Source: Sports Weekly
The freestyle ski aerial skills mixed team competition is a new event in the Beijing Winter Olympics, and it is also a gold competition for the Chinese team. However, in the game on the evening of February 10, the Chinese team finally won only one silver medal in the Winter Olympics with 290.98 points. It is a historic breakthrough, but it is also full of regrets.
During the Beijing Winter Olympics cycle, the Chinese team played an outstanding role in the MIXED TEAM competition of the FIS Freestyle Skiing Aerial Skills World Cup. At the 2019 World Championships, the team composed of Xu Mengtao, Sun Jiaxu and Wang Xindi won the silver medal. Although because of the epidemic, the Chinese team was absent at the 2021 World Championships, but this season, the Chinese team won the championship in the two World Cup matches, and in the two competitions, the Chinese team sent Xu Mengtao, Jia Zongyang and Qi Guangpu, as well as Xu Mengtao, Sun Jiaxu and Qi Guangpu, the two sets of lineups participated, and the advantages were quite obvious.
It is in this context that most people believe that in the Beijing Winter Olympics freestyle skiing aerial skills mixed team competition, the first gold medal of the Chinese team in Zhangjiakou will be born. And the direction of things, at the beginning, is indeed the same.
There are six teams participating in this event, including the United States and russia Olympic representative teams have performed well at the World Championships and the World Cup, while belarus and Switzerland have also performed well at the World Championships.
In the face of many fierce opponents, the Chinese team registered Xu Mengtao, Kong Fanyu, Jia Zongyang, Qi Guangpu and Wang Xindi. In the final, The combination order of Xu Mengtao, Jia Zongyang and Qi Guangpu was sent.
When Xu Mengtao and Jia Zongyang finished the first round of matches, Justin Schönefeld, the third appearance of the American team, jumped a high score of 124.43 points, ranking first. Canada and Switzerland ranked second and third, with Russia in fourth place. It can be said that the pressure of the whole field came to Qi Guangpu, the only one who did not play, as long as there was no major mistake, the Chinese team could enter the top four and advance to the final battle.
Qi Guangpu chose the action with a difficulty of 4.525 and helped the Chinese team advance to the first place with a performance of 118.10 points. Such a performance has strengthened the belief in the hearts of many people that the Chinese team will win the gold. An interesting point is that a few days ago, when Gu Ailing won the championship in the Shougang big jump, IOC President Bach was also on the spot to "cheer", and this game, Bach was also on the sidelines. It seems that the time and place are favorable and all on the side of the Chinese team.
In the decisive battle, the Chinese team made the last appearance. Xu Mengtao continued to perform in highlights with a score of 106.03 points, which is also the highest difficulty of Xu Mengtao personally. This score is also the highest score among the female players in the entire two rounds of the final. "I've played in mixed teams a lot, and in general, I'm in the situation, it's basically me. Every time I play, I will set a small goal in my heart: I am a girl, the first to start, no matter what the action, I hope to do my best, land smoothly, and give my teammates a reassuring pill. ”
Xu Mengtao achieved his small goals, however, the variables happened to Christopher Lillis, the second appearance of the American team, and Jia Zongyang of China.
First, Lilis chose the action with a difficulty factor of 5, and finished it with high quality, scoring the highest score in the whole game with 135 points. Jia Zongyang, who came out later, was the same as in the first round, and the difficulty of the action was still 4.425 points. As long as he can successfully complete, the gold medal of the Chinese team is still very promising.
Unfortunately, Jia Zongyang's movement in the air was no problem, but after landing, the center of gravity was too far forward, resulting in being forced to do a front flip to complete the action, and it was this mistake that allowed Jia Zongyang to only get 96.02 points in this round, which almost announced that the Chinese team had no chance of gold medal.
Xu Mengtao, who witnessed the mistakes of his teammates, his first reaction at that time was "cold". But just 2 seconds later, Xu Mengtao quickly adjusted his mood and went up to give Jia Zongyang a comforting hug. "I knew no one was more upset than him at that moment. No one wants to end up with that kind of action. We've been together for 20 years, and I know he's having a hard time either. Xu Mengtao said after the game.
In the face of such a change, if the Chinese team wants to win the gold, on the one hand, it must hope to make a mistake with the third appearance of the American team, Schönefeld, on the other hand, it also needs Qi Guangpu, who is the third appearance, to adjust the difficulty of the action and get a higher score.
Schönefeld continued to choose the difficulty of 4.525 moves, although the air leg has some bends, but the overall completion is acceptable, 114.48 points, the hope of the Chinese team has been very slim. Qi Guangpu, who came out later, did not choose the 5.000 difficulty action that everyone expected, he chose the same action as Schoenfeld, although the degree of completion was better than the opponent, but the score of 122.17 points was not enough to turn the Chinese team into silver. The gold medal, which was once regarded as the bag of the Chinese team, slipped away.
After the game, when Qi Guangpu was asked why the final jump did not adjust the difficulty, he said that the action had been fixed before, and at the place of departure, he did not know the completion of the opponent. Similarly, it is precisely for this reason that Jia Zongyang's mistake actually has nothing to do with the pressure brought by the previous American player's high score of 135 points, "I think my movement in the air can be, but the moment I landed, it was 0.2 seconds, and I didn't know what happened." Jia Zongyang explained.
Jia Zongyang and Xu Mengtao have both won silver and bronze medals in the Winter Olympics, and this mixed team competition is an excellent opportunity for them to sublimate their medals. But as Xu Mengtao said, this is competitive sports, try your best to do yourself, and the rest is resigned to fate.
Although the three veterans failed to win the first gold medal in the mixed team competition of freestyle skiing aerial skills at the Winter Olympics, there were men's and women's individual events. Xu Mengtao said: "This mistake will not affect the team's preparation, nor will it affect the individual project. Jia Zongyang also said that he would adjust and summarize as soon as possible to meet the individual competition after that.
As the three leading figures in China's freestyle skiing aerial skills, their state will also directly affect the mentality of other young players. And just like Xu Mengtao comforted Jia Zongyang' words: "The three of us together are the Chinese team, there is nothing to be afraid of, we must advance together, we must retreat together." "Although they failed to make a start, but with such a belief, and the performance of the Chinese team's rookie veterans in the World Series this season, I believe they will not be defeated by such a setback." It is also expected that they will be able to complete their personal breakthroughs in the individual and Chinese Winter Olympics projects in the future individual projects.