Chapter 137: We hope you can contribute to the group...
The Chinese women's singles team drew the fourth spot in the first group, which is considered a good draw.
Xia Yuezi had just finished packing Yang Yiyan's knife sheath and coat when she saw Polina standing at the backstage entrance. That position was in a blind spot in the vicinity, and the shadow of the spectator area above her head enveloped her.
Canada is coming on strong in this year's team competition, with no particularly weak players in any of the four events. They've also sent veteran Claire in the women's singles short program. If everyone makes no mistakes, she should be in third place.
Russia needs those ten points in the women's singles to compete with Canada and win the gold medal, but China also needs those ten points to narrow the gap with other countries in the free skate.
The clear sound of the guzheng rang out, and just when everyone was waiting for a perfect 3A, Yang Yiyan unexpectedly entered a swallow spin.
Polina's blue eyes narrowed for a moment, then she smiled knowingly and murmured, "You're really something."
Before the finals began, Xia Yuezi had the idea of putting all the jumps in the second half of the competition and also asked the contestants for their opinions.
Yang Yiyan considers herself a gambler, and one with a higher chance of winning than losing, but if she does both programs this way, she can't guarantee she'll have enough stamina to slide down.
"Who told you to skate two programs? If you don't have the stamina, skating the short program is enough."
Yang Yiyan's first performance was the short program. As long as the short program was modified and she won first place in the short program, no one dared to guess whether the free skate was modified or not.
After all, for athletes, a program they've practiced and become familiar with has become muscle memory for them, and it's impossible to change it overnight. Even if they see Yang Yiyan's program, it will only increase their psychological pressure.
Anyone can throw out a smokescreen before the match; it's just a matter of whether they'll fall for it.
It wasn't until the second half of the show that Yang Yiyan made her first jump. When she landed a 3A, the audience, both on and off screen, breathed a sigh of relief, and the applause was even more enthusiastic than before.
As Sidorov got older, he took his team to competitions less and less, at most making an appearance at domestic competitions. It was only because this Winter Olympics was so important and the trip wasn't too far from Moscow that the Russian Ice Hockey Federation invited him to come out of retirement.
The elderly Slavic man, leaning on a cane, slowly walked to Polina's side, placing his free hand on her shoulder, his expression barely changing.
Polina pursed her lips, not turning around, but simply exhaling: "It's okay, I won't let the pressure crush me. After all, I can't compare to myself four years ago."
Sidorov's cloudy eyes were fixed on the figure on the ice rink, his voice old but steady: "It's okay, we still have a chance in the individual T-competition."
Yang Yiyan completed the last movement, her face flushed, and she splashed up a puddle of ice as she landed, but she couldn't stop smiling. A photographer zoomed in and captured the moment.
Xia Yuezi couldn't help but jump up, clapping her hands vigorously and letting out a huge sigh of relief, as if she had just finished a program on the ice.
The final score was very close to 83 points, probably because the judges lowered it a bit at the end to give the later contestants some leeway.
Regardless of the final result, the Chinese team has secured a spot in the next round, and their women's singles ranking is very high. The question is whether they will be first or second. The crowd waved the national flag behind them, creating a very enthusiastic atmosphere.
After the camera moved away, Xia Yuezi walked towards the team leader and asked, "Have the names for the free skate been finalized?"
After the short program, the teams that advance will need to finalize their free skate lineup and submit it to the organizing committee. The pairs skate, which starts first in the afternoon, will be the first to have their lineups finalized.
Based on the current points system, the Chinese team should have 28 or 29 points across the four events, which would likely place them third and give them a chance to compete for a podium finish.
The team leader was a middle-aged man who was also a figure skater, but he didn't achieve any great results during his career, and not many figure skating fans knew him.
He opened his notebook, his brows furrowed: "There's nothing to change in pairs skating and ice dance, so let's look at the men's and women's singles."
He looked at the singles skating coach standing next to him, as if asking for their opinion.
Song Ziqi's coach spoke first: "Although I really want my student to participate in the group, his difficulty level is indeed not high enough. I think that at this time, instead of looking at the stability of the athletes, we should take a gamble on the athletes with high difficulty levels."
Song Qiao was slightly taken aback and subconsciously looked at him, only to see the young man nod slightly at him.
His meaning was clear: instead of pinning their hopes on Song Ziqi for a mediocre result in the free skate, it would be better to let Lin Ye compete.
After the short program, Fujiwara Yoshino and his group of jumpers will most likely not compete in the free skate. At most, Canada and Russia will push Wayne and Andrei up to compete for the gold medal.
But if Lin Ye can complete the jump, he will surpass Wayne in terms of difficulty. Even if the judges try to favor him and give him a huge P score and GOE, he will likely not get first place. In that case, China will have a chance to secure second place and compete for first.
The team leader looked at Song Qiao, waiting for his answer.
"Lin Ye's ankle is recovering well. If he changes his free skate setup to three or four quadruple jumps, he should still have enough stamina to support the individual competition. However, it depends on his own decision."
The team leader pondered for a moment, then looked at Xia Yuezi: "Coach Xia, what about the women's singles?"
"I do not recommend changing the women's singles players."
With Song Ziqi's coach setting a good example, Xia Yuezi's words did not surprise the other coaches.
