Chapter 105 Even niche projects can get entangled with demons and monsters during arguments...
France, a place where ice skating fans and athletes alike find competitions incredibly magical.
Just when many people think that the athletes should be able to perform well, there are always inexplicable mistakes. And many lesser-known athletes will suddenly emerge as dark horses in a competition held in France.
Song Ziqi, a Chinese men's singles player, is one of the former. This is his first time participating in the finals, and it is also his third season in the youth group.
The young man's routine wasn't particularly difficult. Last season, even his triple A was inconsistent, and he ended up on the bench in terms of total points. He was hoping to perform well this year, but he made a mistake on his very first dive and finished second to last in the short program. He was sitting in a corner being comforted by his coach.
Xia Yuezi withdrew her gaze, raised her chin, and gestured for Meng Xin to look at the top three candidates who were about to be interviewed: "What do you think of Diaz and Augustine?"
In this season's Junior Grand Prix Finals, three men's singles players have already achieved quadruple jumps. If the Junior short program hadn't prohibited quadruple jumps, the gap between the six players would have been even wider.
Kazakhstan's Diaz and France's Augustin have been able to consistently execute a quadruple jump. Since last season, the two have been neck and neck, and many figure skating fans consider their situations to be similar.
After Diaz's senior, Sainimu, retired, the Harbin Skating Association relied on him to move up to the next level to maintain the team's strength. Even though his technique is not yet mature, this is destined to be his last junior season. Next year, he will go to the senior level to fight for Olympic spots for his country.
He already has a gold medal from the World Junior Championships, but he always misses out on the gold medal in the Grand Prix due to various mistakes. In his last year in the junior group, he and his coaching team hope to achieve a more perfect result.
Augustin is in a better situation than him. His senior, Anthony, is seriously injured and has already decided to retire after Pyeongchang. However, as long as his senior is still active in competition, the pressure from the Skating Federation will not be all on him.
As for whether he will be promoted to a higher group next season to compete with Anthony for a spot in the World Championships, it depends on whether the other French men's singles players can maintain their composure.
Meng Xin also remembers that Diaz was a big fan of Feng Simai. When watching the junior group children's matches, he would also take a look at the men's singles. He had a very deep impression of him.
"It's hard to say, their difficulty levels are about the same. Diaz's sliding speed is top-tier in the youth group, similar to Simai, but he has better physical fitness; Augustine is currently the number one young male player promoted by the European system, and he has no other shortcomings. Plus, with the benefits of nationality, he should be able to make up for some of the gap."
Xia Yuezi nodded thoughtfully, then looked at Yang Yiyan who was warming up: "However, this competition is in France, and figure skating competitions involve a bit of luck, so we really can't predict how it will turn out."
Just like the six preliminary rounds, Vivian had already won a gold medal in one of the rounds, but after falling on a jump in the free skate in the second round, her entire second half collapsed, sending Alisa directly to the competition on her home turf.
The women's singles competition for adults was held in the evening. Feng Simai and Qi Ran, two tall people, stood in the spectator area holding national flags and could also observe the atmosphere of other national teams.
The atmosphere was the most enthusiastic with the Japanese team. As soon as the players entered the arena, they waved their national flags and shouted. If you didn't know better, you would think they were the host team players.
Meanwhile, the actual host country players sat quietly in their chairs, only clapping symbolically when the commentator called out Alisa's name.
Yang Yiyan was the second to last to perform. She didn't watch the performances of the previous skaters and maintained a good mindset until she went on the ice. She also didn't notice the strange atmosphere outside the ice rink at all.
Nina, who had a slump last season but has shown some improvement this season, surprisingly made no mistakes. On the contrary, Polina, one of the favorites to win the championship, made a 3A fall at the beginning. With most of the previous contestants making clean runs, she ranked third based on her original technical score and the Russian judges.
If the two skaters behind her offer help, she might still have a chance to turn things around in the free skate, but Yang Yiyan won't give her that chance.
"I'm A Survivor" is Yang Yiyan's most-watched short program on domestic and international platforms to date. After the regional competitions, she no longer focuses on timing issues, but instead devotes herself to emotional expression.
Xia Yuezi recorded a video of her during training so that she could see the changes in the program. It was because of this that Yang Yiyan suddenly realized that the transitions in her performance had become more natural, and correspondingly, the fluency and refinement of the program had also become higher.
Ms. Chishima looked at the girl who had made obvious progress compared to the Japanese station and nodded involuntarily.
She used the same preparation method as Xia Yuezi, sending Meng Chuanliya to train in the stairwell, where even the cheers from the stadium could not be heard.
She glanced sideways, trying to see Yumikawa Ria still warming up through the backstage door, a hint of worry appearing in her eyes.
I hope your injury heals quickly; your opponent is getting stronger.
This program scored 73.97 points, breaking Yang Yiyan's career high score for a short program. Xia Yuezi's eyes were momentarily drawn to the "PB" next to her, and she only realized that the score was a bit wrong when she got the score sheet.
