Chapter 25 Top Treatment
On January 5, the women's short program competition of the 12th Winter Figure Skating Championships officially started.
The most eye-catching part of this competition was the contest between He Hui, a rising star in the youth group, and Zhu Xiangqing, the top player in the adult group. Tan Ling, who was stuck in the developmental stage, had been tacitly excluded from the competition by the public.
The sharp drop in points this year caused Tan Ling to fall out of the last group in the appearance order.
Tan Ling was about to go on stage for her sixth practice. There was no one around her, and even the coach was only concerned with the future star in his group, and had no intention of watching her practice or giving her any guidance.
The comparison between this and Tan Ling's peak period is like heaven and earth, and it is full of the cruelty of reality.
Competitive sports can sometimes be so ruthless.
"Tan Ling!" He Hui walked over and called out to Tan Ling, "Come on later!"
Tan Ling was stunned for a second, her lips curled up, her eyebrows curved, and she looked exactly the same as He Hui remembered when they first met. Tan Ling was already eighteen years old, and five years had passed since the day they met. To others, this was an age that many female figure skaters could never overcome.
Tan Ling's voice trembled slightly, and she laughed at herself for a long time, "You know what? No one has said "come on" to me for a long time."
He Hui smiled slyly, "Then... I'll double my efforts to cheer you back."
Tan Ling was finally amused, "Thank you, really."
"If you really want to thank me, can you promise me that you won't give up figure skating?" He Hui restrained the smile on her face and spoke seriously, hoping to get a serious answer.
Tan Ling was silent.
He Hui was very worried. She didn't want to kidnap Tan Ling because she might have to make efforts beyond ordinary people's imagination to see Piaomiao come back again, nor did she want her to end up with a bleak ending like in her previous life.
In her previous life, she had worked on projects worth tens of millions or even hundreds of millions, but she was never as conflicted as she is now.
Tan Ling was silent for a long time. It was not until the host's announcement that she was about to go on stage that she replied in a voice that could be heard by both of them: "I will try my best."
He Hui put his heart at ease, clenched his right fist and waved it for Tan Ling.
There were bursts of applause in the ice rink, and the audience was warmly welcoming every player.
There is a huge talent gap in Chinese figure skating. Although it is the second to last group, the top five skaters don't even have a triple triple jump. There are even many who miss the triple jump and turn it into a double and a single jump, or even fall down.
Due to the continuous mistakes, the atmosphere on the field became a little depressing.
Tan Ling came on stage when the audience was already numb to the show. But after all, she was once the top female singer, so the applause when she came on stage was even more enthusiastic than before.
She did not hire a new choreographer this season, but used the same two programs from last season. If the juniors promoted to the adult group did not change their programs in order to better perform in the group, then Tan Ling's decision to not change was probably purely due to the limited budget of the team, which indirectly gave up on her.
The music for Tan Ling's short program was the dance music "Bolero" composed by French composer Ravel. This is a well-known Spanish dance music and a classic choice for countless people in the figure skating world.
Tan Ling wore a red dress, high eyeliner and smoky makeup, and a pair of black silk gloves on her hands.
As soon as the music started, she began to glide with great momentum. Compared with before, her steps were indeed a little heavier.
After stepping on half the court, Tan Ling did a 3F+2T. Although it was not a triple jump, and the height of the second jump was a bit close to the ground, Tan Ling still completed the jump smoothly and slid out normally.
The second jump was 3Lo, still flying low. Under the impact of the development level, Tan Ling's Lz, which was easy to blur the blade, completely went on strike, so in the short program, she had to choose the Lo jump.
At this point, only the last 2A is left. If I complete this jump, unless I fail miserably, I will have successfully completed the short program.
Tan Ling smiled confidently, and her black gloves were pulled open in front of her eyes, revealing a sharp and determined look.
She clasped her hands tightly against her chest, jumped vigorously, and her skates kicked up ice chips as she flew towards the end of the song.
2A done!
With the final steps and spins, the whole audience followed the music and clapped their hands to the beat, pushing the atmosphere to a climax.
