Chinese ice dancing pair Wang Shiyue and Liu Xinyu have fixed their eyes on becoming Su Bingtian-like figures after setting the nation's new best result at an Olympic Winter Games.
"We think we could be like Su Bingtian, the Chinese sprinter. Though we are not the first-rate athletes in our fields yet, we are willing to make more breakthroughs, pushing Chinese and even Asian figure skating to a higher position," Liu said.
As China's sole ice dance representatives at this Olympics, Wang and Liu, both 27 years old, came ninth on Monday and scored a 111.01-point free dance after giving a Chinese-style performance to "Kung Fu Piano: Cello Ascends".
The local favorites, who also danced to two programs in the team events a week ago, ranked 12th on 184.42 overall in the individual event, in additional to their rhythm dance score of 73.41.
Before Wang and Liu, the country's previous best result in ice dancing had stood for 30 years when Han Bing and Yang Hui finished 18th at Albertville 1992.
"It's a remarkable improvement for Chinese ice dancing, and Wang and Liu represent the top level of China," said Yao Bin, who guided pairs couple Shen Yue and Zhao Hongbo to win the country's first Olympic gold of figure skating 12 years ago at Vancouver 2012.
"China didn't begin to learn ice dancing until 1981, and it takes generations of Chinese figure skaters' efforts to come to this point," added the legendary coach at 64 years old.
Two-time Olympians Wang and Liu, who are not a couple in their private life, featured a level four for the opening combined spin, the synchronized twizzles and the straight line lift-rotational lifting in the free skate, but were deducted one point for an extended lift.
They were also the only ice dancing pair from Asia to have advanced to the free dance, as 20 out of 23 couples rounded up the qualification and Japan's Misato Komatsubara and Tim Koleto finished a disappointing 22nd in the rhythm dance.
The duo told media after Saturday's rhythm dance that they look next to finish among the world's top 10, and that their free skate performance proved that they're not just dreaming of an untouchable future.
"We were the only Asian among the 20 pairs. We haven't reached our limits, and we have the room for further progress," Liu, who has paired with Wang since 2005, said on Monday.
Four years ago in PyeongChang, Wang and Liu failed to reach the free dance after they finished in 22nd place in the short dance.
"After a disappointing Olympic debut, we turned to train at two-time Olympians Patrice Lauzon and Marie-France Dubreuil's school in Canada, and managed to come out of the blue," Wang recalled.
The pair then came out as the first Chinese ice dancing couple to win an ISU Grand Prix at the 2020-2021 season's Cup of China, while finishing fourth in the 2020 Four Continental championships and ranking 13th at the 2021 World Championships.
"Coming back to the Olympic rink, we felt happy, not just because we earned some satisfying scores, but that we know we can do better with the improvement we made, both mentally and in our way of thinking," Liu commented.
Wang and Liu admitted that they were once timid and full of self-doubt four years ago, but two years of hard working in Canada and two years of online study amid the pandemic resulted in what they wanted most - to show that Chinese can be at the same pace as the world's leading skaters.
"We have had the best performance so far. We feel that all our endeavors of the past four years have paid off," Liu said.
"It didn't matter whether past circumstances favored us or not. We've finally managed to complete all four programs, not falling short of our supporters' expectations," echoed Wang.
"The adversity of the past two years [with the COVID-19 pandemic] actually enhanced our confidence," she added. -
