Chapter 16: You go if you can do it! I can!

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St. Petersburg held one of only two artificial ice rinks in the whole of Russia, the other one was located in Moscow.

Misha sat on a bench, listening to a man chattering in his ear.

“Misha, if you need a coach, we can find a more professional one for you instead of you picking one at random.”

Soon, his biggest domestic rival, Luka, rushed over as well. “I heard you chose a Chinese for your coach. Are you kidding? Even if no one in the country can teach you, you can’t treat your career so casually, right?”

 Looking at them calmly, Misha stated, “You don’t understand, it was fate that brought Chyushka to me. He’s the best coach in the world. No one can help me more than him.”

His words were sincere. He had already become despondent because he felt his career hit its ceiling — he couldn’t make the more difficult jumps, and his figures weren’t as good as Gillis’ talent at it. No matter how good his performance, it was the referee’s subjective judgement. They could praise him today and praise someone else tomorrow.

As an athlete, the despair of being unable to improve had almost driven Misha to madness.

But ever since he requested Zhang Sushang to be his coach, he found that his waist and legs no longer hurt as before and he stopped having insomnia. The ceiling rose, and he could once again go higher.

It’s over, Luka thought hopelessly, Misha’s been scammed by that Chinese.

The scene fell into silence as everyone stopped talking. Misha sat there pressing his legs, so Luka, feeling restless, went to practice on the ice for a while.

Time on the ice rink was precious, any good figure skater would seize any chance to use it.

After Misha finished stretching, he also went on the ice. He was the best skater in the country, surpassing Luka, and was proficient in all the compulsory figures. Luka had always been impressed by his brisk movements.

But after skating for a while and finding the feeling, Misha tried to do a double jump by taking off from his back inside edge — this was Gillis’ signature jump.

At this moment the entire venue became quiet, for no other reason than that the movement was so exquisite.

Current jump techniques were quite crude. Anyone who was able to rotate 1.5 times in a jump, which was the level most amateur skaters in the future could reach, would be considered an expert. If someone could do two or three types of double jumps? They would definitely be a big shot in the national team of a country strong in figure skating!

The status of double jumps now was about the same as that of quad jumps a hundred years later.

Correspondingly, the jump techniques of these masters were also very primitive. Due to the far inferior quality of the ice surface and skates, and because this sport was still in the process of being developed, many athletes relied on pure physical ability to jump, causing their posture to be somewhat ugly.

The injury rate was also quite high… Many aspects such as nutrition and physical therapy were still in their infancy, after all. In the last century there still existed many strange things such as aphrodisiacs containing radium, which killed many unlucky men on the weaker side. It was just six years ago in 1920 that ‘vitamines’ were changed to ‘vitamins’ and modern nutritional studies began to develop rapidly.

But this development hadn’t reached the point that it could bring any significant benefits to the sports field.

After Misha accepted him as his coach, the first thing Zhang Sushang was to give him a physical examination. He found that Misha’s stamina was bad, his explosive strength was weak, and his body fat ratio was at an outrageously high 17%.

Zhang Sushang had never seen any skater in men’s singles able to compete internationally who had both the ability to do difficult jumps and a body fat ratio above 12%. A normal male singles skater should have a BF ratio in the single digits!

So he changed his dietary plan.

For the past two months, Misha had only been able to eat boiled chicken and beef, as well as eggs, milk, and a bunch of vegetables. Supplemented by aerobic exercise, he successfully shed a lot of fat which made his body lighter — it was a natural result to jump higher.

Zhang Sushang had also heard Misha mention once that he couldn’t trust his legs because he had broken them before, so he would shrink from jumps, therefore lowering their quality.

Zhang Sushang felt exasperated and wanted to laugh when he heard this. According to the common sense of later generations, athletes who wanted to maintain their condition should conduct high-intensity training for a long period; in contrast, Misha didn’t even dare to jump. With his jump practice time also shorter than others at the same level, no wonder he couldn’t improve.

Fortunately, coaches also consider their students’ mental states. Zhang Sushang had collected the money so of course he would be dedicated. Not only did he make him drink more milk, he also added eggshell powder to Misha’s food, saying, “This is a secret bone-strengthening medicine I got from my friend Jiang Jinghu, taking the right amount at the right time can help you become stronger.”

To make Misha believe his lies, he even brought him to Jiang Jinghu to give him physical therapy, which was actually to use traditional Chinese massage techniques and a cupping session. Then he crazily praised Jiang Jinghu’s family, spouting a long list of how awesome his father and grandparents were and which important officials they had treated…

Jiang Jinghu seemed used to Zhang Sushang boasting about traditional Chinese medicine and the Jiang family in front of foreigners by now. While his friend prattled on, he cooperatively sat upright on the bed, showing a reserved and elegant smile.

Misha felt that what he said made sense. From then on, he ate whatever Zhang Sushang told him to eat and didn’t complain about practising jumping hundreds of times every time they went to the ice rink, practising to the point that he even broke a pair of skates. It would be stranger for him not to get better.

