Chapter 119 Same old wine in new bottles: Pearl Bellman reappears
The bronze medal match between the two Chinese men's singles skaters ended with Feng Simai coming out on top. Before the women's singles competition began, the junior and senior pairs skating teams also reached the podium.
Compared to other events, the women's singles was less suspenseful. Polina's short program score of 82.84 broke the world record and widened the gap with the second place by nearly eight points, which reduced the psychological pressure on her in the free skate.
However, it was only a little smaller. After all, Yang Yiyan had already skipped 3A in the B-level competition. Although she didn't succeed at that time, several months had passed, and no one knew if she would pull off a big move in the free skate.
Xia Yuezi clearly didn't have this idea.
Yang Yiyan's highest-level free skate setup is a single triple A. Compared to Polina's mature double triple A, her current setup, which is not yet stable, is even less suitable to use.
If you make a mistake, forget about a silver medal; you might not even make it onto the podium.
Yang Yiyan has chosen pop music for her repertoire for two consecutive seasons, and this season she has added a song for her free skate, which was released by Irish singer Enya in the last century.
At its core, "Anywhere Is" describes an open-minded attitude, focusing on the infinite possibilities in life.
Just like the final destination of this song.
Initially, the choreographer wanted to give this song to Feng Simai because its theme was very grand and abstract, and the melody was very plain with almost no ups and downs, which was very suitable for a lyrical contestant. However, Yang Yiyan fell in love with it after listening to it once and quickly conceived a brief choreography in her mind.
Xia Yuezi had almost no involvement in the choreography of the program, including the production of the costumes. When she first saw Yang Yiyan wearing costumes and playing music on the ice, she laughed just like the audience in the front row.
After all, this Costume Institute outfit is probably Yang Yiyan's most beautiful one so far.
At the beginning of each season, figure skating fans look forward not only to the new programs brought by the skaters, but also to the corresponding costenets.
Yang Yiyan's outfit features a color design similar to a gradient, with purple as the base color that gradually lightens from the hem upwards, intertwining with light blue and light green. A light purple layer is then wrapped around the inside of the hem, leaving the tail end to overlap with the purple on the hem.
A flesh-colored base layer gradually extends from the center of the chest to the right side of the waist, adorned with rhinestones and black tulle, mimicking the path of flowing water on a shallow beach.
The sleeves are modified simple petal sleeves, so that the cuffs are not too exaggerated and affect the center of gravity when jumping. However, just by gently reaching up when her name is called, she can't help but attract other people's attention.
Yang Yiyan lowered her head, her hands hanging naturally at her sides, loosely clenched under her sleeves, staring at the ice beneath her feet, taking a deep breath, and waiting for the music to begin.
Meng Xin muttered under her breath, "Will anyone appreciate this performance style?"
Xia Yuezi replied, "You can tell from Xiaoyan's previous training that this kind of unchanging approach is probably still within her familiar territory."
Since the choreographer is the same person, the theme of this performance is the same as that of Feng Simai, which is to pick out a line from the lyrics.
"I am walking in the labyrinth of time, but no matter which way I turn, it is a brand new beginning, but I can never find the end."
Even the costume on her body was designed to mimic the time tunnel effect in Chinese animated films.
The music started off quite soothingly. The girl on the ice raised her head, slowly scanned the surroundings from left to right, and then gently glided off.
The first move of this routine is still the familiar 3F+3lo. She did consider bringing back the previous 3lz+3lo, but after bringing back 3A, the existing setup is enough. There is no need to use a less comfortable jump to increase the difficulty.
It seems that during this jump, Yang Yiyan stepped into an ice hole when she landed on the 3rd floor.
From the magnified image on the screen, it can be clearly seen that after she landed on the ice, she did not slide off at all, but stood on the ice for about a second without moving her legs. Her upper body fell straight backward, landing hard on her bottom.
Just by looking at it, you could tell that the fall was very hard. Yang Yiyan's face and neck immediately turned red. She braced herself on the ice with one hand and gritted her teeth to quickly stand up.
The exclamations of the two coaches mingled with those of the audience. Meng Xin, speaking in a thick Northeastern accent, kept repeating, "Daughter, don't push yourself. Quickly switch to another setup."
Xia Yuezi wasn't much better off. In an instant, she felt her back was soaked with sweat, her hands trembled uncontrollably, and she stood on tiptoe, looking up to see how she would react.
Yang Yiyan hasn't started the 3LO combo yet, so this set of movements is only recorded as a single jump, so the slot for the combo jump won't be wasted, but the goe will definitely be deducted.
The athlete on the field probably didn't want to give up yet, and her preparation position for the second jump was still a three-turn entry. This fall had a significant impact on her, and the quality of her 3F was not high.
In order to avoid repeatedly jumping to the discount, Yang Yiyan had no choice but to bite the bullet and continue to add 2T.
The Chinese athletes who had already finished their matches gasped in shock. Feng Simai, as one of her teammates, had also accompanied many of her younger teammates in their matches. They all left the spectator area to find the team doctor who was waiting on the sidelines.
