The Paper's reporter Chen Jun
In the Women's U-Shaped Snowboarding Competition at the Beijing Winter Olympics, two of China's famous players, Cai Xuetong and Liu Jiayu, finished fourth and eighth.
Among the countless spectators who focused on their matches on tv screens, there was one German foreigner who was destined to watch extra hard — his name was Felix Falkenberg, the sports science and athletic performance manager at the UFC's Shanghai Elite Training Center.
Felix Falkenberg.
A few months before the Beijing Winter Olympics, when Liu Jiayu and Cai Xuetong came to the UFC Shanghai Elite Training Center for physical strengthening, it was Felix who led the training of the two.
So, in the eyes of this foreign coach, what is the superiority of Liu Jiayu and Cai Xuetong? Listen to him and the surging news reporter talk about it.
Cai Xuetong trains at the UFC Center.
The finest body monitoring
"Liu Jiayu came twice, one in October 2020, she had some injuries and needed professional physiotherapy, stayed for 2 months; the other time was August and September 2021, it was two months, And Cai Xuetong came together for a shorter training time, almost 6 weeks..."
For the two Chinese ice and snow actresses, Felix was very impressed, when Liu Jiayu and Cai Xuetong were making final sprint preparations for the Beijing Winter Olympics, in Felix's eyes, the two had different personalities and different technical characteristics, but they were very hard to fight:
The two train 6 days a week, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, Friday morning and afternoon each round of training, Wednesday and Saturday training half a day.
Why do Chinese ice and snow athletes choose the UFC Elite Training Center for special training? Liu Jiayu once said in an interview that the high-tech means of the training center have helped them a lot, "you can monitor the physical state of the athletes, find out where you are weakest to make up for and strengthen." ”
Cai Xuetong also believes that this kind of special physical training can support himself to challenge higher difficulties, "Strive to make the maximum difficulty at the Beijing Winter Olympics, whether you can get on the podium is mainly based on the difficulty of your movements." ”
Cai Xuetong trained to bounce
In fact, after the completion of the UFC Shanghai Elite Training Center in 2019, the Chinese national sailing team preparing for the Tokyo Olympic Games visited here, and local professional football and basketball clubs in Shanghai also sought help from the UFC Elite Training Center.
"We used to host fewer ice and snow players, but in the two weeks before they came, we did a special analysis of them and built a data model, which allowed us to train more specifically."
Felix flipped through the 42 pages of PPT files in his mobile phone while telling the surging news reporter that this document synthesized the performance of Liu Jiayu and Cai Xuetong in the training center, recorded in detail the complete physical data and training feedback of the two, and even the difference between the left and right legs was also written very clearly.
UFC Shanghai Elite Training Center.
In Felix's view, in order to achieve excellent training results, customized services for different sports and different athletes are indispensable.
"They're all snowboarders, and the sport requires a lot of explosiveness over short periods of time and control of spinning in the air, and our training is focused on that."
"Because of the different types of bodies, the training methods are also completely different - Liu Jiayu's flexibility, explosiveness, and jumping ability are very high, and the stability will be worse; Cai Xuetong is just the opposite, she has good stability, what is lacking is explosiveness and jump height."
Liu Jiayu conducts physical training.
Remotely track athletes' physical status
Although the UFC Elite Training Center does not have a scene similar to an outdoor snow field, it is possible to meet and simulate the requirements of the competition through some high-tech equipment.
Take the hypoxia training laboratory as an example, where different altitudes and corresponding barometric pressure indexes can be simulated, so that athletes can feel the feeling of the competition at an altitude of up to 4600 meters on the flat ground.
According to Felix, when the two left the training center, they were in good physical condition and could fully adapt to high-intensity competition, the only problem was the old injury in Liu Jiayu's shoulder, "There will be no big impact on her training and competition, but such an old injury is difficult to eradicate, it will accompany her throughout her career, and I believe she will overcome it herself." ”
Felix helped Liu Jiayu adjust his shoulders.
Even after the athletes leave the training center, the coaches here will still track their physical condition and provide remote help.
Before Liu Jiayu felt uncomfortable in the shoulder of overseas competitions, Felix and the team transmitted a complete set of rehabilitation actions to the front through video to help Liu Jiayu get out of the pain as soon as possible.
In addition, they and the athlete's coach always maintain communication, "both of them are foreign coaches to lead the team, Liu Jiayu's coach is Australian, Cai Xuetong's coach is Finn, we have no language barriers, often around the athlete's situation." ”
There is a column on Felix's WeChat address book that reads "Ben Bright jiayu coach."
Liu Jiayu.
"I will always follow them"
Not only the foreign coach, Felix and the two athletes also had a good chat.
"They've played in the U.S. and Switzerland for a long time in the past and they speak English very well. In addition to training, they also talk to me about what they have seen and lived in other countries and cities, including how to have a party on the top of a mountain..."
Apparently, they are also friends and teachers, and out of the convenient pronunciation relationship, Felix directly called Liu Jiayu "jiayu" and Cai Xuetong "tongtong", which in his eyes is an interesting combination of Chinese snowboarding sister flowers.
"They're teammates, but they're competitive, they're in the top five or even the top three in the world, they get along very well, and you think it's all great."
"The two people also have a great contrast in personality, Jiayu is a very lively girl, big grin, very outgoing, used to being noticed, willing to express herself. Kirito, on the other hand, is more restrained, but you can feel that she is always holding back a momentum and has her own goals to achieve. ”
Felix fell in love with China and Shanghai.
In an exchange with the surging news reporter, Felix revealed that he is actually a fan of ice and snow sports, "I am German, in our country, ice and snow sports are very popular and developed, I will also try skiing and other snow sports ..."
Because of this partnership, Felix now has more concerns about China's ice and snow athletes and the Beijing Winter Olympics, "I watch their games on TV, pay attention to their performance, and hope that they can get good results - because it means that the effect of our work is also reflected." 」 ”
Felix has not returned to China for two years because of the epidemic, and in addition to missing his parents, he feels that he is living well, "Shanghai is a wonderful city, and it is safe here." China's success in hosting the Winter Olympics is enough to illustrate the problem. ”
Editor-in-Charge: Ascendas
Proofreader: Shi Gong