Chapter 47 2011 Finals
◎Compete with excellent old rivals◎
The four contestants exchanged a few pleasantries and then went to their respective rooms to rest and recuperate.
The four events of the Grand Prix Final will be held over four days, with both adult and youth groups competing.
The results of the youth group's single and double short program and ice dance short dance will be decided on the first day of the competition, so everyone in the youth group cannot relax from the beginning.
After a good night's sleep at the hotel, it was time for the race.
Ji Tiantian put on the goose yellow costume for short dance in the hotel and checked whether there was any problem with the tassel sequins on it.
Kosten's condition will not be good throughout the season, and she needs to repair the damaged tassels and rubbed off sequins in time. After checking that there is no problem, it is time to put on makeup. Ji Tiantian is still young, and it would be a bit strange if the makeup is too bright and heavy, but considering that this is a grand year-end celebration, Jiang Lin, who is in charge of makeup, still put a layer of bright eye shadow on her, and a light lip gloss with sequins.
After Ji Tiantian finished putting on her makeup, she was ready to go to the competition venue. Before leaving, she once again checked her most important equipment, which was her skates.
With Ji Tiantian's eager anticipation, Lucas still sold her his equipment at a discount. So Ji Tiantian had a pair of skates that were not easy to break and fit her feet. She no longer had to worry about running in the new shoes before the competition.
Everything was ready. Ji Tiantian put on her down jacket, walked out of the room and into the corridor.
Tang Yi was ready and waiting for her there. Compared with Ji Tiantian, Tang Yi's preparations were always simpler, just styling his hair and eyebrows. But he had a good foundation, and he looked dazzling enough after a little dressing up. He was definitely an excellent male companion who could hold up his female companion steadily and look extremely harmonious when standing next to her.
Tang Yi looked quietly at Ji Tiantian, whose face was sparkling, and couldn't take his eyes away.
Ji Tiantian also looked at him. The past month of training had been very busy, and since the dance, they had not had time for a long talk.
I hope all the efforts are worth it.
Ji Tiantian calmed down and gave Tang Yi a sincere smile: "This is the last game of this year."
"Yeah." Tang Yi nodded, "You can go home and eat oden now."
"Humph, my goal is not that short-sighted. After I get the prize money, I will buy another lottery ticket with the number 19." Ji Tiantian clenched her fist and said, "I have a feeling that I will win this time!"
"..." Tang Yi looked at Ji Tiantian silently. After a while, he pondered and said, "Do you think it is possible to strive for a higher ranking and make money more easily?"
Ji Tiantian frowned and said, "What you said makes sense."
"What makes sense?" Jiang Lin then walked out of the room and asked Ji Tiantian with a smile.
"No, I didn't say anything." Ji Tiantian immediately shook her head.
"I just heard you talking about money again, little money-grubber. When you grow up and take on commercial performances, there will be plenty of opportunities to make money." Jiang Lin smiled as she set off for the competition venue with the two contestants and Xu Chi.
The first day of the Grand Prix competition starts at 5pm and ends at around 9pm. The ice dance short dance competition starts at around 7:30pm.
Feifei, a Korean international student, arrived at the entrance of the competition venue before 3 pm, holding a bunch of stuffed dolls she designed, including sweet goose and sugar goose. These were cartoon geese designed based on the templates of Ji Tang and his team.
The dolls were all produced with funds raised by fans. Feifei also invested some money herself and made a lot of them to give away on the spot.
"Hello, are you a Chinese ice hockey fan?" As soon as Feifei saw an Asian man coming, she went up to him and asked politely. When she got a positive answer, she gave him the sweet candy goose in her hand.
Some viewers don't usually hang out on the forums, and don't know much about Ji Tang. They may come to watch the competition on the first day just for the single or double players. Feifei just promotes Ji Tang in this way, hoping that they can get more support.
As the game time approached, many Ji Tang fans also arrived at the entrance of the competition venue. They had invested in dolls earlier, and each of them stood at the entrance of the venue with a pair of sweet geese in their hands, chatting expectantly. The huge crowd looked very spectacular.
"Why are you making such a big fuss this year?" Ni Chuan came over and asked Feifei.
