腰伤的问题还是很严重：
此前在乔治亚参加 Trialeti Trophy 时，他因为疼痛加重选择退赛。距离中国杯只有大约十天，这段时间里，他把绝大部分精力都放在了治疗上。
训练无法按照原本的计划进行，四周跳配置也只能根据每天的身体情况决定。
“我想享受现在还能滑冰这件事，看看现在的自己究竟能够做到什么程度。”
带着这样的状态，他来到了重庆。
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“我把现在能做到的100%拿出来了”
中国杯短节目，山本草太完成了4T、4S等技术动作。最后一个3A落冰之后，他握拳庆祝。
87.57分，短节目第四。对于一个在赛前大部分时间都用来治疗腰伤的运动员来说，这已经是一套几乎把当下能力全部拿出来的节目。
“我觉得自己把现在能够拿出来的100%都拿出来了。”这一次，他没有因为身体状态而退缩。“我觉得自己真正攻出去了。”
至少在短节目结束的那个晚上，他能够对自己说一句：“做得不错。”
但24小时之后，一切发生了变化。
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“希望这一切只是一场梦”
自由滑中，山本连续出现失误。
此前腰伤造成的训练不足，在一套更长、对体能和技术稳定性要求更高的自由滑里被彻底放大。
124.10分。
最终，他以211.67分结束了这一次中国杯。
比赛结束后的第二天早晨，山本醒来。
前一天的自由滑依然留在脑海里。
他后来向日本媒体形容，那一刻的感觉几乎是“绝望”。
“就像做了一场噩梦一样。”“我一个人在床上想，希望这一切只是一场梦。”
他很清楚问题出在哪里。并不是突然不会跳跃，也不仅仅是某一天比赛状态不好。真正的问题，是伤病让他没有办法完成一名运动员在比赛之前应该完成的训练积累。
当身体无法承受训练时，仅仅依靠意志并不能解决所有问题。
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“已经不是努力还是不努力的问题”
中国杯之前，山本形容自己的日常状态大约是：
八成治疗，两成训练。
这也意味着，当其他运动员通过一遍又一遍完整合乐寻找比赛状态的时候，他首先要考虑的是——今天自己的身体究竟允许做到什么程度。
所以中国杯之后，他并没有简单地告诉自己“下一场再努力一点”。
因为对当时的他来说，问题已经不是努力程度。
“已经不是努力还是不努力的问题，而是身体到底能不能做到的问题。”
接下来真正需要做的，是让身体慢慢恢复。
如果情况允许，他希望逐渐把现在“八成治疗、两成训练”的状态调整到治疗和训练各占一半。
先恢复。
然后才有可能重新谈训练、难度，以及比赛。
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那些来到重庆支持他的人
自由滑结束之后，山本其实很难面对自己的表现。
后来他甚至回忆说，那时候一度有种“不想出现在别人面前”的感觉。
但手机里不断出现新的消息。
LINE上有几十个人联系他。
社交媒体上，也有很多粉丝给他留言。
有人鼓励他，有人担心他的腰伤，也有人告诉他，即使这不是一场理想的比赛，他们依然会继续支持他。
还有不少日本粉丝专程来到重庆，在现场为他加油。
这些支持反而让山本产生了很深的歉意。
因为在他看来，那套自由滑甚至很难找到一个值得自己称赞的地方。
“这么多人来到现场支持我，最后却以这样的演出结束，我真的觉得非常抱歉。”
但那些消息没有停止。
即使他自己无法认可那场比赛，依然有人告诉他：
没关系。
继续滑吧。
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“再享受一点吧”
从短节目结束后说出“拿出了现在的100%”，到自由滑第二天醒来，希望前一天发生的一切只是一场梦。
中国杯的两天，对山本草太来说像是两个完全不同的世界。
但这场比赛最终留给他的，或许也不仅仅是一场失败的自由滑。
经历伤病、治疗、有限的训练以及比赛失利之后，他开始重新思考自己应该怎样面对滑冰。
他最后对自己说了一句话：
“もっと楽しめよ。”
——再享受一点吧。
对于已经经历过无数次伤病和复出的山本草太而言，这句话或许比“下一场一定要赢回来”更加重要。
因为在那段时间里，他首先需要解决的并不是名次，也不是四周跳的数量。
而是让身体重新允许自己训练。
English Translation
Translated from the Chinese article published by MS Sport Media.
