Chapter 52 I Decide I Want to Win
Five minutes before school ends at a middle school in Beijing, many students have already started packing their bags.
Yang Yiyan sat in her seat, one hand propped on her right side, using the books as cover, and quietly took out her phone from the drawer to watch the live stream.
According to school regulations, students are not allowed to bring cell phones to school. However, Yang Yiyan's situation is special. After consideration, it was decided that she could leave her cell phone with her homeroom teacher during school hours and retrieve it after school.
The last period was a self-study period, and the homeroom teacher, fearing that something might happen to the grade level, returned the phone to Yang Yiyan in advance.
Yang Yiyan felt a sudden pat on the back. She quickly pushed her phone into the drawer, straightened up as if to remain calm, and before she could turn around, her female classmate's voice came from behind her.
"After school, do you want to go to the mall? There's a new ice rink that recently opened there."
Yang Yiyan relaxed, shook her head, and pointed to the clock next to the blackboard: "Sorry, I have to rush back to watch the World Championships."
Since she won the silver medal at the World Youth Championship last season, the school leaders have been publicizing her extensively on campus. Although it can't compare to the extravagant treatment Feng Simai received, it's enough to make Yang Yiyan a prominent figure on campus.
The teachers also showed her "extra care," encouraging her to ask questions in the office whenever she had any questions. Even her homeroom teacher, who usually looked down on students with special talents, showed her a rare, kind smile, as if she were looking at the top ten students in the grade.
The female student expressed her understanding and then discussed it with the others.
Yang Yiyan's eyelashes trembled slightly as she turned around and took out her phone from the drawer to watch the live stream on silent.
The women's singles competition is now in its second group, and fans have already posted the playing times for two Chinese skaters on the forum: Jiang Shuyu is in the third group, and Zhang Mengyi is in the fourth group.
She casually browsed the forum and found that the previous popular post was "Ice dance no longer needs to be cancelled". Clicking on it, the top picture showed two children crying with their coach, having qualified for the free dance with a score of 51.32.
The bell rang, Yang Yiyan put her phone in her pocket, slung her backpack over her shoulder, and left. A private car was already waiting at the school gate.
The little girl was about to go to her dance class, so she skillfully picked up her lunchbox and started eating dinner, while putting on her headphones and quietly listening to the competition commentary.
When the Chinese athletes took the stage, the camera focused on the Chinese delegation in the audience, where Yang Yiyan inadvertently caught a glimpse of her two coaches and her junior teammate.
Zhang Mengyi was warming up when Meng Xin looked towards the ice rink and whispered, "Shu Yu and Mengyi have the same short program setup, but Mengyi's P score will be a bit higher. It depends on whether the judges are willing to let her into the last group."
3F, 2A, 3LZ+3T – this is the top-tier short program setup for women's singles without a Super C, except for 3LZ+3LO, and it's also the short program configuration that women's singles players prefer.
Xia Yuezi, holding a mineral water bottle, stood on the stands waving a red flag: "There are people who are even more anxious than us. Let's see how the short programs go first."
Jiang Shuyu's highest ranking at the World Championships was fifteenth. Although her performance wasn't great, her program execution was high, and her technical movements were clean and crisp. Even though she wasn't well-liked by the judges, her score wasn't much different from that of second-tier athletes.
Zhang Mengyi ranked eighth in last year's World Championships. The leaders definitely hope that she can go further and cooperate with Jiang Shuyu to secure two spots, or even better, three.
Therefore, Wang Can, the head coach of the two athletes, inevitably became the focus of the leadership's attention, not to mention his father.
If we don't do well today, we'll probably see Wang Can getting really anxious tomorrow.
As the music for the short program began, Zhang Mengyi glided sideways and cleanly completed her first jump, 3F.
Chinese women's singles skaters are ranked among the top in the world in terms of skating and spin. Former number one Lu Ying even had several sets of spins with full GOE. As her teammate and junior, Zhang Mengyi's spin and skating are naturally not bad either.
Xia Yuezi crossed her arms and counted the rotations, quietly watching Zhang Mengyi complete the set of squats and turns.
If I remember correctly, Zhang Mengyi had already experienced a decline in physical strength at this time, and the phenomenon of being downgraded in the triple jump combination was observed. Most of her combination jumps this season were placed at the beginning, except for the World Championships and the Sochi Winter Olympics, where she put two combination jumps at the end of her two programs.
Zhang Mengyi landed steadily on her second 2A jump. As she prepared for her third jump, the entire Chinese delegation held their breath, especially Wang Can, whose pupils trembled slightly as he stood behind the barrier.
The sound of toe-pinning ice rang out, and countless cameras focused on Zhang Mengyi. She pressed her left foot down forcefully, jumped with a shallow outside edge, completed a 3LZ, then toe-pinned again, followed by a 3T.
The camera panned across the delegation, and most of them appeared relatively calm, but the wrinkles on their faces from smiling betrayed them.
Zhang Mengyi scored 65.24 in the short program, currently ranking first, and also setting a new season high.
On the big screen, Wang Can's tense shoulders visibly relaxed as he spoke quietly with Zhang Mengyi.
He had just calculated that even if everyone who came on stage after him scored higher than Zhang Mengyi, their combined ranking would still be eighteen.