Ni Chuan has never missed Ji Tang's game. It's just that Ji Tang has been training outside this time, so he can't come to the stadium with them.
"Hey, because it's the finals." Feifei stuffed Ni Chuan with a pair of sweet candy geese, "Here, this is for you."
"Your cheering dolls are so cute, can you sell me a pair?" Mia, who arrived at the stadium early, saw them from afar and couldn't help but walk over to ask.
"Wow Mia, you are so beautiful. I like you very much!" Feifei immediately handed over a pair of sweet geese, "These are our cartoon dolls of Tiantian and Tang. They are for you."
Mia thanked him, happily took the sweet goose, then turned around and walked to her partner Lucas.
"Look, these are Tiantian and Tang." Mia showed off the dolls in her hand, and then almost subconsciously, pressed the heads of the two geese in her hands together.
Lucas saw it and coldly reached out to separate the two geese's heads.
After they had distributed most of the dolls in their hands, Feifei and Ni Chuan went to the audience seats.
Unlike the sparsely populated audience seats at the sub-stations, the audience seats at the finals were packed with people.
Ice fans from various countries gathered together, various languages were intertwined, and the noise was extremely loud.
This was also the first time Ni Chuan had seen such a scene. Because of the participation of the adult group and the fact that it was the end of the year, the finals were much more lively than the World Youth Championship.
The competitions were carried out in an orderly manner, and soon, the short dance of the youth group of ice dance was about to begin.
"Dear audience, my name is Xiao Lu, a venue reporter. I am currently at the 2011 Canada Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final." A venue reporter from China was standing in the audience, connecting to a TV host for live coverage.
This season, an unprecedented number of Chinese athletes entered the finals, with all four events in the youth group. Sports channel reporters heard the news and came to conduct on-site reporting and live broadcasts.
Listening to the commentary of the reporter on the field, Ni Chuan and Feifei felt that the tense atmosphere in the air suddenly increased.
"The short program competitions for women's singles and pairs have been completed, and the short dance competition for the youth group is about to begin. Soon, our young ice dancers, Ji Tiantian and Tang Yi, will be on stage." Xiao Lu's voice was full of pride. "This is also the first time in history that our ice dance has entered the finals. Ji Tiantian and Tang Yi had a difficult season and experienced some accidents. But they tenaciously overcame the difficulties and made it from the sub-station competitions to the finals, setting a dazzling milestone for our ice dance career! Let us look forward to their performance today!"
"Ahhh, it's coming. Come on, Tiantang." Feifei breathed nervously.
"I've been paying attention to the women's singles, but not much attention to ice dancing. What place do you think we can get in ice dancing?" A Chinese audience member sitting nearby saw Feifei and Ni Chuan discussing ice dancing, so he came over to ask.
Tickets are charged on a daily basis. On this day, all four events of the youth group will be held, and many spectators will watch other events in addition to watching their favorite athletes and events.
"I can't really explain this..." Feifei frowned, "The players from Russia, Spain, and Canada are all very strong. The players from the United States and the United Kingdom are a little weaker in terms of technology, but their program content scores are not low either..."
"Hey, then it should be sixth?" The audience member who came over to talk to him showed an expression as if he had known this long ago. "That's right, our ice dance can't develop so quickly."
"Well... that's not the case. I think they are still worth looking forward to!"
"The first warm-up for the youth ice dance group is about to begin. Please get ready if you are about to take the stage." A cold voice came from the radio.
The final warm-up is for three pairs of ice dancers to warm up in one group. There are two groups in total. The groups are divided in reverse order of the points ranking.
The display screen then showed the six youth ice dance pairs that had made it to the finals.
Ranked from high to low in terms of points per race, they are Katerin Ilyich of Russia, Mia Lucas of Canada, Reloana of Spain, Lillian Michael of Britain, Ji Tiantian and Tang Yi of China, and Nancy Johnson of the United States.
The American, Chinese, and British groups warmed up first.
The audience was in an uproar and everyone was looking forward to it.
Before the warm-up officially began, Tang Yi held Ji Tiantian's hand and stood with the other contestants.
