On the public screen of the sports channel live broadcast room, everyone was happy about the scene in front of them. Although this was only the preliminaries, the most crucial thing about this World Athletics Relays was that it would determine the qualification for the 4x100m and 4x400m events in the Tokyo Olympics and the World Championships in September.
According to the regulations of the International Association of Athletics Federations, the top eight teams in the 4x100m and 4x400m events of this World Athletics Relay Championships will qualify for the Tokyo Olympics in these events, and the top ten teams will qualify for the World Athletics Championships in September this year.
Whether it is the previous women's 4x400m race or the ongoing men's 4x400m race, there are only 8 team places in the finals. In other words, the Chinese team currently advances to the finals as the first in the group, and is indeed very close to qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics.
However, there are always exceptions.
Since the qualifications for the Tokyo Olympics and the World Championships are both very valuable, in order to truly obtain this qualification, you must at least complete the final and get the final result.
In relay races, it is not uncommon for teams to fail to achieve any results due to players' careless fouls and other reasons. In some competitions, even in the same group, two or three teams will commit fouls or fail to finish the race at the same time.
The Group B final of this World Athletics Relay Championships was prepared for just such a situation.
Although the Group B finals do not participate in the final top three rankings, they do participate in the ranking of World Championship qualifications. At the same time, if a team in the final group commits a foul or fails to finish the race, the vacant Olympic or World Championship places will be filled in order according to the final ranking of the Group B finals.
This is why Shao Min did not insist that the Chinese men's 4x400m relay team has already qualified for the Tokyo Olympics.
Despite this, the live broadcast room barrage on the public screen was still filled with the same cheers - the Chinese 4x400m relay team beat Trinidad and Tobago to take first place and advance, which was much more difficult than the Japanese team's advancement to first place in the group at home.
In the audience, after their excitement, Jiang Wentao and Pei Jinan had some interested smiles on their faces.
"Oh, so in that case, in this men's 4x400m relay race, the first place winners of the two preliminary groups are both Asian teams." When Pei Jinan said this, he turned his head and glanced at Jiang Wentao.
"That's enough." Jiang Wentao also had a strange and funny look on his face. "Let's go back. I think the media is going to hype this up again - The rise of the 400m relay in Asia. What do you think of this title?"
As they spoke, Jiang Wentao and Pei Jinan looked at each other and burst into laughter.
As track and field athletes of the older generation, Jiang Wentao and Pei Jinan are both relatively down-to-earth types, whereas nowadays' various online media and even print media sometimes praise people to the skies.
Even though the Field Management Center has to deal with the media all year round and use the power of the media to promote the project, the problems of some media still give them a headache.
At the scene, Zhang Ziyi, Qiu Wen and others were standing at the end of the track. They chatted about each other's status on the field just now, while waiting for the announcement of their group's results later.
The six teams present were all waiting for the final team. The most anxious among them was the third-ranked South African team. The gap between them and Trinidad and Tobago was very small, but if they lost, they lost. Therefore, only if their final result could reach the top two among the remaining teams could they enter the final round.
Among the teams in the first group of preliminaries, everyone could see that, except for the Japanese team, the performance of the other teams was not particularly ideal. The French team, ranked third, only had a score of 3 minutes 4 seconds 19.
Theoretically, if the South African 4x400m relay team performs normally, they can definitely crush the French team. However, in today's competition, in the second leg, the rhythm of each team was obviously unbalanced because of Qiu Wen's presence. Now the Chinese team has won the first place in the preliminary group, but the other teams are still unsure about their ranking.
Thinking of this, many players from different teams secretly turned their attention to Qiu Wen - that guy was really a lunatic, a guy who was completely out of touch with the rhythm of the regular 400-meter runners on the 400-meter pace!
Especially the second runners from Trinidad and Tobago and South Africa, when they saw Qiu Wen smiling happily at the moment, they all felt a stomachache.
That scary guy set the pace, which made them lose control of their own rhythm. Even in the end, you didn’t know whether your speed was normal or not.
