Chapter 18 18 Added Difficulty
Backstage, He Hui looked at the face on the screen carefully again. The similar eyebrows and eyes, plus the two distinctive dimples, confirmed his guess in his heart.
——Although yesterday's street skateboard girl has transformed 180 degrees into today's elegant figure skater.
Perhaps because the gap was too big, the expression on He Hui's face looked a little strange.
"What's wrong?" Lin Xiaoman asked curiously.
"I seemed to see my savior."
"Huh?" Lin Xiaoman frowned in confusion, "What savior?"
"It's... the person who saved my life when I was lost that day!" He Hui didn't dare to explain too much, for fear of exposing the fact that he had been robbed, which would then make his parents even more nervous.
In the host's report, He Hui learned the name of the lifesaver. The skateboard girl was named Li Chumiao, from Malaysia. From her name, we can tell that she should be of Chinese descent.
Unlike her agile skills when fighting against the biker gang, Li Chumiao was not so at ease on the ice.
The difficulty of her set is actually not low. The first jump is a very difficult 3Lz, but the landing on the ice is visibly successful.
"What a pity." Lin Xiaoman said, "Her outer blade is quite deep."
Li Chumiao chose 3T+2T for the jump sequence. The reason why she couldn't do a triple jump was mainly because her first jump was purely a pull-up. Her axis was not very straight, and it looked awkward.
Lin Xiaoman saw that He Hui paid special attention to the skater named Li Chumiao and watched her very seriously, as if trying to find out what was special about her. But after she saw the end of the 2A, Lin Xiaoman didn't notice anything. "I don't know why, but I always felt that there was something wrong with her skating this piece."
He Hui blinked. She knew the reason but was not in a position to reveal it.
"The short program score of Li Chumiao from Malaysia is 44.01 points." The host quickly announced the score.
In general, Li Chumiao's short program appeared clean on the surface, but in fact there were many technical problems, big and small. In addition, her artistic score generally hovered around 5 points or below, so this score was not surprising.
"What a pity, what a pity." Lin Xiaoman sighed.
*
“Li Chumiao!” As soon as Li Chumiao arrived backstage, He Hui hurriedly called her, “You are also a figure skater!”
Li Chumiao was stunned for a second, then frowned and recalled, "You are... He Hui?"
He Hui thought that his savior recognized him and nodded quickly, "Thank you so much for yesterday!"
"Ah?" Li Chumiao seemed to be disconnected again, pointing at herself and then at He Hui, "You skate very well, but do we know each other?"
He Hui shook the phone in his hand, and the other party finally realized what was going on.
"Oh! It's you!" Li Chumiao asked, "He didn't pursue you later, did he?"
"No, he probably fell pretty hard. Besides, I quickly ran back to the hotel afterwards."
"That's good."
"In short, thank you very much for your help." He Hui expressed his gratitude again solemnly.
"You're welcome." Perhaps because he had left the ice rink, Li Chumiao spoke in a more relaxed state, and the appearance of the savior in He Hui's memory matched that of the savior.
Confused, He Hui asked, "You are so good at skateboarding, why do you want to practice figure skating?"
“Maybe I long for winter?” Li Chumiao’s answer was simple, “After all, Malaysia is a tropical country without ice.”
But He Hui guessed that there was probably a very complicated story behind this.
But just when she wanted to ask more, Li Chumiao waved goodbye anxiously.
"I have to go find my coach. We'll talk next time." Before leaving, Li Chumiao reminded him, "You should keep an eye on your phone next time."
"Well... this is the first time I've been robbed too." He Hui held his forehead with his hand.
*
After the short program, He Hui, as the only player in this competition to score over 60 points, firmly holds the first place, which means she can perform in the last group.
The competition in Milan was not fierce. Although Li Chumiao's score was not high enough, she still ranked ninth after the short program. She successfully entered the second to last group and relied on good luck to get the last place to appear.
As soon as Li Chumiao came on stage, Lin Xiaoman suddenly understood where the sense of disharmony yesterday came from.
"She actually has this style?" Lin Xiaoman asked.
He Hui looked at Li Chumiao, who was wearing a white shirt, black leather pants, and smoky makeup, and nodded, saying with certainty, "That's her."
This is the Li Chumiao in He Hui's impression, the street girl who fell from the sky on a skateboard, being free and cool and being unique.
The music for Li Chumiao's free skating was "Rock and Roll" by the British rock band Led Zeppelin, which was released in the 1970s. Unfortunately, in 2011, figure skating did not allow athletes to use music with vocals, so Li Chumiao's version was purely musical, with guitar and drum beats coming one after another.
This is obviously an extremely risky and non-mainstream choice, but Li Chumiao enjoys performing this show.
Although her jumps were probably symbolic in the score sheet, she showed maturity beyond her age in terms of music coordination and artistic expression. In particular, the series of rock steps that followed the music and the eye-catching crab steps in the center of the venue made Li Chumiao a unique presence.
"What a strong balance ability." Even Lin Xiaoman couldn't help but sigh, "Her core is so stable."
"Yeah, it's amazing."
He Hui liked this show too much. Or maybe she envied Li Chumiao's fearless spirit of breaking through all worldly constraints, like an eagle flying freely in the sky.
That’s really…cool!
