The climax of the morning schedule on the last day of the Asian Athletics Championships came when Cui Luoheng won the gold medal in the 110m hurdles final with a record-breaking time of 13.20 seconds.
At the same time, this result also set the best result in the 110-meter hurdles this year.
When Shao Min introduced that this was the best result of the year in the 110-meter hurdles, some new fans of track and field were surprised in the comments of the live broadcast - [Isn't this only 13.20 seconds? It seems that running 110 meters within 13 seconds is a good result, right? 】
Immediately, the old fans of track and field who were also watching the live broadcast were stunned for a moment before they remembered to explain.
[…Child, go check out the official website of the Athletics Federation. Last year, only one person ran the 110-meter hurdles in less than 13 seconds. 】
[……?] 】
[Well, the reason I asked this question is because the impression left by the hurdle king’s performance back then was too impressive. 】
[Child, a score of less than 13 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles is not the same as a score of 10 seconds in the 100-meter. You will know if you go and see. Even during the heyday of the 110-meter hurdles when many stars gathered, it was the best that two or three runners could run less than 13 seconds a year. If you add up all the competitions around the world throughout the year, it is difficult for the score to run less than 13 seconds more than 10 times, and they were all created by those few runners. 】
[Speaking of this, the only runner who ran under 13 seconds last year was the one from Maozi's place, right? Vladimir? This guy is a real warrior. Last year, he alone accounted for 8 of the top ten results in the world in the 110-meter hurdles, right? 】
[I don’t know when Xiao Cui will be able to get a place in the top ten of the year…]
The topic on the Internet was still going on. Su Bai did not continue watching the live broadcast on TV. Instead, he took out his mobile phone and continued to organize the information at hand on his work computer while waiting for something.
About an hour after the 110-meter hurdles final, his cell phone rang again. He picked up the phone, took a look, and then answered the call.
"Hey, Alo?"
The person who called was Cui Luoheng.
After the game just ended, Su Bai noticed Cui Luoheng's confused state after the game. The rapid improvement in performance, while bringing joy, may sometimes also make people feel a strange sense of imbalance.
Especially for someone like Cui Luo now, his performance has made a leap forward in a short period of time, and the leaps are too big. Facing opponents that he once thought would be very difficult to deal with, he has now easily surpassed them. This feeling also requires Cui Luoheng some time to adapt.
"Why? Do you think you've become too strong?"
Su Bai asked with a smile on the other end of the phone.
"……no."
Cui Luoheng's voice was a little muffled. He didn't quite know how to describe his feelings: "I just feel that last year, there was still a huge gap between me and Brother Lu, but now it seems that the positions between him and me have been reversed. It feels a little strange."
Su Bai smiled, and then said seriously: "Don't think too much, this is the only way for you to keep improving. Now you have Lu Mengfan, and you will have more other opponents in the future."
"On the road to the top, you are bound to pass by many opponents. All you have to do is keep climbing up. There is only one top position, but there are many people who want to compete for it. You have to know that you are much luckier than Lu Mengfan. You have the opportunity to climb to the top. He also hopes to be at the top, but his hope is much slimmer than yours."
Su Bai picked up the phone, and the live broadcast of the sports channel was cut to the summary of the normal competition. What was being broadcasted was Lu Yuan's pre-match interview with Cui Luoheng and Lu Mengfan.
Looking at Cui Luoheng and Lu Mengfan on the TV screen, Su Bai tapped the table lightly with his fingers and asked, "Do you want to win?"
On the other end of the phone, Cui Luoheng was silent for a moment, then said, "I think so."
"Then this is the path you must take."
After a pause, Su Bai said, "From now on, except for the events that the Athletics Management Center requires you to participate in, you will no longer have domestic and Asian-level competitions."
"The competitions in China and Asia are just the beginning. Go out and see, there are still many strong competitors at the top of the 110m hurdles."
After listening to Su Bai's words, Cui Luoheng was silent for a moment before he said, "Then...Xiaobai, will you always stay with me?"