The two athletes who had faced off against Qiu Wen had a very clear judgment in their minds: [This is a talented athlete in the 400-meter event. 】
Competing with this type of player is really tiring. After all, being able to become the main player of the 4x400m sprint relay of various national teams, everyone present can be said to be a talented player. But when they really meet a guy like Qiu Wen, they still feel powerless.
Although they had not encountered Qiu Wen in the previous 400m individual event, both the athlete from Trinidad and Tobago and the athlete from South Africa had already been a little wary of Qiu Wen in advance.
The referee team did not let the teams wait too long. Soon, the results of all the teams in the second group of the preliminaries were displayed on the public screen.
World Athletics Relays Men's 4x400m Relay, final results of the second group of preliminaries:
First place: China (3 minutes 02 seconds 07), q (directly qualified);
Second place: Trinidad and Tobago (3 minutes 02.63 seconds), sb, q (directly qualified);
Third place: South Africa (3 minutes 02 seconds 79);
Fourth place: Belgium (3 minutes 04 seconds 26), sb...
…
The moment the results came out, the players of the South African team were visibly relieved - compared with the French team's 3 minutes 04.19, their results had a clear advantage. Now they just had to look at the performance of the third group of preliminaries. If the fourth place player in the third group of preliminaries did not exceed 3 minutes 02.79, they would be able to advance to the finals.
"It can be seen that although the South African players are relieved, they are still not able to relax completely." Li Sen glanced at the state of the South African team and directly pointed out their current anxious state: "But this is understandable. After all, their team's current fate is not in their own hands, but in the hands of the third group of teams in the preliminaries. This feeling that their fate is controlled by other teams is exactly the reason for their anxiety."
"That's right." Shao Minyi also nodded and said, "In sports competitions, only stable strength is the greatest reliance of the players. If you want to avoid the feeling of being strangled by other teams, you can only show overwhelming strength and stand at the top to avoid such a situation."
"In the same event, every team and every athlete is climbing the same peak. In the process of climbing, there are always all kinds of cruel but realistic scenes." Speaking of this, Shao Min smiled and said, "The cruelty of competitive sports is also one of the highlights of the competition."
On the field, after seeing the results, the Chinese team members turned around and followed the staff's guidance to leave the field. Among them, Zhang Ziyi and Qiu Wen still had to participate in the men's and women's mixed 4x400m preliminaries later - to be honest, that would be an even tougher battle by then.
On the domestic Internet, track and field fans breathed a sigh of relief after seeing the final preliminary results of the men's 4x400m relay. No matter what happens in the subsequent competitions, at least there is no need to worry about the men's 4x400m today.
When Zhang Ziyi and others returned to the backcourt, the women's 4x100m team had just returned from the warm-up area and were ready. After the third group of the men's 4x400m preliminaries were over, it would be their turn to compete. The men's 4x100m team that Fang Yu belonged to were also preparing to go to the warm-up area.
After seeing Zhang Ziyi and others, Fang Yu smiled and greeted them.
"Congratulations, Lao Zhang!"
Fang Yu was congratulating Zhang Ziyi and the others for having secured their Olympic qualification. After greeting Fang Yu, Zhang Ziyi and Qiu Wen also entered the men's team's lounge. The masseurs were already ready, waiting for Zhang Ziyi and Qiu Wen to come back, so that they could quickly relax their bodies and recover their physical strength in preparation for the mixed men's and women's 4x400m preliminaries later.
On the field, after Zhang Ziyi and others left the field, the last group of the preliminaries also entered the field.
If we say that in the previous two preliminary matches between the Japanese team and the Chinese team, there were only one or two masters in each group, then the third group of preliminary matches will not be dominated by just one or two masters.
It can be said that this time, the third group of the men's 4x400m relay preliminaries is a death group in the men's 4x400m relay preliminaries.
This group includes the United States, Italy, Jamaica, Britain, Australia and the Czech Republic. Among these six teams, the first four teams have all entered the finals of the men's 4x400m event at the World Championships.
To exaggerate a little, with these teams in the group preliminaries of this relay race, it feels a bit like the men's 4x400m final of the World Championships.
On the public screen of the sports channel's online live broadcast room, when some track and field fans saw the entire list of names on the team, they couldn't help but kneel down.
