The 2014-15 season was the first season of the Pyeongchang cycle, and it was a season full of miracles.

After the Sochi Winter Olympics, the veterans retired, and the newcomers started to make their mark. Within just two months of the season’s start, the world records in all four figure skating events were broken more than 10 times.

This was a rare phenomenon, and it could be said that after the Vancouver cycle, the level of technique and competition in figure skating had been steadily increasing, culminating in an explosive rise at the start of the Pyeongchang cycle.

After all, the newcomers from the Sochi cycle were entering their peak period in the Pyeongchang cycle.

In men’s singles, the peak age range was 18-22. Ilya and Hayato Teraoka were 19 years old, Zhang Jue was 17, Belgium’s top skater David was 22, France’s top skater Alex was 21, and Spain’s top skater Rojas was also 19. They all performed impressively this season, with their quad jump success rates not falling below 60%.

The 60% success rate was a benchmark. Only those with a success rate above this threshold were recognized as top-level male skaters.

Ilya Safchenko had a 100% success rate for his 4T jumps this season, while his 4S success rate was 50%.

With a thud, Ilya fell on the ice.

Boris, in a calm tone, told his disciple: “Your 4S success rate still isn’t enough. Jue’s quad jump success rate this season is over 90%. He only fell on a 4T once in Finland, and it’s said that he was busy adjusting his jet lag and didn’t eat properly. An hour before the competition, he ate three avocados, two bananas, and four boiled eggs. He finished the competition and then immediately went to throw up.”

For other jumps, whether 4T or 4S, Zhang Jue had never fallen, showing how strong his stability was. In figure skating, being stable was already better than 90% of the competitors.

Ilya, as he got up, couldn’t help but laugh.

“He must have warmed up right after eating, without giving his body time to digest the food. Maybe the unfamiliar environment affected his digestive system as well.”

Vasily replied indifferently: “Who knows.”

Speaking of bananas, Vasily also loved eating them. Back when they were in Fukuoka for the finals, he had thrown a banana peel around carelessly, which caused Zhang Jue to slip and fall, leading to the most widely circulated funny photo in the figure skating world.

It was said that this photo even won a gold medal at a funny photo contest… thinking about it, the little crocodile really had a tough time.

Among all the top figure skaters, his funny black history was the most notorious.

That said, Zhang Jue was still highly regarded in their hearts. Ilya really wanted to beat Zhang Jue, so despite his instability with edge jumps, he decided to focus on mastering new point-of-ice jumps.

At this moment, Boris reminded them: “The competition at the China station is about to start.”

Serena and Katerina were also about to perform. Would you two senior brothers like to go watch?

Vasily and Ilya immediately changed out of their skates and sat in front of the TV. The time difference between St. Petersburg and Shanghai was five hours. The women’s free skate in Shanghai started at 5 p.m., while it was still noon here.

Ilya casually said: “The top three in the women’s short program should be that Japanese girl, Serena, and Katerina?”

Vasily shook his head. “The Japanese girl is first for sure, Serena second, and the third place is the Chinese girl, the one who used to train with the Crocodile.”

Ilya asked: “Oh? She made the podium?”

If making the podium at a Grand Prix event counts as “making the podium,” then Xu Chuo did indeed make it. In the short program, she landed a 2A, 3S+3T, and 3Lz jumps. The difficulty wasn’t outstanding, but she didn’t make any mistakes, and her performance was quite good. Miraculously, she surpassed Katerina, who had made mistakes and won a small medal.

However, both Xu Chuo and Serena lost to Keiko, with a gap of more than seven points. Unless Keiko collapsed in the free skate, it would be hard for them to catch up.

As the current best female skater in the world, Keiko wasn’t unbeatable, but it was still very easy for her to win against other competitors.

Xu Chuo’s program this year was choreographed by Mia, and her free skate was set to the popular 20th-century song “A Million Roses.” Zhang Jue could tell that Xu Chuo’s skating and spins had improved a lot, especially her skating, which had shown significant progress. Her performance had also gained more depth.

With stable jumps, Xu Chuo was absolutely capable of making it to the top tier. If she made it, it would be a great achievement. It seemed that Coach Ming Jia really knew his stuff.

However, this year there were many strong competitors at the China station. Keiko, Serena, and their juniors were no pushovers. If Katerina hadn’t made mistakes, Xu Chuo wouldn’t have gotten the bronze.

Zhang Junbao rubbed his chin. “Xu Chuo still needs to find at least one more advanced jump combination.”

She needed the necessary difficulty in her program. She couldn’t always rely on mistakes from others, but her physical condition wasn’t great, and her coach was cautious about letting her train at a high intensity. Xu Chuo was stuck in this contradictory dilemma, which made things difficult for her.

Seeing his junior make mistakes at the China station, Ilya was quite worried. “Is Katerina okay?”

Vasily replied coldly: “The coach already called to comfort her.”

It was normal for a newly promoted child to fall. From Vasily, Ilya, to Zhang Jue, who hadn’t faced setbacks as top athletes? Katerina was already 15, and she could develop at any time. She would face more challenges, but as long as she adjusted her mindset, she would be fine.

After the women’s singles, it was time for the pairs competition. Huang Ying and Guan Lin had been in great form this year, and there were no strong contenders in the pairs event at the China station. They easily won the championship.

Given that they had won gold at the American station and now at the China station, the Huang-Guan pair had secured a spot for the Grand Prix Final.

Outside, it was noisy, and Zhang Jue’s uncle said to him: “Both the women’s singles and pairs have won medals. You’d better win too.”