Su Bai didn't expect Cui Luoheng to ask this question. He smiled and said, "Of course, I am your coach. I am waiting for your performance to get me promoted!"
Even after hanging up the phone, Cui Luoheng still felt a little depressed, and he still didn't dare to ask: It's not 'we', it's 'me'.
He wanted Xiaobai to be his exclusive coach.
He didn't know where this idea came from. He knew clearly that with Su Bai's current achievements and reputation in the track and field team, he would not be allowed to be his exclusive coach, but he couldn't get rid of this idea.
He remembered what Qiu Wen had said before, that it was really not easy to win favor in the "harem" of "His Majesty Xiaobai".
After the morning's events ended and the team returned to the Chinese Building in the Sports Village, the atmosphere on the track and field team side became even more tense. However, this tension was mainly reflected in the fact that they did not dare to disturb the rest of the 400-meter team members.
At this point in the competition, the Chinese team has actually gained a complete advantage in the medal table, but is still in a stalemate in the gold medal table.
In the morning competition, after Cui Luoheng won a gold medal, the Chinese team temporarily had the advantage. However, in the three relay races tonight, Bahrain and Japan may catch up again at any time.
Among the events tonight, the only event that the Chinese team can still be said to have a slight chance of winning is the men's 4x400m final. In the women's 4x400m and mixed 4x400m events, it will be difficult for the Kingdom of Bahrain to break through with the Chinese team's current lineup.
After Jiang Wentao and the national team coaches returned to the sports village, they did not look particularly troubled. After all, the 110-meter hurdles event in the morning was indeed a boost for them. But after closing the door of the conference room, everyone still had a headache.
The competition goal that the General Administration of Sport has given to the Athletics Administration Center is to be first in the medal table and first in the gold medal table. It seems that it is quite difficult to achieve this goal now.
"Whether we can accomplish this mission or not will ultimately depend on the relay event..."
Jiang Wentao flipped through the evening schedule in his hand and couldn't help but smile bitterly.
In fact, the athletes of the national track and field team performed quite well this time, breaking more than a dozen records of the Games alone. However, just as there are exceptional performances, there are also unexpected mistakes. This is how competitive sports are. If everything could be expected, would it still be a competitive sports competition?
Wouldn't that just mean sitting in a row and sharing candy?
"Relay event... our team members are under a lot of pressure." Wang Ting sat in the conference room with his brows tightly furrowed.
Regarding the three 400-meter relay events in the evening, there were actually some trade-offs when Su Bai discussed with him within the team. After all, the athletes' physical fitness is indeed limited, and the number of mature enough 400-meter athletes is not enough to support it.
According to the original plan, for the 4x400m relay, the relay team here must ensure the men's relay. This can also be regarded as a precursor to the upcoming World Athletics Relays in May, allowing the team members to get a feel for the relay race.
As for the women's relay event, although there are several very good players on the women's team, the real leader is still Chen Yada. The others, like Lin Huan and Lin Yao, are not in particularly stable condition and still need more practice.
In this situation, on the men's team, Zhang Ziyi and others had to protect the men's 4x400m relay, and the women's team only had one strong player, Chen Yadan, to face Bahrain's Nashar and other players of the Bahrain women's team...
Whether it is the women's relay or the mixed relay, it looks like a deadly event.
Jiang Wentao was not unaware of the situation of the relay team. Take Zhang Ziyi for example. He just ran under 45 seconds in the previous final. He had run three times in a row from the preliminaries to the finals, plus the men's 4x400m preliminaries. If he ran 400 meters at full strength, the physical energy consumption would be no joke. Can this physical energy be replenished in one day?
If we really want to compete in the evening, there will be two competitions: the men's 4x400m and the mixed 4x400m!
Thinking of this, Jiang Wentao finally gritted his teeth and said, "Tonight, we will strive for the gold medal in the men's 4x400m relay. If we can win this gold medal, even if Bahrain wins the gold medals in the women's 4x400m and the mixed 4x400, we will at least be tied for first place."