"Although I'm a little depressed because of what happened before, I won't take this game lightly." Canadian Lucas held the hand of his female companion Mia, turned to Ji Tang and said, then took off his hard blade protection and went on the ice to start warming up.
"Long time no see, porcelain doll." Russia's Katerin smiled and hugged Ji Tiantian, then pulled her partner and boyfriend Ilicic to skate onto the ice.
"Let's cheer together, Tiantian." The Spanish group Leloana greeted Ji Tiantian with a smile and also went on the ice.
In contrast, the British and American groups were not so enthusiastic about Ji Tang. The American group simply chose to ignore them, while the British group still nodded to Ji Tang politely.
Lillian still looked at Ji Tiantian with surprise, as if she still couldn't believe that an elementary school student in the World Youth Championship could reach this position.
But whether she believed it or not, the fact was the fact.
The broadcast announced the start of the first warm-up, and Ji Tiantian took Tang Yi onto the ice.
Perhaps because she understood that she would get bonus no matter what place she got in the finals, Ji Tiantian was more relaxed than ever before.
After a five-minute warm-up, the first American group, Nancy Johnson, began their short dance.
The disco group still chose to disco and dance to the cheerful rhythm of cha-cha and mambo.
"The synchronization rate is better than before." Xu Chi, who was standing on the edge of the ice, watched the game and spoke thoughtfully.
Ice dancing is a sport that requires harmony between male and female partners. However, at the first stop, the short dance of the American disco group was very unsynchronized and looked a bit messy. The male partner even lost two turns.
However, just like Ji Tang worked hard to train abroad in order to improve his performance, the American disco group should also be working hard to improve during this period.
They looked much more harmonious in the finals and did not make any mistakes in the twists and turns.
Soon, they received their results in the waiting area.
The technical score was 28.10, the program content score was 29.21, and the total score for the short dance was 57.31.
This is also the highest score for the short dance in the American disco group this season.
Nancy and Johnson hugged each other warmly in the waiting area and seemed very satisfied with their performance. American ice fans also cheered enthusiastically.
"It's higher than Tiantian and Tang Yi's short dance results in the second stage." Jiang Lin whispered to Xu Chi beside her. She couldn't help but feel nervous for her contestants.
At this time, she and Xu Chi were quite far away from Ji Tang who was about to go on stage, and Ji Tang would not hear their conversation.
"This result should be because the pattern dance only made a mistake in one key point. The other technical movements were all correct." Xu Chi took a deep breath and couldn't help but feel nervous for his contestants. "Plus the high program content score... this appearance is a king bomb."
The American ice fans at the scene became even more excited when they saw this result.
Some radical fans of the contestants couldn't help but bring up old issues.
"So our NJ (the abbreviation of the American contestant's name) is really talented. I think it will be hard for other contestants to surpass this short dance score."
"You're always talking about plagiarism. Haha, our NJ technology is in place, so what difference does it make whether we plagiarize or not?"
"That is to say, copying that shows respect for the Chinese players."
Ni Chuan has been immersed in the international arena for a long time, and he can understand more and more English words. He can vaguely understand what those American ice fans are saying.
As Tang Yi's buddy and also a hot-blooded young man, his first reaction was to stand up and want to fight.
"It's okay, it's okay. Let's not cause trouble for Tiantang." Feifei hurriedly pulled Ni Chuan and persuaded him, "No matter what, they can't affect Tiantang's performance."
Ni Chuan felt that what Feifei said made sense, so he forced himself to calm down, sat back and continued watching the game.
"The next pair to appear are from China, Ji Tiantian and Tang Yi." As the broadcast sounded, Chinese ice hockey fans on the field began to cheer.
"Come on, sweetie!"
“Come on!”
There was a warm burst of Chinese voices in the stadium.
Ji Tang skated onto the ice and raised his arms high to the audience. Ji Tiantian responded to the ice fans who came from afar with a warm smile.
Soon, their rumba music started playing.
Ji Tiantian and Tang Yi held hands and began to skate on the ice to the melodious rumba music. They changed from the waltz grip to the one-handed hand-in-hand grip.
The two began to perform the required difficult movements of the short dance, with complicated successive steps.