“I understand, I understand.”

Zhang Jue pulled a banana out of his bag, peeled it, and ate it, his cheeks puffing up. He looked quite cute.

Shen Liu couldn’t help but say: “Don’t eat too much before the competition. Just finish this one.”

They still remembered how Zhang Jue had rushed to backstage to throw up right after his competition. At that time, Hayato Teraoka had been in the same competition, and when Zhang Jue threw up, Teraoka patted his back and helped him, while a Japanese journalist snapped a photo of them.

That photo later became widely circulated on Twitter, with netizens humorously captioning it: “Crocodile ate too much and threw up, while Mama Bird looks worried next to him.”

Zhang Jue also recalled his embarrassing moment and, halfway through eating the banana, put it down.

“I’ll stop eating.”

Coach Lu said: “Finish it.”

Zhang Jue replied with an “Oh,” and finished it.

Because Zhang Jue had won by a large margin against Hayato Teraoka at the Finland World Cup, when Zhang Jue’s competition started, Teraoka also squatted in front of the TV, seriously watching the screen.

Zhang Jue was the last to skate in the free program. Before him, David, Sergey, Jin Zixuan, and Karlson had already performed.

David’s free skate this year was set to the theme song of the 1989 movie “Dangerous to the Extreme,” a skateboard-related film that had sparked a passion for skateboarding among the first generation of skateboarders in China.

Yes, this movie was eight years older than Zhang Jue and three years older than David, and there were hardly any young people in the arena who knew the movie. However, that didn’t stop David from imitating the skateboarders’ stance on the ice, lowering his torso. With his handsome looks and cool movements, at least he looked quite stylish.

Sergei’s free skate this year was set to the theme song “Now We Are Free” from the movie Gladiator, which also featured vocals.

Given that they both completed their two quadruple jumps successfully in the free skate, with mistakes being limited to minor slips or hand touches on the ice, they were ranked first and second in the total score before Zhang Jue took the stage.

Jin Zixuan’s quadruple jumps were also successful. Zhang Jue thought he would finish in third, but the 16-year-old Canadian rookie, Carlson, also completed a program with two quadruple jumps, and his skating and performance were even better, surpassing Jin Zixuan.

By the way, this young man had also won the silver medal at the Canadian competition. If he could secure fourth place here, his points might just qualify him for the Grand Prix Final.

Coach lamented his pupil’s mistake: “Zixuan didn’t have a ‘wind attack’ this time, but he lost due to his performance.”

Alas, it seemed like the child wouldn’t make it to the Grand Prix Final this year.

Huang Ying and Guan Lin’s coach, Coach Ma, a long-time friend of Coach Joe, kindly advised: “The child’s performance has improved. Look at how well he conveyed that sense of longing and loss. His upper body is a bit stiff, but this can be improved through dance training.”

Finding a suitable style of performance for the child was a huge step forward.

Coach Joe’s mouth twitched: “…Actually, I didn’t expect him to be good at interpreting this type of music.”

Jin Zixuan hadn’t been decisive in previous years, always asking his coach to choose the music for him. This year, he decided to learn from Zhang Jue and choose his own piece. Under Zhang Jue’s suggestion, he selected the theme from Lust, Caution, and he performed it well. Could it be that his pupil had a deep, conflicted emotional side? Did Zhang Jue notice this too?

Coach Joe decided not to dwell on it too much or he might not feel right.

When Zhang Jue took the stage, the atmosphere in the venue was already very high. The audience seemed to save all their most enthusiastic emotions for this moment. Even Mr. Xu, who rarely watched his son compete in person, was startled by the shrill screams from the girls beside him.

He watched as his son stood on the ice, wearing a gradient blue satin costume, his bangs slightly curled.

At this moment, countless eyes were on Zhang Jue.

Zhao Ning said clearly: “Zhang Jue has already performed this program in Shancheng and Finland. He included three quadruple jumps: 4T, 4T+1Lo+3S, and 4S.”

Jiang Chaosheng added: “Yes, and it’s worth mentioning that his first half only contained 4T, 3Lo, and 3F+3T, while the other five jumps were all in the latter part of the program.”

They watched as the young man stood side-on on the ice, slightly lowering his head, his arms wrapped around himself. The classical romantic piano piece Oceano, composed and performed by Italian pianist Roberto Capacciaria, began to play.

Zhang Jue appeared to be the perfect image of a prince of the ocean, his program titled Tree of Life, though the piece Oceano also translated to “ocean” in Chinese.

The crisp sound of the ice echoed as he completed a beautiful 4T, which was expected since Zhang Jue had one of the highest success rates for quadruple jumps in the world.

Many were focused on his second jump.

The back outside loop (Lo) jump was one that Zhang Jue could have easily added an extra rotation to. People held their breath as he had practiced several 3Lo jumps during the six-minute warm-up, but didn’t attempt a higher difficulty.

Would he attempt it? Would he make history now?

Even Zhang Jue’s coaches weren’t sure what he would do. For a long time, Zhang Jue had independently decided how many quadruple jumps to include in his programs and how to adjust the jump composition during competitions.

With everyone’s attention on him, Zhang Jue moved to his second jump. This time, he took more time to prepare before jumping, and after a triple turn, he crossed his legs and engaged his core, hips, and legs.

In less than a second, the athlete completed a full rotation, the blade making a crisp sound as it touched the ice.

This was the first 4Lo ever completed in an official competition, landing firmly and lightly on the ice.

 

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