[…I won’t say anything else. Let me just light some candles for the Australian and Czech teams. Good luck on your journey. 】
[Brothers in front, don’t be like this. Both of these teams have entered the World Championships and are actually quite strong. 】
[Well, they are not weak, but it depends on how we compete. In this group today...if it were me, I would want to go home before I even go on stage. 】
[Me too... That’s why we can only post comments here, while others can compete against the top teams on site! 】
[Speaking of which, thank God, our team was not thrown into this death group. If we were put in it, we would have been exhausted and might not have made it to the finals, right? 】
It's not just the viewers on the Internet who say this. In the live broadcast room of Yokohama TV, the host Hirotoshi Uchimura was also lamenting the horror of the last preliminary group.
"It's such an unimaginable death group." Uchimura Hirotoki said with emotion: "Even though I'm sitting in the live broadcast room, I'm starting to get nervous. The strength of these strong players is beyond the imagination of ordinary teams. In such a competition, we must not make even the slightest mistake, right? Maybe it seems to be just a small mistake at first, but it may eventually evolve into the root cause of failure."
…
Su Bai, who was standing next to me, had already adapted to the live broadcast mode of this TV station. After I finished writing on the third whiteboard in his hand, he turned the whiteboard upside down on the table.
This was a prediction bet between him and Ryunosuke Arakawa regarding the three preliminary groups of the men's 4x400m. During this period, when the Japanese team won first place in the preliminaries of that group, Ryunosuke Arakawa obviously relaxed a little, but after the Chinese team also won first place in the preliminary group, Ryunosuke Arakawa frowned again.
Su Bai understood that Ryunosuke Arakawa might have originally thought that the ranking of the Japanese team, the atmosphere of the game, and the pressure of competing against Trinidad and Tobago would have a certain impact on the Chinese team's results. However, he did not expect that this series of conditions, which he thought should have had an impact, ultimately did not affect the Chinese team's performance.
When the Chinese team won first place in the group and finally achieved a better result than the Japanese team, Ryunosuke Arakawa's brows were visibly furrowed again.
Although Su Bai could see the mentality of Arakawa Ryunosuke, he ignored it. He came to participate in this live broadcast not to make friends with Arakawa Ryunosuke, but to accept Arakawa's provocation. There should not be a harmonious relationship between them.
As a result, a strange split effect appeared in the entire live broadcast room.
With the two tables placed in an eight-shaped pattern as the dividing line, Arakawa Ryunosuke's expression was a little serious, while Su Bai's face didn't have much special expression. At most, he gave a polite smile when Uchimura Hiroshi talked about him.
As a host, Hirotoshi Uchimura serves as a buffer between Su Bai and Ryunosuke Arakawa. No matter who he really supports in his heart, his professional qualities as a host allow him to perfectly make some harmless jokes between the two of them, making the entire live broadcast present a harmonious and professional feeling that matches the identity of the two coaches.
In this atmosphere, the third group of preliminaries officially started on the field.
From the very beginning, this game looked much more intense than the previous two group preliminaries. The reaction time of the two teams from the United States and Jamaica at the start was in the range of 0.13 seconds, which is basically the same as the reaction time in a 100-meter race.
The reaction speed when hearing the gun is also related to the player's current competitive state. This quick reaction to the gun also indirectly confirms that the first runners of both teams are in very good condition!
Not only the US and Jamaican teams, but also the British and Italian teams that participated in the preliminaries in this game also had very good starting conditions.
As for the Australian team and the Czech Republic team outside these four teams, although they seem like weak teams compared to the American team, in fact, the players of these two teams may be holding their breath to make a comeback, or they simply do not want to be outdone.
In short, the Australian and Czech teams seemed to be no less fast than the other teams at the start.
This was a game that made people dizzy, even though it was just a preliminary round. However, the atmosphere and state of competition among all the competitors made the audience feel excited while watching it. Even if there was no team from their own country among the competing teams, it did not prevent the audience from screaming excitedly for the athletes on the field.
This was especially true for the Japanese spectators who were directly facing the atmosphere of the game. Their voices echoed in the stadium, and they spared no effort to cheer for every team present.