Sota Yamamoto’s back injury remained a serious concern.
At the earlier Trialeti Trophy in Georgia, worsening pain had forced him to withdraw. With only around ten days before Cup of China, he devoted most of that time to treatment.
Training could not proceed as planned. Even the number and type of quadruple jumps he attempted had to depend on how his body felt each day.
“I want to enjoy the fact that I can still skate, and see what I am capable of right now.”
That was the condition in which he arrived in Chongqing.
“I gave everything I had available to me”
In the short program, Yamamoto completed technical content including a quadruple toe loop and quadruple Salchow. After landing the final triple Axel, he clenched his fist in celebration.
His 87.57 points put him fourth. For an athlete who had spent much of the lead-up receiving treatment for a back injury, it was a performance that came close to using everything he had available.
“I feel that I gave 100 per cent of what I could give right now.”
This time, he had not retreated because of his physical condition. “I feel that I really went for it.”
At least that evening, he could tell himself that he had done well.
Twenty-four hours later, the experience was entirely different.
“I wished it had all been a dream”
Mistakes followed one another in the free skate. The training lost to his back injury became much more apparent in a longer program that demanded greater stamina and technical consistency.
He scored 124.10, finishing the competition with 211.67 points overall.
When he woke the following morning, the free skate was still on his mind. He later described the feeling to Japanese media as close to despair.
“It was like a nightmare.”
“I was lying in bed alone, wishing it had all been a dream.”
He understood the problem. He had not suddenly forgotten how to jump, nor was it simply a bad day. The injury had prevented him from building the training base an athlete needs before competing.
When the body cannot tolerate that preparation, determination alone cannot solve everything.
“It is no longer a question of trying harder”
Before Cup of China, Yamamoto described his routine as roughly 80 per cent treatment and 20 per cent training.
While other skaters could develop competitive readiness through repeated full run-throughs, he first had to ask what his body would permit that day.
After the competition, “try harder next time” was therefore not a sufficient answer.
“It is no longer a question of whether I am working hard enough. It is a question of whether my body can actually do it.”
The immediate task was to recover. If possible, he hoped gradually to move from that 80–20 split towards an equal balance between treatment and training.
Recovery had to come first. Only then could he meaningfully return to questions of training, difficulty and competition.
The people who came to support him
After the free skate, Yamamoto struggled to face his performance. He later recalled that, at one point, he did not want to appear in front of anyone.
But messages kept arriving on his phone. Dozens of people contacted him on LINE, and fans left comments on social media.
Some offered encouragement; others asked about his back. Some told him that, even after a difficult competition, they would continue supporting him.
Japanese fans had also travelled to Chongqing to cheer for him in person. Their commitment made him feel deeply apologetic: he could scarcely find anything in the free skate that he felt able to praise.
“So many people came to support me. I feel terribly sorry that it ended with a performance like that.”
Yet the messages did not stop. Even when he could not accept his own performance, people were still telling him that it was all right—and to keep skating.
“Let yourself enjoy it a little more”
From feeling that he had delivered everything he could in the short program to waking after the free skate and wishing it had never happened, Yamamoto’s two days at Cup of China seemed to belong to different worlds.
But the competition may have left him with more than the memory of a difficult free skate.
After injury, treatment, limited preparation and disappointment, he began to reconsider how he wanted to relate to skating. In the end, he told himself:
“Motto tanoshime yo.”
Let yourself enjoy it a little more.
For a skater who has already lived through repeated injuries and comebacks, that thought may matter more than a promise to win next time.
At that moment, his first challenge was not a placing, or the number of quadruple jumps in his program. It was allowing his body to reach a point where he could train again.