She thought that maybe Li Chumiao didn't know that after 2014, the rules of figure skating would undergo a major reform. The rule of pure vocal accompaniment would be phased out, and skaters would start to move from classical music to diverse musicals, pop music, and rock music. If Li Chumiao was still skating by then, she would definitely sing another rock song.
Lin Xiaoman patted her shoulder, calling He Hui's wandering thoughts back to her senses, "Don't sigh, it's your turn to go on stage."
He Hui had bad luck and was the first to appear in the last group. The advantage was that the feeling after six practices could be maintained, but the disadvantage was that there was less time for preparation.
But this was not the worst, because Li Chumiao's show just now was so special that she couldn't recover for a while.
During the six-minute slide, He Hui lost focus for the first time. He simply familiarized himself with the jump route but did not practice any jumps.
After the sixth practice session, everyone left the field. He Hui walked back to the fence where Lin Xiaoman was and wiped his nose with a tissue.
Lin Xiaoman glared at He Hui and called her back to her senses, "What are you thinking about! Hurry up and compete!"
He Hui shook his head to get rid of all the messy thoughts, then confidently skated to the center of the ice rink and made eye contact with the referee.
Well, although Li Chumiao's cool rock style is very special, her Chinese style "Ten Sides Ambush" is not bad either, right?
Lin Xiaoman frowned at first, but when she saw He Hui dancing when the music started, she felt relieved.
He Hui's first move was a 3Lz+3T jump. The two jumps fell on the drum beats, contributing to a very stable opening, which swept away the last trace of haze in Lin Xiaoman's heart.
The subsequent 3Lo and 2A+3T were also completed smoothly, and He Hui's title as the strongest newcomer was firmly established.
Just when everyone thought that there was no suspense about who would win the championship in this stop, an accident happened.
In the second half of the show, He Hui was preparing to do the first 3S with a 1.1 coefficient bonus. But just as she took off, she found that her axis was crooked!
This is a big problem for jumping, as the probability of falling increases instantly.
During the few seconds she was suspended in the air, He Hui's mind was working rapidly. She first controlled her body by force, and when the ice blades touched the ice, she tried her best to control herself from falling. She relied on the support of one leg, twisted her limbs, and stretched out her arms to find a balance point. At the cost of two big shakes, she saved herself from falling.
call--
He Hui breathed a sigh of relief, as long as he didn't fall.
Two big shakes would at most result in a geo deduction, and as long as the number of rotations was fine, the technical points could still be secured. However, He Hui thought that the referee's GEO and artistic points were already very strict, and the current situation was probably worse.
How about...she make it a little more difficult?
A way to earn goe for himself popped into He Hui's mind.
It happened that the next jump was a triple jump, and she waved her hands to the music, determined to test the waters with the next two-week jump first.
3F landed smoothly. He Hui lightly tapped the ice. His left hand remained in front of him, but his right hand was raised high above his head with his elbow slightly bent. It did not look like an upright pole nor a strange salute posture.
Done!
A beautiful 2T tano, followed by a 2Lo tano, won applause.
In figure skating competitions, raising your hands is a way to increase your goe, because usually the skaters need to use their arms to tighten their bodies, so raising your hands is more difficult. Raising one hand is called tano, and raising both hands is called rippon.
After two consecutive tano successes, He Hui even thought about 3Lz. According to the success rate of occasional attempts during previous practice and today's state, He Hui is confident.
She took a deep breath, fixed the ice, raised her hands, rotated, and landed on the ice. There was nothing wrong with the whole process. Putting aside the familiarity of her face in front of the judges, this was a perfect single jump that deserved a full three points from the GOE.
The final 2A tano was completed neatly and quickly, and thus came to an end a free slide with increased difficulty caused by a skewed axis.
As soon as He Hui got off the stage, Lin Xiaoman caught him and scolded him, "No, why didn't you discuss it with me before you started Tano?"
"I want to... give you a surprise?" He Hui blinked and pretended to be innocent.
"Oh, it was a shock." Lin Xiaoman snorted, "Since you've already made it, I won't scold you."
He Hui touched his nose.
When they arrived at the waiting area, Lin Xiaoman still didn't leave the topic of this matter, "So you practiced secretly in the past, just to use it here, right?"
"Hey, after practicing, you'll always need it."
Lin Xiaoman: “…”
"But generally speaking, rippon is simpler, right?" Lin Xiaoman asked again.
It is usually easier to maintain balance if you hold both hands up at the same time.
"But I think tano is better looking."
Lin Xiaoman: “…”
What else could she say? He Hui was indeed just a picky young lady.
The host's score announcement quickly eased the subtle awkwardness. "He Hui from China scored 117.01 points in the free skating."
Less than two points higher than the previous stage, Lin Xiaoman nodded to show her satisfaction. This was at least a good sign, and the referee was gradually deepening his positive impression of He Hui.
Influenced by He Hui's wonderful program, several contestants who performed later made more or less mistakes and directly fell out of the competition for the gold medal.
He Hui easily won the gold medal in the second race, and the Chinese flag once again flew high on the ice rink in a foreign country.
After finishing, she hung the gold medal around Lin Xiaoman's neck and said, "Actually, I have another idea."
Lin Xiaoman's mouth twitched, "What's your idea?"
"Make it a little more difficult."
He Hui took a deep breath, then said with a confident smile: "I want to practice 3A!"
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