The speed of these six teams was just like the initial impression of strength and weakness left by each team on people. The United States and Jamaica were competing with each other, followed closely by Italy and Britain, while Australia and the Czech Republic fell at the end and tried desperately to catch up.
However, in this situation, some accidents occurred during the second baton pass. The second and third runners of Italy made some mistakes when passing the baton. When the third runner of Italy finally received the baton smoothly, the inner lane position that originally belonged to him had already been occupied.
Accidents on the field always come so suddenly. After Italy's second and third runners made a mistake in passing the baton, the Czech team's third runner took the opportunity to overtake. Not only did they seize the Italian team's original position, but in the second half of the third run, after cutting into the straight road from the curve, they cut to the outside lane and overtook the Australian player in front!
The intention of the Czech team's third runner was soon discovered by the Australian team's players, but the Czech team's third runner was unexpectedly strong in the second half. When passing the second bend, he took advantage of a gap between the Australian team's players and the British team's players in front, and decisively forced his way behind the British team's players, and stood firm in this position, making it impossible for the players of the two teams behind to overtake.
The Czech team relied on the third runner's overtaking to maintain the fourth position until the end. The Italian team had hoped to at least overtake the Australian team, but they made another mistake during the baton pass between the third and fourth runners.
In the end, the group preliminaries ended with the ranking of the United States, Jamaica, Britain, Czech Republic, Australia, and Italy.
In this game, when it came to the final stage, both the United States and Jamaica teams had maintained a large advantage in victory, so in the final sprint stage, the fourth runners of the United States and Jamaica relaxed their pace and did not sprint at full speed to cross the finish line.
Even so, the American and Jamaican teams still ran into the 3:02 mark. The British team, which came in behind them, scored 3:02.96, while the fourth-ranked Czech team only scored 3:03.53.
At this point, the preliminaries of the men's 4x400m sprint relay have all ended. Except for the top two teams in the three preliminary groups who directly advanced to the finals, the top two teams in the remaining teams are South Africa with 3 minutes 02.79 seconds and Britain with 3 minutes 02.96 seconds.
"What a wonderful event!" Hirotoshi Uchimura exclaimed with admiration, and happily imagined with the audience the grand occasion of the Japanese men's 4x400m relay team participating in the pinnacle Olympic competition at the Tokyo Olympics next year.
After saying all this, Uchimura Hirotoki changed the subject and finally turned the topic to the competition agreement made between Ryunosuke Arakawa and Su Bai before the men's 4x400m relay.
"Ah, the men's 4x400m preliminaries have all ended. So we should also see who will win the final victory in the duel between the two young genius coaches' extraordinary predictive abilities."
Su Bai ignored the long string of flowery dialogues that the translator whispered in his ear. From the start of the live broadcast to now, Su Bai has learned to calmly extract key information directly from a series of flowery rhetoric from the Japanese.
After hearing the translator's words, Su Bai translated them calmly. The direct meaning was: You two can open the question board now.
So, after Su Bai finished translating in his mind, he simply and roughly turned over the three boards, which showed his predictions for the final rankings of the three groups.
After seeing Su Bai's actions, Uchimura Hirotoshi was stunned for a moment. He originally hoped that Su Bai and Arakawa Ryunosuke would take turns flipping the whiteboard one by one according to the order of the three groups in the preliminary round. He did not expect that Su Bai's actions were so neat and tidy, making the scene a little less topical.
However, Hirotoshi Uchimura quickly realized that the competition was still in progress and they did not have much time to announce and discuss the ranking.
So Arakawa quickly flipped open his three whiteboards.
When a total of 6 whiteboards were revealed, Uchimura Hirotoshi looked around. When he saw the whiteboard in Su Bai's direction, he couldn't help but whispered inwardly: "...This is really amazing!"
On the whiteboard that Su Bai showed, one could clearly and directly see Su Bai's predictions for the results of all the teams. The accuracy of these predictions was so high that it was completely beyond Uchimura Hirotoki's imagination and also exceeded the imagination of many Japanese audiences.
How is this possible? 】
Many people widened their eyes in surprise after seeing Su Bai's whiteboard.
[This coach from China...this level of precision...how on earth did he achieve it? ? ? 】
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