Yang Yiyan's program component score was 33.86, which is definitely a top-tier female singles score. However, Polina fell on a jump, and her program component score was a fraction of a point lower than hers.
Xia Yuezi thought about it carefully. Polina's program didn't seem good enough to warrant a high score even after she fell. Everyone knew how that score was derived.
She took a few deep breaths to relax and tried not to show her emotions in front of the camera, but the crumpled little watch on her face betrayed her feelings.
If any member of the coaching staff were watching the live stream, they would have noticed that when Yang Yiyan scored, someone in the chat had already raised this question, and a few question marks were mixed in with the fireworks and applause.
Coach Xia composed himself and walked expressionlessly to Yang Yiyan's side: "How's your back?"
"It's alright, it doesn't affect the Lolita fashion."
During previous team training, Yang Yiyan sprained her lower back muscles. She received massages for several days and wore a back brace while doing basic land training to maintain her physical fitness until she fully recovered just before departure.
The little girl was still in the mood to joke about herself, saying that she wouldn't be able to climb up again anytime soon.
After the results of the women's singles short program in the adult group were released, another storm broke out online, with Chinese and Russian fans tearing each other apart. Occasionally, a few people who tried to mediate would be chased and attacked by both sides.
Some netizens went so far as to curse the athletes to drown, citing several examples of athletes who had been unfairly treated, claiming they would suffer retribution. The post was blocked less than ten minutes after it was published by a group of skating fans.
In the eyes of figure skating fans, it's acceptable to criticize referees and the skating association, and to say that a certain athlete is a beneficiary of the system. However, it's best to avoid overly malicious comments. Every athlete who makes it to the international stage has put in unimaginable effort behind the scenes, and we shouldn't negate all of their hard work because of this.
When Meng Xin saw the thousands of posts on the forum, her first reaction was that it was fortunate that the players were banned from the internet before the competition; otherwise, even the most resilient person would have mentally collapsed upon seeing these posts.
The next morning, when she called Yan Rui to go out for a musical performance, she peeked into Yang Yiyan's room. The curtains were not drawn, and it was pitch black inside. Only the bathroom light was on, and the sound of running water could be heard. She must have just finished her morning exercise and was taking a shower.
Xia Yuezi was at the ice rink with Feng Simai doing men's singles harmonies when she saw the two of them coming over and casually asked, "How's Xiaoyan doing?"
Meng Xin said in a low voice, "I didn't see anyone, but they have the energy to go out and exercise, so their condition should be pretty good."
Xia Yuezi nodded slightly, said nothing more, and turned her attention back to the ice rink.
The junior women's singles started first, and many figure skating fans who couldn't access the site could only rely on sports broadcasters to watch the live stream on their platforms. As soon as they logged in, they noticed that some ungrateful people had appeared again.
The first skater to go on stage was a Russian skater. He was skating well and the score was given normally, but some inappropriate comments appeared in the live chat.
Sometimes even figure skating fans themselves can't understand it. Figure skating isn't a mainstream sport. Even with official promotion and a few star skaters, its overall popularity still can't compare to summer sports. So why are they being targeted by these kinds of strange phenomena?
At the height of the argument, the administrator finally appeared and banned more than a dozen accounts, which improved the atmosphere of the live stream.
The coaching staff, completely unaware of all this, were standing by the ice rink, giving Yan Rui his final instructions: "Just skate freely. This is your last year in the junior group, don't leave any regrets."
Yan Rui tugged at his sleeve as it rolled up, nodded solemnly, turned around and exhaled, before being pushed onto the ice rink by the coach.
After the two regional competitions, Xia Yuezi went back and found some pieces for her to practice, repeatedly confirming which ones suited her performance style.
Yan Rui herself is introverted, but she is not completely emotionless on the ice. However, compared to skaters who are more outgoing, her emotions do not fluctuate much. The pastoral scene in the first half of "Giselle" exudes a calm and shyness that matches her personality, making it easy for her to perform. However, she struggles with the second half.
Xia Yuezi also tried a similar pastoral style, but eventually found that she was not suited to this style. Instead, she was suited to tracks with a girlish heart, turning tension into another emotion, or like Feng Simai, playing some grand, abstract, or even dark tracks.
To be fair, both of these types have limitations for her.
Yan Rui is young now, so skating with a youthful spirit is fine, but what about in four or five years? She can't be skating this kind of piece when she's old enough to be called an older female singles player.
As for the other style, Yan Rui's skateboard is not yet able to support the piece. Her icing rate is not high. Every time she skates to a place where she needs to turn, she is still a few body lengths away from the board, which is proof that she is not physically fit enough.
Xia Yuezi discussed with other coaches that if there wasn't enough time, they would let her skate to the "girlish heart" style first, and then specifically train her physical fitness and performance awareness.
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