, she walked backstage. Feng Simai sat in the corridor and took off her shoes and socks. There was a band-aid on the outside of her right little toe, where there was a blood blister. She had an ankle brace on her ankle, and muscle tape on her knee and thigh.
He actually doesn't like wearing ankle braces during training or competitions, as it affects his jumping power. However, as the difficulty increases, more and more injuries and wear and tear follow, and he has to bow to reality.
Everyone says that Lin Ye sacrificed his health for the sake of performing difficult routines, and that he has already had injections to stop the pain. But when it comes to health, who can compare to whom among athletes?
"Your P score this time is normal. The referee didn't press too hard. There's also a rating system. You said you couldn't keep up with your stamina later on, but the last set of footwork was also level four. This time it's all level four."
Although the free skate song was selected from Chinese pop music, it is not unfamiliar internationally. At least, this song once boosted tourism in Lake Baikal, and Russian media also reported on it. It has also been covered by singers from many countries.
Therefore, even though the song selection had some East Asian cultural elements, the P score wasn't significantly lowered this time.
Feng Simai nodded, silently took the ice pack, and placed it over his knee.
Joint wear and tear is an unavoidable injury for athletes, but after the synovitis, Xia Yuezi consciously allocated his training volume. Minor injuries will inevitably increase, but no major injuries requiring suspension of training and hospitalization have occurred yet.
Compared to athletes of the same age or period, he has relatively few injuries.
Xia Yuezi squatted down and told him about the arrangements: "I asked Coach Li to invite Sister Lu Ying over. She and her husband are both excellent at acting out love stories."
“Especially her husband, who is an opera singer, you can learn from him and give a lesson to the kids in the team. Lin Ye has also notified us that he will come if he has time. However, he has a performance in Shenyang recently, so he may not have time until after the Japan leg of the show.”
Upon hearing the coach mention the two players, Feng Simai recalled attending a wedding during the off-season this year, and the corners of his mouth unconsciously turned up as he replied, "After the Japanese leg, there are still more than half a month until the finals, so there's still a chance to adjust."
Xia Yuezi tapped him on the head: "We don't even know how the competition is going outside yet, and you're already thinking about the finals? Do you think the Japanese leg will be easy?"
She didn't use much force, and Feng Simai cooperated by lying back with her hands still on the ice pack.
He certainly knew that the Japanese tournament would be tough, not only because of Yoshino Fujiwara guarding his home turf, but also because of Anthony, who was ranked number two in the world.
One has already achieved a stable 4F, and the other has released a 4LZ off-pole training video. If this works, even if he makes the referees cry, it won't matter.
However, Xia's team was stubborn as always. Feng Simai raised his eyelids and retorted, "Who can predict things that haven't happened yet? What if I bring back the gold medal?"
As soon as she finished speaking, the corridor was immediately filled with the noise from the outside world. Xia Yuezi raised her hand and glanced at her watch; the men's singles free skate had already ended.
"Get up and move around for a bit. The awards ceremony is about to start. Remember to smile and be cheerful when you go up there. Be enthusiastic towards Andrei, after all, it's your home turf."
Feng Simai nodded in agreement to all of his coach's instructions, only realizing he had been promoted to runner-up just before going on stage.
The Huaguo station was Andrei's first stop, and he wanted to get a good ranking to reduce the pressure for the next stop. He skated a 4S that was not very stable at the time, but ended up falling badly on the ice and crashing directly into a nearby barrier. It is said that Davil's face immediately turned black.
Coach Ma saw an opportunity and his eyes lit up. He immediately told Lin Ye to replace the 4LZ with other more stable quadruple jumps, and seized the opportunity to win a gold medal.
Upon hearing the news, Feng Simai hugged Andrei even more warmly, trying to comfort the Russian athlete who had just been teary-eyed on the sidelines.
However, this person recovered their momentum very quickly, winning a gold medal in the second leg and ranking third with 26 points, thus securing a ticket to the finals.
Feng Simai won a bronze medal at the Japan Grand Prix, earning 24 points. With his total points, he outscored others in the same points bracket and secured his place in the Grand Prix Final.
Anthony didn't use the 4LZ setup, opting for a more conservative configuration. According to his own interview, his success rate with the 4LZ setup is still low, and he wants to refine it for a while before the Olympic season arrives, hoping to include it in the show.
As for the women's singles, Yang Yiyan undoubtedly lost to Japan's top skater in terms of difficulty and won a silver medal. However, Yumikawa Ria was also not in good form. She fell on the 3LZ+3Lo as soon as she went on the ice in the sixth practice session. In the free skate, she only did a 3A single jump and changed the 3LZ+3Lo to 3LZ+3T. The difficulty configuration was about two points lower than last season.
Xia Yuezi accompanied the children in her group through all the preliminary rounds of the season and came to a conclusion—not only Chinese athletes, but also popular athletes who were promoted to the senior level during the Sochi cycle, have experienced a significant increase in injuries this season.