After Jiang Wentao said this, the goal and tone of the evening's game were set.
However, in fact, all the coaches present, including Jiang Wentao himself, know that this kind of goal can only be strived for, and the actual situation of the game is still unclear.
In the afternoon, Wang Ting and Su Bai had a phone call. The two chatted about the evening's competition. Wang Ting meant that he didn't want to put too much pressure on the players. After all, it was just before the competition, and if he suddenly mentioned some project tasks, they might get too nervous and perform poorly.
Su Bai didn't care about it. He didn't put too much pressure on the players before the start. But when it really came to this moment, he thought it was only natural to let the players understand that they had responsibilities.
So, after hanging up the phone, Wang Ting still called together the men's and women's relay team members and held a brief meeting with them to convey the intentions of the Athletics Management Center represented by Jiang Wentao.
"However, your coach Su Bai and I still say the same thing - go all out and have a clear conscience. I let you know about this incident so that you know that as athletes of the national team, we always have responsibilities that we need to shoulder. The country trains us, so we must do our best to achieve our best results and win glory for the country.
Apart from this, you don't have to think about anything else. It's just a matter between me and your Coach Su. ”
After finishing the call, Wang Ting let the relay team disperse. But before dispersing, Zhang Ziyi and Chen Yadan still took the lead and said to Wang Ting seriously: "We will go all out in tonight's game!"
Not long after Wang Ting's meeting ended, the contestants who were preparing to compete in the evening quickly ate a simple meal and then took the bus to the Doha Stadium.
In tonight's schedule, three 4x400m relays are arranged in the last period, which is the finale of the night. The women's 4x400m relay is at 19:30, the men's 4x400m relay is at 19:50, and the men's and women's mixed relay is scheduled at 20:10.
The preparation time for the three competitions is completely balanced. For the athletes who need to participate in both the men's 4x400m relay and the mixed 4x400m relay, the mixed relay race in the evening is an absolute test of their physical fitness and willpower.
After the relay team arrived at the scene, Guo Dun, Qiu Wen and Li Junhao all stared at Zhang Ziyi and told him to take it easy in the first leg of the race and leave the hard work to them.
Zhang Ziyi laughed when he heard what everyone said: "Okay, I know my own condition, but I will go all out in the men's 4x400 today, but..."
?
When everyone heard Zhang Ziyi's words, they all turned their attention to him.
"Qiu Wen and I will not be participating in the mixed 4x400m final tonight. I will put you on the list for the men's and women's 4x400m relay later during registration."
When Guo Dun and Li Junhao heard this, they were stunned for a moment, and then immediately nodded in agreement.
Both of them have received training in the mixed relay, and they have also never missed any break-in training with the women's team.
For Zhang Ziyi, he originally planned to participate in the men's 4x400 relay and the men's and women's mixed relay, but at Wang Ting's meeting in the afternoon, they received the message that the men's relay team's goal was to win the gold medal in the men's 4x400m relay.
If that was the case, how could he possibly run slowly as Guo Dun and the others said?
After weighing the two options, he gave up participating in the mixed men's and women's 4x400 relay and handed the task to Guo Dun and Li Junhao. The reason why Qiu Wen was also picked out was because Qiu Wen's schedule in the past few days was similar to his, and he even ran harder than him in the men's 4x400m preliminaries.
In contrast, Guo Dun and Li Junhao's physical fitness would be more suitable for the men's and women's 4x400m mixed relay.
In China, since the 110-meter hurdles final in the morning, the last half of the Asian Championships in the evening has sparked countless discussions.
After all, in the morning competition, the Chinese team's gold medal finally surpassed its two competitors, the Kingdom of Bahrain and Japan, and temporarily occupied the first place in both the gold medal and medal tables. However, this ranking is only temporary after all. The final result will depend on whether the Chinese team can maintain the first place in both the gold medal and medal tables after all the events are over in the evening.
