Progress and pain

In December, the winter training base gave Qu Chi two days off because he had to return to the school to take the final exams.

She was not recruited into high school through sports recruitment, and of course, grades were not particularly important to her.

After all, although she has only changed her sport for three months, she has actually won a national championship - first place in the women's 400 meters at the National Track and Field Grand Prix.

She also decided on the university she would attend in the future, and the provincial team that He Yang helped her contact also had some connection with her university.

After all, she is from this province and her household registration is here, so it is a natural thing for her to join the provincial team. If her university is in another province, the transfer procedures will be easier and less likely to cause trouble.

However, she is going to high school at an unlucky time. The college entrance examination will be in June next year, and the World Championships will be in August. If she can really make it to the World Championships, her university should be of a better level.

After the exam, Qu Chi met with coach Wang Jiong of the school track and field team. He had known that Qu Chi had changed his sport, but they had never met in person to discuss the matter.

Compared with other people's "support" for her to change projects, the grassroots coach who has trained her the longest is the most reluctant.

"Why did you change your event for no reason? You're talented in the 400m, but not in the 100m? Zhou Xinwen is a special case! Look at those two domestic athletes who retired in the past two years. How much of a burden can Zhou Xinwen carry on her own?"

He's a coach himself, so he can see things much more clearly than those nagging track and field fans. How could he not know whether Qu Chi was talented? When Qu Chi first achieved 11.77 seconds, he was just 0.02 seconds away from the World Youth Championship qualifying standard. If that level of talent isn't considered genius, then those athletes who haven't broken 12 seconds by the time they're 20 are a bunch of idiots!

The women's event is weak to begin with. When those track and field fans see the results of over 11 seconds or even 12 seconds, they don't make any detailed comparisons and say that the talent is average. It is only because there is a Zhou Xinwen that Qu Chi left. Otherwise, the country's top athletes who can compete for international medals in the future will be handed over to others!

Wang Jiong was furious, and Qu Chi was helpless. He could only say palely:

"Coach, calm down."

"I'm still training for sprinting. Coach He said I have great talent and will be able to win glory for my country in the future."

"Coach, at least I haven't retired."

Wang Jiong's face changed drastically: "You still want to retire!"

After a conversation, Wang Jiong also sighed and revealed the matter. He could not change the established facts. Qu Chi was also a person with her own ideas. She decided to change the project. That was the path she had chosen. He could only feel unhappy as a die-hard fan of the 100 meters.

After saying goodbye to Wang Jiong, Qu Chi walked around the campus for a while and finally sat on the playground. The familiar scene inevitably reminded her of Qin Chengmo.

She remembered that Qin Chengmo was also in this school. What a coincidence. He said that he noticed her from his school sports meeting. Fortunately, she was not a die-hard fan of the 100 meters like Coach Wang Jiong.

At that time in the rain, Qin Chengmo's words gave her a certain comfort, just like, in fact, people who expect you to get better will not necessarily blame you for not being able to do so.

A knot in her heart was untied. Although she was still running more out of anticipation, she was not hesitant because of it.

The national team's training program has brought her great progress. Her physical fitness has become more abundant, and the explosive power of her leg muscles has become stronger. In addition, He Yang always pays attention to her adaptation to new technical movements and actively improves them. In the Quchi training, she easily broke the 52.10 level and once reached the threshold of 52.05.

Judging from her PB, she has surpassed Dong Zichun.

However, Dong Zichun has also achieved a score of 52.05 in training, so the strength level of the two remains to be discussed.

In January, Dong Zichun and she trained together. The two were able to barely find the feeling of official competition in the training match and stimulate the state. Qu Chi defeated Dong Zichun many times in training and achieved a training pb of 52.02 seconds.

After losing the game, Dong Zichun gave her a cold shoulder every day, but she was not actually happy in her heart.

Her progress was considered good enough by everyone except herself and He Yang, but she still couldn't help feeling anxious.

The further she goes, the harder it becomes to improve her performance. Halfway through her winter training, she is still 1.02 seconds away from her goal, which is still a long way off.

