Chapter 78 Victory over the Enemy
The lineup in Japan is much stronger than that in Canada. The rematch between the Sochi Olympic champion and runner-up alone is enough to attract attention.
Chinese ice hockey fans are extremely envious of this.
"I bought a plane ticket to Osaka just to watch my girls' game. It would be great if the girls could play right next to my house."
"The lineup in Japan is too good, isn't it? Aww, the match between Tours and He Hui is going to be super exciting! Tours will use a double quad set this time, and He Hui has also overcome the instability during his growth period."
"In fact, the China station was also quite interesting. The three young players performed well. Although they didn't make it to the stage, for the players who just got promoted, it was already a very promising score for the future!"
As the coach of He Hui and Kong Ziqiu, Lin Xiaoman coached on two fronts, working back to back and was as busy as a flying man.
In the backstage, Lin Xiaoman couldn't help but yawn.
He Hui felt good. After the Canadian station, she still did not stop training, and her weight and physical fitness gradually stabilized.
He Hui even had enough energy to secretly try out the possibilities of 4S and 4F behind Lin Xiaoman's back.
"Junior sister, you skate very well." She had heard about Kong Ziqiu's performance in the China Cup.
Among the three Chinese players, Kong Ziqiu ranked the highest, winning fourth place in the China Cup, and was only one step away from getting on stage.
It seems that Kong Ziqiu should completely walk out of the shadow of the past and embark on the path of going all out to win glory for the country.
"That's right. Don't you see who taught you that?" After saying this, Lin Xiaoman yawned again and leaned back in the chair to take a nap.
"Don't you want to see my warm-up?"
"What's so good about you? You have passed the most difficult stage of development. I have full confidence in you now." Lin Xiaoman kept her eyes closed while speaking, and it seemed that she really trusted He Hui.
"That's right." He Hui nodded, put on his headphones and went to warm up.
*
He Hui came on stage before Tours. She is more popular than Tours in Japan and received overwhelming cheers as soon as she appeared on stage.
"Wow, it seems like the NTU girls are super popular! There were so many banners at the scene! I even saw a Japanese fan holding up the Japanese and Chinese flags at the same time, haha, the NTU girls have a power that transcends nationality!"
"Since He Hui was crowned the Olympic champion, it feels like his aura has become even stronger! I wonder if anyone can understand?"
"I understand, I understand! He Hui was a high-spirited genius girl before, and now she is the confident champion of women's singles!!"
No matter what title others give her, He Hui stands calmly in the center of the ice rink.
She relaxed her arm and leg muscles, basked in the applause, and got into position for the opening.
He Hui seemed to be holding a wine glass in his hand, sitting on the ice rink, with one leg stretched out and the other leg folded, his elbow resting on his knee, and the other hand supported on the ice.
As soon as the music started, He Hui raised his head and drank the wine in the glass in one gulp, full of passion.
She wiped the wine from her lips with her sleeve, straightened her waist, and stood up from the ice in a neat and elegant manner, causing exclamations from the audience.
You have to know that this is not flat ground. If you want to get up cleanly and beautifully on the slippery ice surface, you need extremely strong core strength and control over the ice rink.
But He Hui did it with ease. After he stood up, he took a few steps although he was not drunk. Although his body swayed with the sound of the guqin, his ice skates were firmly stuck in the ice, as steady as a rock.
The first series of jumps 3Lz+3Lo was completed in such a steady and cautious state.
Tano performed a beautiful triple hook with an extremely rich jump, and even the most difficult and easiest to survive 3Lo was completed with great ease.
The first half also includes body turns and swallow-style jumps, in which He Hui performs the dance of a drunken person with great enjoyment.
The corners of her mouth curled up, and her posture was standard and pleasing to the eye as she spun.
Both 3A and 3F are placed in the second half of the 1.1x bonus. The rhythm between the two jumps is very tight, making people's hearts go up and down.
Just like after drinking two glasses of strong liquor, He Hui's drunkenness faded away, and the subsequent steps of the dance were unique in flavor.
The rapid rotation and changes in the blade showed He Hui's skill in footwork.
The guqin music ended and He Hui's short program came to an end.
"I think the score won't be low." Lin Xiaoman continued her confidence in He Hui during the warm-up, "Let's avenge our previous defeat."
He Hui hummed and nodded, not worrying about the score at all.
But regarding Lin Xiaoman's statement of "avenge the previous shame", she wanted to refute how it could be shameful, but she recalled the mistakes in the previous short program and pursed her lips.
Lin Xiaoman glanced at Miss He's rare frustrated expression and raised the corners of her lips.
Sure enough, He Hui's short program score was 83.07 points in the end.
This left the other contestants disappointed, and even Tours had a poker face when he came on the court, his gloomy eyes revealing his mood.
"It's mainly because your program's content score has gone up." Lin Xiaoman said, "That's why she's nervous."
Indeed, the biggest advantage of winning the Sochi championship is that the program content is almost the same as Tours. The practice of widening the gap in the short program is now a thing of the past. Anyone would be nervous, right?
Tours put the jump sequence in the second half, starting with a 3A single jump.
She jumped up in one go, completing three and a half turns in the air neatly, and her ice skates made contact with the field with a swish, without any problem.
It was only in the second half of this jump sequence that Tours encountered the same problem that He Hui had encountered before—the second jump had a loop.