She scanned the crowd, her eyes showing no sign of backing down: "Zhang Mengyi and Yan Rui have similar difficulty levels, but Zhang Mengyi's program component score is more advantageous. Moreover, Mengyi has already prepared to give up the individual competition and has pushed the difficulty of her free skate to her limit. Announcing a change at this time would not be a good thing for either athlete."
Before the team roster was finalized, the men's singles players, except for Feng Simai, were still under consideration by the leadership. However, the women's singles roster was already finalized, and Zhang Mengyi herself was making full preparations.
Different situations require different solutions.
The team leader hung his head and wrote down the names of several athletes in his notebook. Several coaches stood beside him, waiting for the final verdict.
Equally anxious were the skaters sitting on the sidelines waiting. The pairs skaters selected for the free skate had already stood up and started warming up, just waiting for the final list to be submitted so they could go straight to the backstage warm-up area.
Yang Yiyan pulled a tissue from the tissue box and slowly wiped the sweat from her forehead. She then glanced at Zhang Mengyi silently. As the oldest player in the Chinese women's singles, she couldn't show her immense pressure, so her expression was stiff and somewhat distorted.
Just as Yang Yiyan was about to say a few words of comfort to her, she saw a group of coaches walking over, but the team leader in the middle was not there; he must have gone to the organizing committee to submit the list.
As the most respected coach, Coach Lu was implicitly given the responsibility of announcing the roster spots.
"The roster for the free skate has been finalized. Lin Ye will be replaced as the men's singles skater, while the other skaters will remain the same."
Lin Ye was stunned when he heard this. After all, all the coaches knew his success rate in the free skate; it hadn't been completely clean this season.
Although Song Ziqi's difficulty level is not high, his success rate for 3A and 4T is already very high. His success rate in international and domestic competitions combined is over 80%, and his ranking is also higher than Lin Ye's. Even if his slide is not as good as Lin Ye's, he is still considered above average in the domestic men's singles.
Seemingly sensing Lin Ye's thoughts, Coach Lu glanced at him, his eyes filled with tenderness and expectations for the younger generation.
"Xiao Lin, this is the result of discussions among all the coaches. We feel that although your consistency is not high, your difficulty level is very high in men's singles. As you have seen from the overall short program rankings, China is ranked third. Therefore, we hope that you can contribute to the team and help China's ranking improve."
Lin Ye hadn't fully recovered yet. His lips moved twice, but no sound came out. It wasn't until he felt weight and warmth on his shoulder that he turned his head in a daze. No matter how you looked at him, he looked like a puppet being manipulated.
Song Ziqi stood to Lin Ye's left rear and patted him lightly twice: "Brother Ye, you have to keep going. Everyone's hopes are on you."
Lin Ye blinked and asked, "Aren't you sad?"
The teenage boy had a bright smile on his face. Upon hearing this, the corners of his mouth curved up even more, and there was a hint of doubt in his eyes: "Why should I be sad? The men's singles spots were never decided in the first place."
He then took another step forward, his expression becoming more serious: "Besides, I'm still young and don't have many injuries. As long as I train hard, I might be able to compete in the next Winter Olympics."
Lin Ye looked slightly surprised, but quickly recovered and ignored the provocation in his junior's words: "Alright then, I won't hold back."
The pairs free skate was the first event to start, and He Jiayun and Qi Ran did not disappoint. They completed a twist in their free skate and ultimately finished second, only behind the Russian pair.
The remaining three team matches officially began early the next morning.
As soon as Song Qiao returned to the Olympic Village last night, he rushed into Lin Ye's room with the other men's singles coaches and the accompanying team doctor, and they chatted for a long time inside.
Xia Yuezi heard from Feng Simai, who shared a room with her, that they were discussing how to maximize the technical score of the team free skate configuration while ensuring stability.
I don't know what the process was like, but the final result was pretty good. Lin Ye gave his first clean free skate of the season to the Winter Olympics team event, and won first place in the free skate, beating Wayne.
Xia Yuezi looked at the Russian special seat next to her in surprise. They hadn't sent out Andrei for the men's singles, but instead gave the opportunity to a men's singles player with better consistency.
Their coach probably went back and calculated the scores, and realized that even if they performed exceptionally well in the remaining three matches, they still wouldn't win the team gold medal. So he simply let the main athletes rest and secure the silver medal.
After the women's singles free skate, the last ice dancer to go on the ice looked so serious that it seemed as if she was facing a massive army all alone.
Although among the five countries that advanced, China's ice dance strength is only slightly stronger than Japan's, and they can only get fourth place at most, if they lose this point, they will really let down the brothers and sisters who fought hard in front of them.
After all, even Zhang Mengyi, who was low on health, used her highest difficulty level to score eight points for China.
The moment the ice dance results were announced, Xia Yuezi quickly calculated 63 points. She looked at the large screen in the center of the ice rink and calculated the United States' score.
The United States' ice dance team can't beat Canada's team, scoring at most nine points. Even if all the scores are added together, they only get 60 points, which is still less than China's.
She felt her heart skip a beat. Biting her tongue, she tried to regain her senses, and a fact began to form in her mind—
The Chinese figure skating team won the team bronze medal at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics!
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