After the Japanese leg ended, there was still some time before the finals, so Xia Yuezi took the time to further reduce the body fat of the contestants. She didn't even spare Yan Rui, who was still in the youth group. Considering that she was still growing, she couldn't train her to the point where she wouldn't have her period, so her requirements weren't as high as her senior's.
This year's finals were held in Paris, France. To accommodate players who were not good at adjusting to time differences, the Chinese team arrived at the hotel a week in advance to rest and were among the first to arrive.
Currently, there are two major schools of figure skating in China: one is the women's singles event led by Xia Yuezi, and the other is the pairs event led by Coach Lu from the Heilongjiang Provincial Team.
At least half of the athletes sent out by the Skating Association to competitions each year are students from these two institutions. And most of the pillars of the youth and senior groups also come from these two institutions.
This year, China was absent from the Grand Prix Final again in ice dance, but it had participants in the other three events, both in the senior and junior categories. This year can be said to be the year with the most Chinese participants since the start of the Grand Prix Final.
Xia Yuezi still remembers the excited expressions on the faces of the skating association leaders at the meeting before she departed from the airport.
After assigning rooms, Xia Yuezi pulled Yan Rui against the wall and measured her height with a tape measure. Although the girl's bone age test showed that she was at most 155 centimeters tall, she still grew eight centimeters a year.
If it weren't for her naturally low center of gravity, she probably would have followed in Feng Simai's footsteps. Xia Yuezi also heard from her mother that Yan Rui didn't experience growing pains at night, but she developed a lot of stretch marks.
She also went to a specialized testing institution for an examination. Her epiphyseal plates closed more slowly than those of girls of the same age, and she may grow another ten centimeters or so. She just doesn't know if it will grow all at once or be as slow as her senior's, growing only a few centimeters a year.
"Fortunately, you haven't grown much in height this week, so it shouldn't affect your jumping ability. We'll have to wait for Hele to tell you the specifics."
During the muscle-building period, Yan Rui's jumping has not had any problems yet, and the success rate of 3LO has not dropped significantly. Xia Yuezi compared her past data and felt that her current body fat percentage should be manageable.
Hearing her coach's words, Yan Rui breathed a sigh of relief. Her current costencil no longer fit, the sleeves were too short, which meant that she would have to make two new costencils after the World Junior Championships.
Many kind-hearted senior female students heard about her situation and offered to lend her their previous Costume Institute uniforms if she grew too fast and couldn't fit into her clothes before the World Youth Championships.
One of the enthusiastic senior sisters peeked out from behind the wall and comforted him, "Don't be nervous. Back then, even though Lao Feng was so strong, it didn't affect his competition. You have much better conditions than him. Just keep pushing forward in the finals. If all else fails, I'll take you to a party with Mengchuan and the others tomorrow to relax."
Xia Yuezi slapped her on the head, silencing Yang Yiyan's overly enthusiastic thoughts: "Alright, are you taking your junior sister to a party?"
Every time Yang Yiyan and Meng Chuanliya were together, they would either have a gathering at a restaurant, with each person's plate piled high with food, or they would go shopping at a duty-free shop, pack up the items, ship them back to China, and then come back with a bunch of bags.
Only on rare occasions would they prepare some chicken breast and salad in the room and play some currently popular games. Sometimes they would go too far, and Xia Yuezi and coaches from other countries would find out through live streaming.
No matter how you look at it, Xia Yuezi was not at ease entrusting her junior sister to her. Not only was she not at ease, Coach Xia also said to Yan Rui in front of her, "Xiao Rui, you share a room with your senior sister, so you must keep a close eye on her. When there are no matches, don't let her run around or eat anything she shouldn't."
As Yang Yiyan's eyes widened, Yan Rui pursed her lips and solemnly accepted the task. Her senior sister next to her let out a wail and hugged her, pretending to cry: "Xiao Rui, your senior sister has always been so good to you, how could you betray our revolutionary friendship so easily!"
Xia Yuezi looked at Yan Rui, who was unsteady on his feet from being shaken by her, and separated the two of them in an annoyed manner: "After the finals are over, the cafeteria aunt will cook you delicious food, but for now, you, as my senior, should set a good example for me."
It wasn't that Xia Yuezi was strict with Yang Yiyan. Her injury from last season had almost recovered, but she still had other old injuries. The coaching staff didn't dare to train her too much and had been controlling her body fat through strict diet control until recently when they decided to let her start training 3A again.
Yang Yiyan knew her own situation well; she had only been venting her frustration earlier. Now, she reluctantly let go of the coach's hand, sighed, and sounded weak and listless.
"I understand. I promise I will eat according to the cafeteria aunt's menu during this period, and I will also be careful with my behavior with Mengchuan and the others."
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