Tan Ling seemed to have used up all her strength when she did the swallow-style jump and flew up. She dragged her heavy body and jumped with a red face, and finally flew up.
He Hui was watching Tan Ling, who was running out of energy, from the backstage, and her heart suddenly trembled. Although Tan Ling's speed had dropped significantly, she still completed lap after lap. The displacement was visible to the naked eye, but she did not give up.
When she spread her arms and raised her head to strike the ending pose, the audience cheered for her dance that lasted until the end.
Sinking into a lake is not scary. As long as you always exude vigorous vitality, it seems that the world will applaud you.
He Hui suddenly felt a little expectant, expecting a miracle to happen.
*
He Hui was the second to last in the last group, and Zhu Xiangqing was the last to appear.
As of now, the first place is Xu Lan from the host province J, with a short program score of 57.12 points.
Tan Ling ranked second with 56.33 points, which surprised many people.
As for Kong Ziqiu, who is also from Province B, she just finished the advanced 33 and failed to stabilize her second jump. She fell and ranked third with 55.82 points.
This is He Hui's fourth time skating "Moonlight" this season. The program has become more mature with continuous polishing. Every turn and step of He Hui is carefully designed.
The opening is a torrent of nostalgic thoughts, the angle of the arms and the strength of the fingertips are telling of the quiet melancholy bit by bit.
In the advanced 3F+3T jump combination, He Hui raised one hand for both jumps, which doubled the difficulty but kept the quality the same.
You know, many players only dare to raise their hands in the second 3T jump in advanced jump combinations. This shows how difficult it is for He Hui.
The two single jumps 3Lz and 2A were also perfectly integrated into the rhythm of the music, and both earned enough extra points from goe in the form of tano.
Gao Piaoyuan's jumping quality received rounds of applause, and his smooth sliding was extremely smooth.
He Hui has a background in ballet, and classical dance is so suitable for her that it seems like it was made for her.
As for the last step, which was once handled very immaturely, it is now blooming.
He Hui raced across the ice, covering a large area, using her blade quickly and accurately. She was like an ephemeral flower in the cold moonlight, shining and blooming briefly but with great vitality.
After the last note was struck, the short program came to an end.
He Hui panted slightly, then bowed deeply toward the referee's seat. She turned the skates under her feet, bowed toward the audience in the other direction, and saluted gracefully once again.
"I have a good feeling." The first sentence Lin Xiaoman said to He Hui was quite mysterious.
As He Hui put on his skate covers, he asked, "What's the premonition?"
Lin Xiaoman raised her eyebrows, "The score for the short program should be very good this time."
"Have I ever been bad?"
"Okay, your current momentum is deeply influenced by me."
The two walked to the kiss & cry area and sat down. Lin Xiaoman and He Hui both looked relaxed. He Hui had a half-human-high bear doll in her arms that she had picked up from the field, which blocked her view so that only a pair of bright eyes were left.
He Hui's eyes were blinking on the little bear's ears, waiting for the final score.
"He Hui from the Winter Sports Management Center of Province B scored..."
What reached He Hui's ears earlier than the score was the audience's exclamations.
He Hui looked closely and found that her short program score was 66.82 points, of which 36.02 points were for technical performance and 30.80 points for program content.
You know, getting more than 30 points for the content of the program is considered top-level treatment. And the technical score is obviously a high score from GoE.
More importantly, this score is the highest score in the history of the Winter Games!
"My sixth sense is really accurate." Lin Xiaoman was very satisfied. "Wow, I even broke the tournament record."
He Hui nodded, a satisfied smile blooming on the corner of his mouth.
Lin Xiaoman propped up her head and said, "Then your free skating configuration should be able to break the record even more."
He Hui raised his chin and said, "Just wait."
She blew a kiss with both hands toward the camera, stood up and left the Kiss & Cry with Lin Xiaoman.
Compared to the master and apprentice who talked about the record-breaking score as calmly as eating, the internet was instantly in an uproar.