Ji Tiantian came behind Tang Yi. When Tang Yi changed his steps and stretched his legs backward to do a swallow-style balance step, Ji Tiantian crawled on his back with both feet in the air. She held Tang Yi with one hand to stabilize his center of gravity, hooked one leg upward, made a rumba gesture with one hand, and showed a comfortable and playful smile to the audience.
Applause immediately broke out from the audience.
This is a small lift. Unlike the regular lifts that are counted as difficulty moves and need to be scored, small lifts of less than 3 seconds are often used as decorations, interspersed in short dances and free dances to add characteristics to the footwork sequence.
During the training, Ji Tang and Clara's team worked together to fine-tune the two programs and try to make them better. This small lift is the result of the training.
Everyone hopes to improve the content of the program through these eye-catching little designs.
After the small lift, the whole set of steps was soon finished. The twist lift began. With Tang Yi's help, Ji Tiantian performed a split in the air and turned six times with Tang Yi.
The music changed amid applause, and the cheerful cha-cha selection "CHILLY CHACHA" exploded on the ice.
Tang Yi and Ji Tiantian switched to holding hands hand in hand, and looked at each other with bright smiles to the cheerful music.
Finally, we are here.
So, dance to your heart's content.
Baila chilly cha cha baila chilly cha
Happy Cha Cha Happy Cha Cha
Dance your chilly dance
Cha Cha
Your cha cha baila chilly cha cha
Dance your happy cha cha happy cha cha
Under the cheerful music, Ji Tiantian looked at Tang Yi with a sincere smile on her face, and at the same time, she did not dare to slack off because they had entered the most critical technical action of the short dance - the pattern dance.
This season's cha-cha pattern dance is divided into two parts, including six key points. If you make a mistake in the dance, you will be deducted points.
On the ice, Ji Tiantian followed the beat and skated along with Tang Yi in a pattern dance. She couldn't help but feel a little nervous.
The first key point is that the male and female partners face each other in the waltz grip, with the floating leg swinging to the side.
The second key point is that the female partner's left floating leg crosses backwards to form the left rear outside edge, and the male partner's right floating leg crosses forwards to form the right front outside edge, which is correct.
The third key point is that the female partner holds the male partner’s hand and twists it one and a half circles, done!
very good!
Next comes the second part, the pattern dance.
The audience only saw Ji Tiantian and Tang Yi skating passionately on the ice, with their tassels swinging violently, but they did not see the tight and orderly footwork under their feet.
It is difficult for ordinary spectators to see the key points of the pattern dance. After all, the players' steps are very fast and the audience seats are some distance away from the ice surface.
But for professional instructors who have seen thousands of pattern dance exercises, it’s another story.
Jiang Lin, standing on the edge of the ice, subconsciously clenched her hands.
Now is the final, and every key point of the pattern dance is closely related to the ranking.
Soon the pattern dance ended, and Ji Tang on the ice began the last technical move of the short dance, the twist.
"Their key points seem to be correct..." Jiang Lin said hesitantly, "I don't know if I'm seeing things."
"Don't worry about it for now." Not long after Xu Chi finished speaking, Ji Tang on the ice completed the short dance competition.
The coaches hugged Ji Tang and then headed to the waiting area together.
"I wonder what Tiantang's final score will be." In the audience, Feifei stretched her neck to look at the equalizing area and whispered to Ni Chuan, "The coach looks very nervous too."
Jiang Lin and Xu Chi, who were sitting in the waiting area with Ji Tangyi, had varying degrees of nervousness on their faces.
If their players miss a crucial point, they might not be so nervous.
But the problem is that they think they are not wrong, it all depends on whether the referee agrees.
After all, contestants who get all the key points of the pattern dance right...are rare.
Soon, the display screen showed the short dance results of Ji Tang and his duo: technical score 30.65, program content score 28.43, and total score 59.08.
Judging from the technical score, they got all the key points of the pattern dance right, which was recognized by the judges. External training is indeed useful.
They surpassed the American combination with their superb technical points and are currently ranked first.
Not only that, the program content score was also good. Ji Tang received a higher short dance score than in the previous stations!