Tours is past her prime, and her quadruple rep in Sochi was a spent force. Facing the ever-improving He Hui, under the dual pressure of mental and physical pressure, her 3Lo reps are in doubt.
"What a pity." Lin Xiaoman said, "But Tours really lasted longer than most female singles players."
Although he failed to perform the short program perfectly, Tours still received a lot of applause when he took his bow.
A good duel requires opponents of equal strength. When He Hui and Tours meet, such an effect can be created.
"Turles from Russia scored 82.98 points."
"You win!" Lin Xiaoman hugged He Hui almost immediately.
Although He Hui has almost never lost to Tours, this is the first time in his life that he has defeated his arch-rival with just the short program.
This is an unquestionable recognition. This means that in the eyes of the judges, He Hui has become the strongest player of the new generation of women's singles.
"You did it." Lin Xiaoman let go of He Hui and looked at her with tears in her eyes. "Half a year ago, I was still worried that you would never recover."
"Yeah, I did."
He Hui smiled back, with a calm confidence as if everything had settled, and a sudden enlightenment that finally saw the light of day.
Eriko Sanada's short program went well and she took third place at home.
As for He Hui's overtaking Turles, she was just a spectator.
"You are so amazing! The Light of Asia!!" As soon as Eriko met He Hui, she never stopped praising him. "I never thought that our program content score could be comparable to theirs!"
Eriko also looks taller, and her height and weight have increased a lot compared to when she was a little girl.
"You're in great shape."
Speaking of this, Eriko started talking.
"He Hui, you have to teach me some secrets!" Eriko grabbed He Hui's arm, "I've been so hungry every day recently...but my weight is increasing instead of decreasing!"
"Well, you need to exercise more. If you exercise, you won't feel hungry."
"Uh..." Eriko was at a loss for words, "Are you serious?"
If He Hui's eyes hadn't been so sincere, Eriko Sanada would have wanted to say, "Stop teasing me."
"Of course." He Hui continued to give advice seriously, "Starving yourself is only a temporary solution. You need to increase your physical strength and use more muscles to support your stronger body."
After seeing Tan Ling stand up again and experiencing the terrible development stage himself, He Hui firmly believes that a good technical foundation can give a player enough confidence.
Eriko Sanada was stunned for a moment and nodded.
Before leaving, He Hui patted her on the shoulder and said, "Come on!"
Eriko Sanada stood there, scratching her head, feeling that something was wrong.
*
Entering the free skating with the hard-earned advantage in the short program, He Hui no longer has to bear the pressure of chasing points.
All she had to do now was to give her best and widen the score gap.
"You should go first." Lin Xiaoman said as she looked at the order of appearance. "The success rate in the last four weeks has been pretty good. Don't mess around. You will definitely win."
He Hui twitched his lips: "I haven't messed around for a long time, right?"
"That doesn't rule out the possibility that you'll pick up your old bad habits again after you recover." Lin Xiaoman tapped He Hui's forehead and warned him sternly again, "I won't pursue the matter of you trying 4S and 4F behind my back. But if you mess around today, I'll punish you severely."
"Who informed you?" He Hui widened his eyes.
"Is this something you should be concerned about?" Lin Xiaoman glared back, "Just follow the plan and compete well."
"I didn't mean to use it indiscriminately in the competition..." He Hui curled her lips.
"Your credibility with me is not very high."
He Hui: “…”
She began to think about the informer in her mind, thinking that if she caught him, she would have to have a good talk with him.
Lin Xiaoman: "Compare carefully."
He Hui: “That’s for sure.”
He Hui's free skating was carried out completely according to the pre-match arrangements.
She is as precise as an artificial intelligence machine, placing tiny screws one by one into a huge machine and then watching it run smoothly.
No, compared to the robot's coldness, He Hui's performance is full of passion and charm.
She is not coldly executing the program that is input into her, but interpreting the binary of 0 and 1 into a whole new world of different numbers.
Every audience member at the scene and in front of the screen felt the vitality coming towards them.
The three consecutive quadruple jumps in the air brought them a wonderful visual feast, constantly challenging the ceiling of women's singles figure skating.
"well done!"
As soon as He Hui came off the stage, Lin Xiaoman welcomed her with open arms.
After a while, the scores came out.
——"He Hui from China scored 172.05 points."
"Well, just a little bit." He Hui curled her lips, "It's lower than the Olympics, but I feel that my performance is not worse than the Olympics."
Lin Xiaoman patted her on the back and said, "Let's save the record for the World Championships."
"Alright."
He Hui's score put a mountain of pressure on the subsequent contestants.
Tours is no exception.
The smile she put on the court seemed like a mask, and her chest heaved up and down with nervousness.
But when the music started, Tours seemed like a different person, completely immersed in the music.
Her skating was very smooth, so smooth that no one expected that she would make a mistake in her first jump.
Snap——
"The 4S fell..." Lin Xiaoman looked at Turman who fell heavily on the ice and felt a little distressed, "What a pity."
"She must have sprained her ankle when she fell." He Hui frowned, "It looks serious."
Turman on the field had already climbed up, but his skating speed was not as fast as at the beginning of the game. His face was obviously pale and his brows were tightly furrowed.
"He only did one of the seven jumps in the free skating. If Tours really hurt his key jump, can he continue the free skating?" Lin Xiaoman glanced at He Hui.
"She will continue." He Hui stared at Tours who had just completed a 3A on the court. "If it were me, I wouldn't give up either."
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