"With this GEO and art score, He Hui has the highest salary in the country, right? It's the highest!"
"Finally, finally, the referee showed some strength. Even though it was a domestic competition, it felt like a battle between the referees of an international competition, haha."
"To be honest, it's not normal to give He Hui more than 30 points for the choreography, skating and performance! If I don't get 6 points for each item, I will really feel that I have been fooled by the foreign judges..."
"The domestic record was broken so easily. He Hui has a promising future."
Zhu Xiangqing, who was waiting on the sidelines, saw He Hui's score and her face was extremely serious. She pursed her lips tightly into a straight line, and after entering the court, she kept changing the blade and sliding on the court, holding her hands in front of her chest and turning her shoulders.
The venue became so quiet that you could hear a pin drop, and everyone was quietly waiting for Zhu Xiangqing's final performance.
The music started, it was the familiar "Adiós Nonino", this tango music composed by Piazzolla is also a frequent guest in the figure skating world and has been performed passionately by many skaters.
Amid the sad sound of the piano, Zhu Xiangqing, dressed in a black tango dance dress, skated on one foot on the ice.
After switching between the inner and outer blades, Zhu Xiangqing completed a big "I" shape. Her arms gently extended outward from her heart, as if slowly pouring out the pain in her heart.
Amid the rapid and crescendoing music, Zhu Xiangqing started her first jump - 3Lz+3T.
The moment the ice fell, the audience let out a cry of regret.
Zhu Xiangqing fell. Under the pressure of He Hui's perfect record-breaking performance, she couldn't withstand the pressure and fell to the ice.
Although she got up quickly and continued to do the following movements, and completed the two single jumps quite well, the atmosphere of the entire program had been interrupted by the previous mistake and seemed fragmented.
This is why the content score of a program is largely linked to the degree of program completion, because a program that is interrupted by big and small mistakes will only make the audience watch with anxiety and it will be difficult for them to fully immerse themselves in the theme that the contestants want to express.
In the end, Zhu Xiangqing scored 58.72 points.
He Hui won the championship with an advantage of more than 8 points. Before she was promoted to a higher group, she had already taken the throne of the number one female single skater.
The gold medals for the short program and free skating in the 12th Winter Olympics are awarded separately. Today's victory means that He Hui will be the first to win a gold medal. Zhu Xiangqing won the silver medal, and Tan Ling, who was stuck in the mud, won a precious bronze medal, with tears in her eyes on the podium.
He Hui took advantage of the moment of hugging to whisper in Tan Ling's ear: "Keep up the free skating!"
Tan Ling nodded, "Okay, I'll try my best."
In the photo of the award ceremony, He Hui stood between Tan Ling and Zhu Xiangqing, holding flowers with a sweet smile.
"It seems like He Hui's chance of winning the gold medal tomorrow is almost certain!"
"Witness a rising star in China! Woohoo, my heart is pounding right now."
Compared to the heated discussions among netizens about hoping that He Hui would win another championship, He Hui himself was arguing with Lin Xiaoman about the specific configuration of tomorrow's free skating.
He Hui took the lead and said, "I think I can try the double 3A set."
Lin Xiaoman pondered for a moment and tried to politely refuse, "In fact, we can stabilize the 3A+3T jump first. This is already a test of your physical strength."
"Before the World Youth Championship next month, I feel I need more opportunities to practice through competition."
He Hui's reasons were indeed very reasonable and hard to refuse.
"And I can do 3A+2T, which allows me to repeat 3A and 3Lz," she continued.
In the jump arrangement of figure skating, only two types of triple jumps can be repeated twice. Otherwise, the jump will be judged invalid, resulting in heavy losses.
Lin Xiaoman was silent again, probably calculating the new configuration in her head.
"Forget it." She looked like she couldn't control her child anymore and sighed deeply. "I only have one request, don't be stubborn. If you can't do it, just make it a 3A."
He Hui immediately raised his right hand, "I promise."
"You'd better." Lin Xiaoman looked up slightly and shook her head helplessly.
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