Chapter 91 Accepting the Challenge
The rising star Ophelia Park becomes the hottest newcomer in the figure skating world and launches a fierce challenge to the new king He Hui after he ascends the throne.
Chinese and foreign media were all just trying to watch the fun, comparing He Hui and Ophelia, with each headline more exaggerated than the last.
"A showdown between four geniuses! A figure skating battle between China and the United States!"
"Korean-American rising star Ophelia declares war!"
"The era of quadruple jumps for brave warriors, a groundbreaking contest for women's singles!"
......
Lin Xiaoman specially collected these reports and forwarded them to He Hui one by one, which made He Hui very upset.
She looked up at Coach Lin, who was full of bad taste, and held her forehead with her hand: "This is so exaggerated, you can go write a novel."
Lin Xiaoman: "Maybe his side job is really writing novels?"
He Hui: “…”
"I'm not kidding you anymore." Lin Xiaoman restrained her smile. "Although it's exaggerated, Ophelia will indeed be your strongest opponent in this World Championships."
Lin Xiaoman printed out the opponent's score sheet and handed it to He Hui.
"Look at Ophelia's score in the second stop. It went up so fast..."
He Hui took the score sheet and looked at Ophelia's goe. Most of them started with +1, and there were many +2. She looked down at the program content score, and the average score of the five items was 7.5-8 points.
It can be said that Ophelia quickly became one of the top women's singles players with just two tournaments.
"It's quite high." He Hui curled her lips.
To be honest, others can get recognition immediately, but I have to work hard step by step to get this score. This comparison is a bit heartbreaking.
"And she was caught in the second four-week test this time, and her score was very high." Lin Xiaoman's words were like adding fuel to the fire.
He Hui was tired, but still gave an objective evaluation: "After all, no one else can do 4Lz except her. And she can do two in one go, which has already opened up a gap with other contestants."
What's more, after Tours retired, the scene where He Hui was the only one in power was not what some people wanted to see.
He Hui didn't say anything, Lin Xiaoman didn't say anything, but they both knew it.
"That's right. Anna's 4S hasn't been found yet. There are many people practicing around, but few succeed."
Lin Xiaoman analyzed carefully and flipped through Ophelia's information, but suddenly frowned.
"Ophelia Park has won many championships in the youth group, but looking at her configuration at the time, it didn't look like she was going to do a quad..." Lin Xiaoman always felt that the rhythm was strange, "She's making great progress, and her physical fitness is improving very quickly."
He Hui disagreed: "Didn't I move very fast at that time, too?"
Lin Xiaoman was amused by He Hui's confident speech and shook her head helplessly: "Maybe. In this world, genius is just so worthless."
Hearing this, He Hui raised his eyebrows and looked at Lin Xiaoman.
Lin Xiaoman readily agreed: "But our Miss He is the most special one."
*
He Hui's second stop is China. In fact, the Ice Hockey Association wanted to let her go out to play in the competition at first, and then leave the invitation quota for other young female singles players, but the fans were so loud that the Ice Hockey Association was afraid of being scolded and listed on the hot search for several days, so they backed down.
"The Ice Association should be smart! It's unwise to let the cash cow go!"
"Besides, several young women's singles players this year have the ability to be invited to play in two full tournaments. I don't think they need poverty alleviation, haha."
"I can't wait to see the girls wearing the national flag and singing the national anthem!"
The China station almost replicated the lively scene of the ice show. Tickets were sold out, and the figure skating team's peripherals were also selling well. The team leaders were very happy.
As expected, after the first day of competition, He Hui took the lead in the short program score, and the atmosphere in the ice rink was unprecedentedly high.
Tan Ling performed well in the short program this time. With three first-tier opponents, Diana Volkova, Miha Ilova and Xiaoping Future, she managed to grab the third place with her excellent performance.
Even when the show was over, the fans were reluctant to leave.
"Wow, there's only tomorrow's free skate left to watch."
"Yes, but in order to understand the female goose's program, I went back and listened to a lot of guzheng music, and watched a lot of Dunhuang and Feitian commentary!"
"Me too!"
If He Hui knew that many people were able to come into contact with the distant culture from thousands of years ago because of her, she would probably be very happy.
During the free skating on the next day, He Hui seemed to have arrived at her own special performance. Amidst warm applause, she presented this free skating set full of Chinese elements in front of the audience who understood her best.
When she heard everyone clapping their hands to the beat for her, He Hui felt that the ice rink under her feet had turned into soft sand dunes.
The sound of camel bells and wind was drowned out by applause, and He Hui once again performed the song "Walker" perfectly.
He Hui looked up. The dazzling lights were piercing, like a dream.
She returned her gaze to the packed seats and realized that she was indeed in the human world.
......
"Congratulations to He Hui for winning the China Championship!"
There seem to be a lot of good things happening on the ice rink at Huaguo Station.
"Congratulations to Tan Ling for breaking through herself and winning the third place!"
On the podium, Tan Ling stood next to He Hui and watched the two national flags rise side by side.
The moment the national anthem sounded, Tan Ling's emotions surged and tears flowed unconsciously.
He Hui quietly held her hand, tightly, as if silently responding "I'm here".
