On the morning of February 10 (Thursday) Beijing time, the winter Olympic figure skating men's single skating final was held at the Capital Gymnasium. American Chen Wei won gold with 332.60 points, China's Jin Boyang won the ninth place, and Japan's "figure skating prince" Yusheng knotted the string missed the medal. This is the second gold medal in the figure skating event of the Winter Olympics, as said before the game, Yu Yusuke tried Axel to jump around in the free skating program, but unfortunately, because he did not control the center of gravity, he fell down when he landed.
What is Axel jump around
Axel's Four-Way Jump, abbreviated 4A, is considered the most difficult jump in figure skating. Axel jumped after Norwegian figure skater Axel Paulsen, who successfully completed the move for the first time in a competition in 1882. Divided by difficulty, there are six types of figure skating: rear outer point ice jump, rear inner jump, rear outside jump, rear inner point ice jump, hook jump and Axel jump. Axel jumped forward and backward into the ice, and was the only jumping action to jump forward. Due to the different directions of taking off and falling ice, Axel jumps with more than half a week longer than other types of jumps, so Axel jumps are also called one and a half jumps. According to the number of rotational cycles, Axel jumps are divided into one and a half jumps, two weeks half jumps, three weeks half jumps and four half jumps, abbreviated as 1A, 2A, 3A and 4A.
For figure skaters, finding the starting point for Axel's jump around is not an easy task. "That point won't be the same as your three-week jump," Nobuhiko Yoshioka, a biomechanics expert at Chiba University and an international figure skating referee, told Reuters, "For height and weeks, you need faster speed, but the faster you go, the higher the accuracy requirements." "In addition to the technical difficulty, Axel's jumping around is also a test of the athlete's psychology. Nobuhiko Yoshioka said, "You jump forward, not with your back to the jump. Perhaps a good analogy is that when falling off a cliff, looking backwards is less frightening than looking forward. Many figure skaters don't like Axel for this reason. ”
Thankless action
At last month's U.S. Championships, Russian Artur Dmitriev, who represented the United States, tried Axel's four-way jump, but his feet landed on the ground and one hand touched the ice. A few weeks ago, Yusuke Yusuke added Axel's four-way jumping action to the Japan Championship, but his feet landed on the ground and he did not have enough rotations.
On February 10, Japan's Yu yusuke was in the competition.
During a pre-race training session on Feb. 9, Sweden's Nikolaj Majorov said that if someone could complete Axel's four-way jump, it might be a feather knot. "Some people are really struggling on Axel," Mayorov told Reuters, "but he (Yusuke Habu) went with the flow." There was nothing in his head. He just did it. ”
Axel's jumping around was a childhood dream of Yusei Yusuke, and he was almost obsessed with the move. According to his own account, sometimes he would spend an hour and forty-five minutes practicing the movement in a two-hour training session, which was not only exhausting, but also fraught with the risk of injury. "I need to know about it," habu said of Axel's jump around, "and I want to get to that place where I can confidently feel this complete, perfect habu knot." And part of that is 4A. ”
Axel's jump around is difficult, but it is a high-risk, low-reward move. By the scoring criteria, its base score is 12.5, the highest of the six figure skating jumps, but only one point more than the hooker's jump around. Any slight mistake in the action will be relegated to a three-week jump with a base score of only 8 points. And the Executive Registration (GOE) may also be deducted points for other imperfections.
Chen Wei's redemption
As the biggest competitor of Yusheng Yuxin, the American player Chen Wei temporarily ranked first with a score of 113.97 points in the previous short program competition, and broke the world record of the men's singles short program, which brought a lot of pressure to the players in the same competition. In the free skating, Chen Wei showed near-perfect form, scoring 218.63 points, plus 113.97 points in the short program on February 8, to win the figure skating men's singles championship with a total score of 332.60 points.
Four years ago at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, Chen Wei played abnormally, finishing only fifth, and Yu Sheng became the first male figure skater to defend an Olympic gold medal in 66 years. Since then, Chen Wei can be said to have dominated the entire figure skating arena, and in the confrontation with Yu sheng, he overpowered his opponents and repeatedly broke the world record of free skating and total results.
Chen Wei said that all he did was not trying to make up for the mistakes he had made in the past, his motivation did not come from higher scores, he just wanted to show himself through each game and enjoy it as much as possible. "I think you learned the most from your mistakes," he said in an interview with the media last week, "and of course I learned a lot from that race." I think without that experience, I probably wouldn't be where I am now. So I think it's not so much a devil as a very helpful learning experience. ”
Chen Wei's free skating performance.
In Chen Wei's view, Yusheng Yuxian is an unparalleled idol, and he constantly promotes the development of figure skating. "It's rare to see a figure skater maintain his level of excellence for so long," he said, "and it's his third Olympics, and he hasn't reached the top yet." It's incredible to see him grow. ”
News sources: NBC, Insider, Global Times, Reuters, The Guardian, the picture comes from the Internet
iWeekly Weekend Pictorial exclusive manuscript, please do not reprint without permission