He Yang comforted her not to worry, because Qu Chi was actually a competitive player, and she even expected such a situation to happen to Qu Chi.

"You lack competition experience, and your overall rhythm for the 400 meters isn't perfect yet. When the season begins this year, I'll arrange for you to participate in various domestic Grand Prix races and some international competitions. Besides setting new records, you should also try to find the most suitable rhythm for the 400 meters. There's a lot you can learn from those experienced runners."

After December 31, Qu Chi officially became an 18-year-old athlete in terms of track and field performance record. What is worth celebrating is that she has at least set her PB record in official competitions when she was a minor.

As for what He Yang said about learning the rhythm of experienced players during the competition, Qu Chi understood what he meant.

He Yang often showed her videos of internationally renowned competitions or games of famous athletes. He would watch each video at least eight or nine times to understand the rhythm of each player and try to find her own rhythm in training.

However, the results were average. The 400-meter track was still too long. During the 40-50 second race, she could see when the athletes started to accelerate and when to slow down appropriately, but it was different in other races. It was not fixed at all.

She suspected that the video was not experiential enough, and she also secretly observed Dong Zichun during the competition. She occasionally tried to run with him the whole time, but Dong Zichun's pace kept her from keeping up, and she was exhausted after running.

Of course, this series of attempts was just what Qu Chi was trying to achieve when she wanted to make a breakthrough. If she ran normally, she could still run at the rhythm she was now familiar with.

Maybe she was lucky? She found a rhythm that really suited her from the very beginning?

In February, Qu Chi performed exceptionally well in training, breaking the 52-second mark and achieving a training best of 51.89 seconds.

Only 0.89 seconds left and 4 months left. Is that really not too far-fetched?

On February 14, Qu Chi was not paying attention to her phone during training, but when she picked it up during a break, she found that her phone was full of messages from various people.

She looked at the message from her parents:

"Your sister is injured and is coming home."

His face suddenly turned pale.

Injured? Injured again?

Qu Chi glanced around and saw that everyone was telling her about Qu Tang's injury. Even the messages pushed by the browser and other social software were all -

Figure skater Qu Tang was injured in the competition and may fail?

She didn't even have the energy to click on the push messages. Her hands were shaking as she cleared all the push messages and called her parents.

Mother: "It's a fracture. She doesn't want to stay abroad. She wants to come back this afternoon after she wakes up."

"Doesn't she want her own legs anymore?" Qu Chi asked almost gritting his teeth.

Qu Tang was competing in a neighboring country. No matter how fast the plane was, it was not better than receiving medical treatment at the competition site and returning home after his injury stabilized.

The mother's crying sound came from the other end of the phone, and she couldn't say a word.

Qu Chi hung up the phone and wanted to call Qu Tang, but ultimately didn't make the call.

Qu Tang had decided to return to China on his own. Even if she called him now to question him, Qu Tang would not travel back to the hospital before that.

So, what was she thinking... What was the severity of her injury? What kind of injury would be worthy of the media's word "failure"?

Qu Chi wiped his face, calmed himself down, and went to He Yang to ask for leave to go home.

He Yang frowned at her ugly face and asked, "What happened?"

Qu Chi couldn't help but cover his eyes again, and finally sighed:

"Someone in my family was injured and refused to receive treatment. I want to go back and see him."

He Yang: "Go ahead, be careful on the road."

She didn't say anything else and looked at Qu Chi's back worriedly.

Dong Zichun was still drinking water next to her. Seeing her so distraught, he took out his cell phone to look at her, and was so shocked that he almost stood up.

Qu Tang's popularity is indeed quite high. She was able to win medals in internationally renowned competitions, beating foreign players. She could even be regarded as a national player who supported the domestic women's singles team. In addition, it was the winter sports competition season, and the news of Qu Tang's injury almost instantly set the Internet on fire.

Even those who are not interested in figure skating and are too lazy to click in to see it know that a figure skater named Qu Tang was injured.

Of course, few people would have thought that this figure skater who was injured in a foreign country insisted on returning home, and even did not stay in the hospital after returning, but returned home and locked himself up.