Polina, whose mental fortitude was no longer what it used to be, was already standing in the aisle waiting to go on stage. When she saw this scene, her eyes widened. She froze halfway through her high kick, then took out the cross hanging around her neck and devoutly put her hands together in prayer.
As luck would have it, the cameraman also quickly pointed his camera at her and captured this moment.
While some players don't manage their facial expressions well when their opponents make mistakes or perform exceptionally well, which is often used as a topic of discussion by the media or fans, Polina has never had such an experience. At most, she only cries when she doesn't perform well herself.
It's not that Polina herself doesn't have emotions when facing these things, but rather that she feels that every player on the field is a respectable opponent. If someone is a friend worth making, she will empathize with them no matter how they perform.
This is consistent with her identity as an Orthodox Christian.
The music tempo increased slightly in the first half, but returned to its original soothing state in the second half, with Yang Yiyan entering a swallow-style spin in the form of a butterfly jump.
The two coaches, separated by the partition, could only guess from her revs that she was still capable of completing the second half of the difficult course.
Yang Yiyan's overall performance was not good, and she probably realized this herself, so she adopted a different setup for the second half that was less difficult.
At the same time, based on her previous performance, a slight adjustment was made, changing the configuration to 2A+3T, 3lz+2lo+2lo, 3lz, 3lo.
Although the technical score wasn't as high as before, apart from the 2A+3T jump where I had to use the ice-supporting technique, there were no other unexpected issues with the jumps.
After completing all the jumps, Xia Yuezi felt a sense of relief, and Yang Yiyan then moved on to the second set of footwork. It was here that she completely regained her previous training form.
The choreography was based on her suggestion, transforming the entire program and the ice rink into a time tunnel, in which Yang Yiyan is portrayed as a human who accidentally wanders in.
Here, she relives her life as an observer, watching herself stumble and fall along the way, reaping flowers and applause, experiencing hardships and setbacks, gaining many new insights.
"Anywhere Is".
I can't remember how many times these lyrics have played.
Whether watching live or watching the live stream, there must be people who have watched Yang Yiyan grow up. They are the ones who can best understand the uncertainties in this child's growth path and the direction she insists on in life.
Perhaps the debut of this show wasn't the best, but everyone could understand what Yang Yiyan was trying to express.
It was at this moment that the girl on the ice completed her footwork and moved directly into the final set of movements—the bent-over turn.
This was also a set of unexpected moves, because since Yang Yiyan's back injury worsened, she has basically replaced the bent-over turn with the swallow spin.
She plunged her upper body downwards, using a windmill spin to enter a side spin, maintaining steady acceleration, then pulled her skates to switch to a backbend spin, almost level with her head, gradually pulling upwards to form the long-unseen Pearl Bellman.
This set of movements was what Yang Yiyan wanted to add. Since this program is a dialogue with herself from all her past moments, it is essential to include the Bellman spin that has accompanied her all the way and helped her become remembered by more people.
While I can still pull myself up, I'll do it one more time.
She released her skates, stepped off the last gliding step of the ice, then knelt on one knee, her upper body slightly leaning back, one hand half-open and raised above her head, the drooping sleeve like the outermost blooming petals, protecting the most important thing inside.
Xia Yuezi no longer needs to analyze the program content with Yang Yiyan, because the audience has already given the best answer with applause.
Yang Yiyan let out a long sigh, pressed one hand on her lower back, and supported herself on the ice with the other, slowly standing up. Her expression wasn't particularly pleasant.
Many Chinese figure skating fans watching the big screen felt a chill in their hearts. Could it be that their star player's back injury had relapsed after the Bielman procedure?
Although they really liked the move, the number one hero's health bar was more important.
Xia Yuezi asked the same question, and the little girl that Meng Xin was talking about laughed a little embarrassedly: "It's not a back injury, it's just that when I fell, I landed directly on my butt, and my tailbone hurts a bit, but with so many people around, I couldn't just support myself on that spot, so I could only support myself on my spine to get up."
When this was mentioned, the two coaches stopped smiling and stood guard over their children like protectors.
Faced with the neurotic coach, Yang Yiyan's smile became somewhat stiff: "Coach, I'm really fine. My butt doesn't hurt anymore. I just couldn't lift my leg at the time."
Xia Yuezi retorted expressionlessly, "You think being unable to lift your leg is a minor issue? Groin injuries are not uncommon for figure skaters. Go see the team doctor for a check-up later."
Although these two areas belong to different anatomical regions in medicine, there are quite a few connecting parts in between, such as the pelvic floor muscles and the lower abdomen.
If the coccyx is indeed injured, adjusting running and jumping postures will unintentionally increase pressure on the groin, causing muscle strain.
Yang Yiyan trembled almost imperceptibly, completely bewildered as to why her simple fall had led to such a discussion about her groin. However, in front of the two coaches, the young girl dared not utter a word.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