Regarding this type of high-quality back inside edge double jumps, otherwise known as 2F, Misha did it 20 times in a row in front of Luka with a successful landing 90% of the time.

Luka’s jaw dropped.

If Misha had been in this state during the last Worlds, he would’ve more than likely won!

Just then, there came the sound of jingling bells from outside — someone rode a bicycle into the stadium and parked it next to the rink.

It was a tall Chinese young man wearing a side cap which had recently become popular among the younger generation. Grinning when he caught sight of them, he swiftly ran over with ice skates in hand and greeted them cheerfully.

“Misha, have you eaten?”

Thinking that this was his coach asking if he had eaten according to the assigned diet plan, he skated to the edge of the rink and replied seriously, “I’ve eaten.”

Zhang Sushang laughed and, ignoring the people who were all staring at him, clapped his hands a few times. “Then let’s train first. Same as before, ten jumps in a set. One set each of back outside edge double using the toe pick, back inside edge double, back outside edge double, and back inside edge double using the toe pick.¹2T, 2S, 2lo, and 2F respectively

“Pay attention to your center of gravity, don’t tilt your axis, and remember to tighten your body. Start!”

Misha knew what Zhang Sushang wanted. He glanced at the onlookers, then turned around and skated to the middle of the rink.

The best way to dispel doubts was to display strength. He had made huge progress with Chyushka’s help, so it was time to show it and clear his name.

Toe loops and Salchows were considered low difficulty jumps in the future, with correspondingly lower scores, because they were easier than loop, flip, Lutz, and Axel jumps.

Though nowadays, those who could conquer 2T and 2S were still considered experts — for example, Luka. He was Russia’s number two men’s singles skater because he had mastered these two jumps.

At 20 years old, he was younger than Misha and had a stronger body. He dared not say that his success rate for double jumps reached 90%, yet Misha did it.

Now he even felt a little depressed. He and Misha were originally evenly matched with himself just a little worse in compulsory figures, but now it seemed that Misha had outstripped him by a lot.

Maxim, Luka’s coach and uncle, asked in disbelief, “Misha is like a different person, did you do all this?”

He looked towards the Chinese young man who was currently supporting himself on the back of a chair as he pulled his right leg up behind him until it reached his nape. Maxim couldn’t imagine how he stretched himself like this, had he worked in a circus?!

Surprised, Zhang Sushang lowered his leg and thought for a moment. “I think that except for me, no one can bring such a big change to Misha,” he said.

“But you’re Chinese, your country doesn’t even have any athletes! How can you teach a world-class athlete?” Luka asked.

Zhang Sushang shrugged. “Don’t talk nonsense. Before is before, since I’ve decided to be an athlete, my country has athletes.”

He hopped onto the ice, pushed off, and soon reached Misha.

“Good job, Misha. I think we can do something new.”

“Something new?” Wiping away his sweat, Misha looked intently at Zhang Sushang. “You think I’m not good enough to win the championship right now, right?”

“A world champion is someone who breaks through the current limits,” he said frankly, “and this is also the meaning of competitive sports, because you represent the infinite possibilities within humans. If someone wants to be number one, they have to show that they can exceed the previous number one.

“Your current skills can only be said to be at the same level as Gillis and Willy, not better, so you can’t be sure of victory when you face them. Are you willing to bet your victory on the chance that they’ll make a mistake? You have to invent new things, just like how Gillis invented brand new techniques like the double flip and going from a jump straight into a spin.”

“How do I do that?” Misha asked.

“Don’t expect anything out of compulsory figures, even I don’t know how to beat Gillis there, he’s too much of a figures genius. The only way to win is through jumps and spins. Have you tried any harder jumps?”

Misha, feeling that he understood what Zhang Sushang meant, was eager to try. “Do you want me to learn the double Lutz or the double Axel?”

After going through Zhang Sushang’s basic training and making his body lighter, he felt confident and full of motivation.

2A meant doing two and a half rotations, that was a little hard, but he could try a 2Lz.

Zhang Sushang blinked in confusion. “What are you talking about? Of course you have to do them all. I hope you can do all the doubles by the end of the year.”

“What? Say that again?” Misha thought he was having auditory hallucinations.

“I want you to learn them all,” Zhang Sushang patiently repeated.

Luka, who had been watching from afar, ran over and stood behind Misha with his hands on his hips. “Don’t be ridiculous. I admit you have some skills, but learning a new jump isn’t that easy!”

“But doubles aren’t hard! I’ve taught Misha for two months and know his body better than you guys, he can do it!”

 “The hell it’s not hard! Misha isn’t your guinea pig! If anything goes wrong it’s not you who’ll be hurt. A double Lutz is okay but you can just do the double Axel yourself!”

You go if you can do it!

Zhang Sushang began to frown at his harsh tone. “I already said, double Axels aren’t hard!”

Saying so, he jumped.

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  2T, 2S, 2lo, and 2F respectively