According to the rules, if the combined rankings of the two participants are between fourteen and twenty-eight, they can secure two Olympic spots for their country.
However, the score difference in the short program was not significant, and the specific situation will depend on the free skate.
After today's match, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, especially An You and Qiao Wen.
However, by the next day, he had to pick up the temper again.
The two male singles players had muscle massages done in the physiotherapist's room beforehand, and then went to the competition venue with their coach.
Feng Simai leaned against the wall, silently practicing footwork with her earphones in, while Lin Ye practiced quadruple jumps in an open corner of the room.
Xia Yuezi was originally waiting backstage when she heard Anthony's name on the loudspeaker. She exchanged a glance with Meng Xin and went out to watch his game.
Anthony stood in the center of the ice rink, his purple cosplay shirt gleaming, standing out among the other thermal cosplay shirts.
Although there are no impression points in figure skating, if Xia Yuezi were a judge, with that Costiton outfit and that face, she would be willing to give him a slight advantage in the P score.
The French skater opened the show with a smooth glide, arms outstretched.
Xia Yuezi stood on the sidelines, her eyes following his figure, then her eyes widened and she subconsciously clenched her fists.
Anthony's first jump was an expected quadruple jump, but after landing, he quickly followed up with a triple jump.
This is a 4T+3T system.
Even if the knees bend too much due to the impact when landing on the ice, resulting in the need to reach out and support oneself on the ice, this is still a four-three combination jump around the foot.
Among all the male singles athletes in the world, no more than three such consecutive jumps can be performed in the main competition.
This was probably the trump card he was preparing to unleash at the Winter Olympics, but with the World Championships going so well, he couldn't keep it hidden any longer.
Before he could recover from the heavy blow, Anthony leaned forward and performed a triple A.
The 3A has always been Anthony's most consistent jump, and this time was no exception. His height and distance were impeccable, and he even had the energy to glide out with a small jump upon landing, followed by a smooth footwork.
This veteran French skater's use of the edge was very clear, his footwork was fluid and seamless, and his speed was not affected by the difficulty of the skate.
Feng Simai's footwork is already considered good among the new generation of men's singles players, but compared to veterans like Anthony, there is still room for improvement.
After his results came out, Xia Yuezi turned around and went backstage, where she bumped into two children eating bananas in the corridor.
She nodded to them and went straight back to her room. Meng Xin didn't ask Xia Yuezi how the competition had gone; she could guess something just by looking at her partner's expression.
An atmosphere of anxiety permeated the three coaches, but when the two children returned, they suppressed their emotions and tried their best not to put pressure on them.
When Lin Ye came on, Anthony was still sitting on the platform.
Xia Yuezi glanced in his direction and saw the French star rubbing his stomach with a grimace before slumping onto the sofa, looking utterly dejected.
She was about to laugh when Meng Xin pulled her back a step. At the same time, she heard a dull thud as something hit the ground. When she turned around, she saw Lin Ye kneeling at the other end of the ice rink, slowly getting up.
Even worse, the fall seemed to have affected his knee, causing him to make some mistakes in his subsequent jumps, not to mention his already poor spins.
Lin Ye made timely adjustments, changing the quadruple jumps in the second half to other triple jumps, in order to preserve the triple jump base as much as possible.
"Oh no, this is going to put a lot of pressure on us." Meng Xin gasped, not daring to even look at Feng Simai's expression beside her.
Originally, their combined ranking was nineteenth, so getting two spots wouldn't have been difficult. But now, due to an unexpected incident, it's hard to say whether they can get two spots.
Xia Yuezi looked in Feng Simai's direction and found that he had turned his back to the ice rink and was standing "facing the wall" below the audience seats, using the method Meng Xin had taught him.
She stood still, not going over to disturb him, but silently observing him, letting him process the pressure on his own.
There will come a day when the coach is not by his side, and he will have to learn to get through it all on his own. This is an inevitable step in becoming a top athlete.
Lin Ye's final score was 203.87, a score that brought the atmosphere in the Chinese delegation to a freezing point.
After leaving the field, Lin Ye had a self-reproachful expression on his face, and now, after seeing the score, he almost cried in front of the camera.
The people standing in the aisle were either former athletes or had participated in many competitions with him; none of them criticized him.
Song Qiao patted him on the shoulder, and seeing that words of comfort were not working, he took the man away and handed him over to Yu Qian, who always had a knack for coaxing children.
Yu Qian stood at the backstage entrance and her gaze met Xia Yuezi's. She pointed in Feng Simai's direction, as if to ask if she should also comfort the child.
Xia Yuezi gently shook her head, declining the offer.
Not long after Yu Qian left, Feng Simai turned around, put on her headphones, and started doing her final stretching exercises.
The moment he stepped onto the ice, he felt as if all the surrounding noise had faded away. Feng Simai looked behind the barriers; two coaches stood there, one with a worried look in his eyes, the other calm and composed.
Xia Yuezi smiled and nodded at him, just like she had encouraged him countless times during training.
Feng Simai took a deep breath, assumed a ready stance, and his eyes remained calm without revealing any extraneous emotions, like a precipice at the bottom of the sea where danger lurks.
At this moment, he could only hear the sound of his own heartbeat and the deepest belief in his mind.
He said—
I want to win!
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