Whether in the Track and Field Kingdom or on Weibo, there are self-media related to track and field sports conducting a large number of event predictions and analyses. What is interesting is that even the media that usually cover entertainment gossip news did not miss this wave of hot topics and began to discuss how many popular players from the variety show "Track and Field Training" will participate in the evening competition.
——[Whether the Chinese team can maintain its top spot in the gold medal list tonight depends on the relay team composed of Zhang Ziyi, Qiu Wen, Guo Dun and Li Junhao, the four strongest 400-meter runners in the country! 】
——[The Chinese track and field team’s battle to defend the gold medal list! 】
——[After running four times in three days, can Zhang Ziyi and Qiu Wen maintain their form in the fifth relay tonight? 】
There are endless discussion articles with similar titles on the Internet, adding more pressure to the already tense waiting time.
As an old fan of the 400m event, Huang Yiluan was naturally discussing the evening's event in his small group with a few old friends.
Huang is a serious Huang: [This feeling is really... When did our 400-meter race become the key event that determines the gold medal standings in the Asian Championships? 】
Ma Bu Chi Cao: [I was just talking about this with Lao Yong. Over the years, our 400-meter event has made great progress in the past two years! 】
Lao Yong doesn’t want to run: [Isn’t it? Well, the schedule is a bit tight. We used to say that some athletes make a fuss about "saving their strength for the relay race" and refuse to run properly. But seeing how hard Zhang Shuai and Xiao Qiu have worked these days, and the pressure of winning the gold medal tonight is still on them, I feel that something is not so good. 】
No matter whether it’s good or bad, no matter how nervous track and field fans across the country are about the evening event, the evening event will eventually come.
Qatar, Doha 19:30 local time
After 7:30 in the evening, all the women's 4x400m athletes entered the stadium under the guidance of the staff.
There are a total of seven teams participating in the women's 4*400m event of this Asian Championships, namely India, Bahrain, Japan, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Kuwait and China.
Although China's women's 4*400m relay team had the strength to barely compete in events such as the Asian Games and Asian Championships, when it came to the final results, they did not even make it into the top three.
This time, the girls on the women's team competed in the Asian women's relay for the first time after receiving training from Su Bai.
For the girls on the women's team, although they already know that the key point of the evening's competition lies in whether the men's 4x400m relay team can win the gold medal, this does not mean that they will not take their competition seriously.
"Tonight, go all out!"
Before going on the court, Chen Yada led the girls of the women's team, clasped their hands, hugged each other, patted each other on the shoulders to encourage each other, and then stepped onto the court in a heroic and high-spirited manner.
Although they know in their hearts that, among the current women's team, only Chen Yada has the strength to compete with the women's relay team of the Kingdom of Bahrain, this is by no means a reason for them not to work hard!
Among the 7 teams, the Chinese team was arranged in the 2nd lane. When Chen Yada stood at the starting point of the relay, the first runner of the Indian women's team was in front of her on the right.
The Kingdom of Bahrain, India and Japan are all strong Asian teams in the women's 4x400m relay.
As a weak team in the relay, the Chinese women's team originally had no presence in front of these teams. However, the first runner of the Kingdom of Bahrain raised his eyebrows after turning around and seeing Chen Yada. Then, the first runner of the Indian women's team, Nirmila, noticed the gaze of the first runner of the Kingdom of Bahrain, turned around, and after seeing Chen Yada, he also showed a look of vigilance.
Even though they did not take the Chinese women's 4x400m relay team seriously, after seeing Chen Yada, they still felt a sense of crisis - this was enough to show that, at least in their hearts, Chen Yada had enough strength to be taken seriously.
After discovering Chen Yada, members of each team present showed a vigilant look. They then remembered that perhaps in their previous preparations, they had overlooked the threat of a certain team.
At this time, the game was about to start and the players of each team had no extra time to think about other things. When the starter's command came over the radio, all the first runners came to their respective starting blocks, supported themselves with their hands, and squatted on the starting blocks.