"Oh my god, the scene of the Chinese sisters standing on the podium together is so heartwarming, isn't it?"
"I declare this to be the most touching moment of the year!"
"I hope that Chinese women's singles can rise from this point on, and there will be more and more such scenes!!"
*
Lin Xiaoman looked at the "Figure Skating World" magazine on the table with a serious expression.
"Figure Skating World" is one of the best magazines in the field of figure skating. It has versions in multiple languages including Chinese, English, Japanese, French and Italian, and enjoys a good reputation in the industry.
The headline of the magazine reads: "Can Ophelia defeat He Hui? Exclusive preview and analysis of the World Championships!"
As soon as Lin Xiaoman entered the door, she saw this expression of deep bitterness and hatred.
"What's wrong?" He Hui wondered, and his peripheral vision caught a glimpse of the magazine with the photo of himself and Ophelia, and he understood.
He Hui read the title and sat opposite Lin Xiaoman: "Sister Lin, can you have a little confidence in me!"
Lin Xiaoman opened the magazine to the corresponding report and pushed it to He Hui.
"Take a look at this exclusive report first."
He Hui suppressed her smile and read the report word by word. The first half of the report was unremarkable, analyzing some of her and Ophelia's past data, the configuration analysis of several classic programs, and the comparison of styles.
But in the last part, a reporter from Figure Skating World magazine interviewed Ophelia Park, and this was an exclusive interview.
"The reporter visited Ophelia's training site and found that in addition to 4Lz, she is currently working on 4F. The reporter only stayed at the site for half an hour and witnessed two successful 4Fs."
"According to Ophelia's coach Anderson, Ophelia's 4F success rate has greatly improved in the past two months, and there is great hope that she will be able to meet the audience at the World Championships."
"If Ophelia's 4F can be successfully certified, it means that she will become the second player to achieve this level of difficulty after He Hui, a Chinese player."
......
The report is very long, and ends with Ophelia's harsh words as a conclusion.
"Ophelia: I hope to be able to make more types of four-week rounds, hope to challenge He Hui, and hope to defeat He Hui one day."
When He Hui saw this sentence, he subconsciously raised his eyebrows.
With each additional quadruple movement, the configuration of the free skating will be greatly improved. Coupled with Ophelia's recently rising GOE and program content scores, it is indeed a threat to her.
He Hui closed the magazine, took a breath, and said to Lin Xiaoman with a smile: "So what?"
"Even if Ophelia has 4Lz and 4F, I'm not afraid."
He Hui's eyes were clear, and the fire in them was burning under the water waves.
Lin Xiaoman knew the character of her own disciple and was not surprised by these harsh words.
Moreover, she was moved by He Hui's eyes.
"I believe you." Lin Xiaoman said, "I completely believe you."
With the mentality that instead of thinking about whether others will surpass him, it is better to practice the music together twice more, He Hui started practicing mode again.
*
At the end of March, spring arrived in Boston. The sun was warm on our bodies, seagulls were circling over the Charles River, and squirrels were foraging on the lawn.
He Hui stretched and looked at everything outside the window, welcoming the first happy day.
According to the schedule, she was in the group behind Ophelia Park.
He Hui plans to go there early to see the latest status of Ophelia, who is going to challenge her.
On the way, Tan Ling quietly leaned close to He Hui's ear and asked, "Are you nervous?"
"I didn't!" He Hui immediately refused and corrected, "Observing the opponent is a very reasonable pre-match arrangement, not nervousness."
"Okay, if you say it's not, then it's not." Tan Ling shrugged.
He Hui: “…”
Lin Xiaoman walked behind the two of them, smiling and shaking her head.
When they arrived at the venue, the media seats were almost full. Following their gazes, He Hui quickly found the focus of the reporters' attention - Ophelia Park.
The other party is doing free skating chorus.
Tan Ling: “What a coincidence.”
"Unfortunately, we just missed two quadruple hooks." He Hui listened to the music and replied.
"We'll soon know whether she'll do a third quadruple," Lin Xiaoman interjected. "To a certain extent, we came here by chance."
He Hui stared at Ophelia's movements on the ice rink, and the next second, her eyes flickered.
Click, click——
The sound of camera shutters rang out.
"It's 4F." Tan Ling said.
"She really plans to do 4F in the free skating." Lin Xiaoman was a little surprised.
He Hui's lips curled up instead: "Okay, let's make the women's singles more interesting together."
Lin Xiaoman shook her head. Tan Ling looked at He Hui and then at Ophelia, and pursed her lips.
“Please, could you please not take your surroundings for granted…” Tan Ling felt a little tired.
Ophelia Park raised everyone's expectations to the highest level by creating a new quadruple ring during the concert. This can be seen from the reporters' constant pressing of the shutter buttons and the swish of the brushstrokes.
The entire free skating was very harmonious and easy. Ophelia finished all the jumps and her physical fitness was still good.
"She is quite thin in the youth group..." Lin Xiaoman frowned, then shook her head and patted He Hui's shoulder, "She is the last one in the group to play together, you get ready."
He Hui nodded: "Okay."
She likes to constantly take on new challenges.
If 4F was Ophelia's challenge, then she accepted it.
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