Gold, love and mint tea (Yuzuru Hanyu )

10 - Liars

"Okay just relax, we removed your lutz so you only have jumps that are consistent..." Misha reassures me, rubbing my shoulders to try to relieve the tension "You're too tense, try to just enjoy your skate! Just like when you broke into the rink okay?"

"Nothing gets past you huh?" I snorts, closing my eyes to try to focus on my breathing.

"Nope!"

"Thank you." I whisper appreciatively.

'PLEASE WELCOME THE NEXT SKATER, REPRESENTING UKRAINE, DARIANKA SAVCHUK'

I flash Misha a determined smirk before pushing myself away from the boards. I energetically glide to go into starting position, exhaling deeply before posing with a confident smirk plastered on my face. I start as soon as I hear the first note of my tango, my movements are abrupt yet graceful. I land my triple flip effortlessly, making a dramatic gesture with my hands during the landing, on beat with the music.

I then go into my flying camel spin, after three revolutions in the basic position, I switch to a donut with a change of edge and then to a Biellmann. I really need to improve my flexibility to be able to make it hyperextended. After another few sharp, on beat movements I go into a back camel with a difficult twizzle entry. Three illusions, three revolutions in a one handed Biellmann. I almost stumble as I change feet, barely hanging on I count three turns before switching from the cannonball to the broken leg sit spin. I finally push up into my I spin, grabbing my foot by its blade.

I pull of a few choreographic moves, adding more dramatic flair to the program. I focus again as I cross the rink, gathering speed before acing my triple toe triple toe combination. It was my favorite jump and we decided to go with consistency over difficulty this year. I smirk confidently as I smoothly perform the steps, transitioning into a double axel, arms above my head.

I smile out of relief and with all my jumps out of the way I can let the music take over. I adapt to the change of pace acting more emotional and expressive during my step sequence, connected with the music. As it reaches its climax I do my layback spin, including the catchfoot and haircutter variations, finishing at the same time as the music dramatically arching my back, with one hand above my head.

I stay still for a few seconds, still in my zone, when I finally stand up straight I'm back to reality and I hear the loud cheers and applause coming from the audience. I smile as I make my way to the center in order to bow to the judges and the audience.

"Well that was a clean skate if I ever saw one!" Misha says as I practically throw myself at him, and he chuckles lifting me up a bit.

"That was really good huh? I just tuned everything and everyone out!" I breath out, still panting as we sit down in the kiss and cry.

"I saw that! You should get good scores!"

"Good but not great... That program isn't technically difficult!"

"Look we tried difficult last season, it didn't work... So we're easing into it this year!"

"Yeah yeah I know... Consistency over difficulty!" I roll my eyes playfully.

"Consistency will get you to the Grand Prix final and to worlds! And then-"

"And then, if I'm able to deal with my stress we'll put in more difficult jumps!" I finish his sentence as he nudges my shoulder.