In China, audiences have already been waiting before the live broadcast, waiting for the final results of tonight's 400-meter relay races.
At the scene, the starter's instructions began to be broadcast over the radio.
"Everyone, take your positions."
"preparation."
"Bang!"
Simple and direct instructions and the crisp sound of the starting gun represent the official start of this relay!
“The game begins!”
The commentators for tonight's event are naturally still the classic duo of Shao Minyi and Li Sen. From the moment the starting gun sounded, the two began to concentrate on the changes between the various tracks on the field.
On the track, Chen Yada's start and cornering performance were excellent. Any spectator with a little experience could see that from the start, her speed was almost parallel to that of Nirmila on the third track, and she was even gradually approaching Nirmila. After Nirmila discovered that Chen Yada was the first runner of the Chinese team, he became very wary of Chen Yada behind him.
After the start, Nirmila never relaxed at all and refused to lose to Chen Yada behind him again.
"Today's women's 4x400m relay has been full of gunpowder since the first leg... The first leg is the first stop for each team to fight for their own advantages. At present, it seems that no team wants to lose in this battle!"
"Yes." Li Sen also said: "However, it seems that our team is still lacking in the reserve of strong players. For example, the Kingdom of Bahrain put their strongest player Nashar in the fourth leg, which is beneficial for their sprint in the last leg. On the Chinese team, Chen Yada was placed in the first position to gain an advantage in the second leg, but it is inevitable that there will be some deficiencies in the sprint in the last leg."
As everyone already knows, the Chinese women's 4x400m relay team still has shortcomings in overall strength. Even after more than half a year of training, the results have greatly improved, but in terms of average strength, the girls on the women's team still need to work hard.
However, no matter what the audience thought, on the track, the girls from the Chinese women's team did not show any politeness or admit that they were too weak.
When Chen Yada was about to pass the baton, no matter how reluctant Nirmila was, Chen Yada had already surpassed her in the final stage of the first baton and entered the baton passing area first to complete the baton passing.
"come on!!"
When the baton was passed to the second runner Lin Huan, Chen Yada gradually stopped and whispered her encouragement behind him.
Lin Huan's speed was slightly slower than the second runners from India and Bahrain, but she did not flinch. After quickly taking over the baton, Lin Huan started at full speed on the track. After passing the first bend, Lin Huan still managed to get into the inner lane despite being squeezed by the second runners from India, Bahrain and Sri Lanka. However, she had been squeezed into the third position at this time.
"Oh no! This is bad!" Li Sen, who was watching the situation on the track, sighed as he watched the situation on the sports channel commentary booth. "Lin Huan's lane change just now was affected by the three players from India, Bahrain and Sri Lanka. She didn't pay attention to the situation on the field and was a bit hasty in changing lanes. Now she is pressed to the innermost lane. In this position, she is also affected by other players behind her. It may be very difficult for her to switch to the outer lane and overtake..."
At this time, just as Li Sen said, on the inner lane, the seven players were already sandwiched between the innermost lane and the second lane.
Initially, after being squeezed into the third position, Lin Huan subconsciously wanted to overtake, but the seven players were running at full speed on two tracks. In this case, even if Lin Huan wanted to cut to the outside lane and rush forward, he had already lost the chance.
Next, the third runner, the fourth runner... until Lin Yao, who was the fourth runner, these girls from the Chinese team never gave up any opportunity to rush forward. But especially at the fourth runner, whether it was the fourth runner from the Indian team or Nashar from the Kingdom of Bahrain, these athletes all had rich track experience in relay races. No matter how Lin Yao chased, she could not surpass the two figures in front.
In the end, Lin Yao rushed across the finish line with the fourth runner of the Indian team in front of her. She and her teammates achieved a good result that they had never thought of in the past. However, they also witnessed with their own eyes that Nashar of the Bahrain team crossed the finish line in first place.
At this point, the Chinese team only maintained its first place in the gold medal list for half a day, and was once again tied by the Bahrain team.
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