On the morning of the 16th, the 2023 FINA Diving World Cup women's single 10-meter platform preliminary round was held at the Xi'an Olympic Sports Center Swimming and Diving Hall.
Although it was a preliminary round, the scene was almost full. Most of the audience's eyes were drawn by two little girls in dark blue swimsuits, Chen Yuxi and Quan Hongchan.
On April 16, Chen Yuxi (right) and Quan Hongchan talked between the competition. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Yibo
Last month, at the National Diving Championships, Quan Hongchan missed the championship due to a mistake in 207C, and she burst into tears after the competition. In this competition, Quan Hongchan is undoubtedly facing a lot of pressure.
On the 15th, the 3-meter springboard competition day, Quan Hongchan, who did not have any schedule, and some jumpers took advantage of the lunch break to train together. After each jump, she would go to the sidelines to communicate carefully with coach Chen Ruolin.
For Chen Yuxi, "stability" is the most important thing in this competition. This little girl often shows calmness, grandeur and maturity beyond her age in some moments on and off the field.
On April 16, Chen Yuxi was in the game. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Yibo
In the preliminary round, Quan Hongchan successfully overcame the 207C "heart demon", and several judges scored 10 points for her. In the end, she completed this repeated mistake with a score of 99 points, and beat Chen Yuxi to enter the final with 438.90 points.
In the afternoon, the final officially began. In the swimming pool, which can accommodate thousands of spectators, sometimes thunderous applause, sometimes silence, everyone's mood rises and falls as the competition progresses.
In the first few jumps, Quan Hongchan made some mistakes in the second movement (407C); Chen Yuxi's performance is quite stable, and the probability of winning has increased sharply. The race progressed to the fourth jump, where both men chose 207C.
On April 16, Quan Hongchan was in the game. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Yibo
Take off, enter the water, and splash. Chen Yuxi, who came on earlier, made a mistake due to technical problems during the jump, and only scored 69.30 points.
Just when everyone thought that Quan Hongchan, who came on the court later, could achieve a countertime, the same mistake, the same 69.30 points, she could not continue her high-level interpretation of this action in the morning, and thus almost completely missed the opportunity to overtake.
In the end, Chen Yuxi successfully defended the title.
On April 16, Chen Qianxi (right) and Quan Hongchan were on the sidelines of the competition. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Yibo
In the post-match rematch, both girls focused on their mentality, physical condition and technical details, almost never mentioning points, rankings and opponents.
"I'm not too happy with my performance, so maybe I want to be able to dance my moves better than not winning the first place. Athletes always have their own higher goals, and standing still is in some ways equivalent to regression. Chen said.
"You may have thought about the problem of overtaking, but in fact, I hope that I can jump well. I feel that the second group (207C) still has to practice well by itself. Quan Hongchan said.
On April 14, Chen Yuxi (right) / Quan Hongchan walked into the arena before the competition. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Bowen
In addition, they also mentioned their changes in mentality before the fourth jump.
Chen Qianxi said that the atmosphere at the scene was very good, but he became too excited and wanted to win too much, resulting in the position of the action opening too early; Quan Hongchan said that she was still a little nervous, and she made a mistake when she wanted to jump well too much.
In this World Cup, Chen Qianxi and Quan Hongchan not only won the championship and runner-up of the women's single 10-meter platform, but also won the women's double 10-meter platform championship on the first day of the competition.
Chen Yuxi (left) / Quan Hongchan at the women's double 10m platform award ceremony on April 14. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Yibo
The Chinese diving team has never lacked the "Yuliang battle", but it has also left many good stories of going hand in hand. Now, for Chen Qianxi and Quan Hongchan, the most tacit teammates are also the strongest opponents.
Chen Qianxi once said: "The two of us are benign competition, and we can urge and progress each other to improve our own level." If it's just me or she, it's likely to stand still or even regress. ”
The self-breakthroughs they achieved together between fierce competition and tacit cooperation may also reveal the true meaning of the word "competition".
Source: Xinhua News Agency