"Good job!" Xu Chi clenched his fists, then gave Jiang Lin and Ji Tang a warm hug.
Ji Tiantian looked at the score on the screen, curved her eyes and smiled happily. This time, she did not lag behind.
She didn't miss the point. The gap between her and Tang Yi's skating skills narrowed visibly.
She was very satisfied with her performance of the short dance.
"Tiantang's skills are indeed excellent."
"Yeah... Although Brother Tang is a wild person and Tian Mei used to study ballet, they both have very strong body control."
"They are really improving. Such high technical scores are rare this season!"
There was an excited discussion in Chinese in the audience.
Some Chinese fans who were not convinced even raised their voices and shouted in English: "The American players are really good at copying. They only copy those who are better than them in technique."
The Nancy Johnson fans who had been so proud before were now silent.
They thought that Johnson and Nancy performed very well in this final, getting their highest short dance score of the season, surpassing Ji Tang's short dance score in the second stop, and their final ranking would definitely be good.
Who would have thought that Ji Tang also got a higher score!
Especially the technical score of over 30... it's too good to be true!
"The pattern dance is a long series of prescribed steps. It is difficult to get all six key points right. Even the top players may not be able to do it every time." A senior foreign ice hockey fan in the audience was explaining this to the people around him, "But I saw the final score of the Chinese team, and I think they got all the key points right."
So not only American fans, but also fans from other countries looked at the waiting area with admiration. At this time, Ji Tiantian was jumping out of the waiting area holding Tang Yi's hand.
This little Chinese girl looks so young, but she has been making progress and is performing very well.
The temperament of a world-class ice dancer is already beginning to show in her.
The short dance competition continued. The next to come was the British duo Lillian Michael. They performed smoothly, neither out of the ordinary nor abnormally, but missed a key point.
Their short dance used the same rhythm as Ji Tang, rumba and cha-cha, but their skills and characteristics were not too outstanding. In comparison, they were a little more mediocre than Ji Tang. The final score of the short dance was 56.19.
The second group's warm-up was over quickly. The fourth pair to appear was the Spanish childhood sweethearts Leilo and Anna. This time they chose the same rhythm as the American group, Cha Cha and Mambo. The two players were a little nervous and missed two key points. The overall performance was not particularly natural, and the final score was 54.64.
The fifth pair to appear was Canadian Mia Lucas, who performed very well and made no mistakes on key points. They even got the level 3 short dance transition step which was difficult for other contestants.
The study at the ice dance school obviously had some effect, and the cooperation between the two also improved greatly. In the end, the two scored 60.30.
They are also the first pair of contestants this season to score over 60 points in the short dance. As soon as the scores came out, the audience cheered.
Ji Tiantian and Tang Yi were standing at the side and couldn't help but applaud.
The last to go were the Russian team’s Katerin and Ilyich. Their short dance rhythms were samba and cha-cha. Katerin, who won the gold medal last season, has rich experience in the competition. She withstood the pressure and danced passionately with her partner in a shiny white costume. There were no flaws in her technique, coordination, and style. There were still no mistakes in the pattern dance, and the short dance transition steps were level three. Currently, only the Goose Team and the Canadian Team can get the level three transition steps in the short dance.
In the end, their short dance score was 61.31, which was their highest short dance score of the season and the highest short dance score of the season.
Amidst cheers, the beautiful and exciting youth group ice dance short dance competition came to an end.
Ranking of groups after the short dance:
First place: Katerin Ilyich of Russia 61.31
2nd place: Mia Lucas of Canada 60.30
3rd place: China Ji Tiantian Tang Yi 59.08
4th place: Nancy Johnson, USA, 57.31
5th place: Lillian Michael of Britain 56.19
6th place: Leroyana of Spain 54.64
After a day's interval, the youth group free dance competition began.
After an intense warm-up, the competition began.
The order of free dance performance is determined by the short dance results, and they are also divided into two groups for warm-up.
After the first group warmed up, the first to perform was the Spanish childhood sweethearts group among the six pairs, who did not perform well in the short dance.
The music for Leloana's free dance this time comes from the ballet "Coppelia". This ballet mainly tells the story of a boy falling in love with a beautiful doll, and the music style is relatively light.
Ice dance requires contestants to dress in accordance with the theme they are expressing. So Lei Luo and Anna wore European classical costumes that matched the ballet. Lei Luo wore stockings, and Anna wore a puff-sleeved, waisted miniskirt with a slightly longer skirt.
Lei Luo and Anna skated on one foot on the ice to the music, while raising their floating feet and arms, swaying to the rhythm of the lively notes.
Anna performed a beautiful puppet that danced to the music, and Lei Luo cooperated with her, and the two danced a playful and cute puppet dance. The two swung their limbs like puppets, and their feet did not forget to slide smoothly. Their unrivaled tacit understanding made their movements uniform.
Their lifts are also very unique. Lei Luo holds Anna and lifts her with a twist, while Anna still maintains the puppet shape in Lei Luo's arms, with her cute little skirt flying in the wind.
They put their hands up to their ears, expressionless, lifted their floating feet to their sides, hooked their insteps, and performed twirls on the ice. It really looked like puppets spinning. But at the same time, it was very neat.
The audience laughed from time to time, with joy and admiration from the bottom of their hearts in their voices.
A free dance that shows a style that is completely different from other contestants. It is a masterpiece of art that will leave a memorable moment.
"It's very creative and very suitable for them." Jiang Lin stood on the sidelines, watching the Spanish group on the ice finish their free dance and greet their fans.
"It's very neat, completely different from the American disco group." Xu Chi looked at the display screen, "The step sequence may not be at level three, but the tacit understanding is very good and the completion is very high. I feel that their ranking will not be low this time."
After a while, the results of Lei Luo and Anna were shown on the display screen.
Free dance score 84.56, plus short dance score 54.64, total score 139.20. Temporarily ranked first.
The second group to perform was Lillian Michael, who ranked second to last in the short dance. Their background music was from "Amelie". Lillian wore the same red dress as the heroine and danced with her partner on the ice.
In the end, their free dance score was 81.53, plus the short dance score of 56.19, with a total score of 137.72, which did not exceed the Spanish combination and temporarily ranked second.
While Ji Tiantian was waiting to go on stage, she was also silently watching the performance of the contestants in front of her.
The British team's free dance transition steps were level 2, the same as in the previous stages, but they had a big gap with the Spanish team in terms of tacit understanding and completion.
The most stable team in the finals was probably the British team, which made little progress but also made no mistakes. The score in the finals was the same as the score in the individual races.
The next group to perform was an American group. Their free dance was accompanied by rock music. Unlike the obvious improvement in the short dance, their free dance was still not synchronized enough. This time they copied some steps and re-arranged them, and the overall look was a bit mediocre. In the end, their score was 80.32. With the short dance score of 57.31, the total score was 137.31. They are currently ranked third.
"What a powerful Spanish team, they deserve to be the silver medalists of last season's World Youth Championship!" In the audience, Feifei hugged Tiantang's goose tightly in her arms, "Although the short dance didn't perform well, they surpassed two pairs in the free dance! I wonder if Tiantang will be surpassed by them! I'm so nervous..."
Ni Chuan wanted to reply that there was nothing to worry about, but then he thought that Ji Tang's score in the second free dance was not as high as that of the Spanish group, and that he had made mistakes in the first dance, so he did not speak immediately.
"Is Tang's injury really healed?" A Chinese ice hockey fan in the back row expressed concern. "I heard recently that they have been training abroad. The training is very hard. I hope it won't relapse."
At this time, Ji Tiantian and Tang Yi had finished warming up and were standing at the entrance of the ice, silently waiting for the broadcast notification.
Ji Tiantian gently put away her slightly cold hands and clenched them into fists.
Competition not only means glory and rewards, but also means competing with excellent old opponents.
At present, her old rivals, the World Youth Silver Medalist Leloana and the Gold Medalist Katerin Ilic, have both performed very stably. It can be seen that they are also working at full capacity this season.
To show her respect, she will also try her best.
"The next players to play are Chinese players, Ji Tiantian and Tang Yi." The broadcast sounded.
Intense applause followed.
-over-
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