For the track and field team members...or for all athletes, this year's winter training time has passed too quickly.
Almost in the blink of an eye, the three-month winter training ended, and with the arrival of spring, when everything comes back to life, the domestic and international track and field indoor tours have started again.
In previous years, domestic track and field athletes had to go to Europe if they wanted to participate in some top indoor tours. This year is different. In March, the World Indoor Athletics Championships was held in City N, China. The three-day indoor championships also attracted the attention of track and field enthusiasts around the world in March, when it was still a little chilly.
In this World Indoor Athletics Championships, the three people who have qualified for the 400-meter sprint are still Zhang Ziyi, Qiu Wen and Li Junhao, and the female team member is still Chen Yada.
As the first world-class indoor track and field competition hosted in China, the domestic media and audiences have a high degree of attention to this competition. However, compared with outdoor competitions, the rules of indoor competitions in the 400 meters are different. Even though this is a two-day World Indoor Track and Field Championships, most athletes still regard this game as "a warm-up match after winter training", and the overall competitive atmosphere is not particularly strong.
But for ordinary audiences, the World Indoor Athletics Championships is a rare top event that can be seen in the country, no matter whether it is an indoor or outdoor championship. It would be great to see the top players compete in person!
The World Indoor Track and Field Championships held in City N this time saw a crazy rush to buy tickets from the beginning. During the three-day competition, all tickets were successfully sold out. In the indoor stadium newly built in City N for this competition, all the seats were full, and the entire indoor stadium, except for a small number of foreign spectators, was almost a sea of red.
For domestic track and field athletes, few have experienced the exciting feeling of having the entire audience cheering for them, especially those in the 400-meter sprint event. Given their age, they were just ordinary sports school students at the B City Olympics 12 years ago. Younger ones like Qiu Wen and Li Junhao didn't even have the concept of professional athletes back then.
At the World Track and Field Championships held in City B five years ago, Zhang Ziyi and Chen Yada were not qualified to participate in the 400-meter sprint event.
Even though Zhang Ziyi had personally watched the B City World Track and Field Championships and felt the enthusiasm of the Chinese audience, the feeling of being a bystander could never compare to the excitement of being there in person.
Under the influence of the overwhelming cheering atmosphere from the audience, many players couldn't help themselves and broke out into amazing competitive form.
In this indoor championship, the three participants, Li Junhao, Qiu Wen and Zhang Ziyi, broke the national record of 400 meters one by one, lowering the national indoor record of 45.89 that Zhang Ziyi had broken in 2019 from 45.87 to 45.82. Finally, Zhang Ziyi once again set a new record of 45.76.
On the women's team, although Chen Yada failed to break the national record, she still ran the best result in the past 20 years, which made all the spectators who came to watch the game feel very excited.
The indoor championship lasted only three days and passed in a flash. Although the schedule of this indoor championship was short, it allowed many spectators to see the progress made by the national team members during winter training.
The most obvious ones are Qiu Wen and Li Junhao. Before the game, although some people had predicted that the two would be able to achieve good results, people still did not expect that Qiu Wen, Li Junhao and Zhang Ziyi would take turns to break the national indoor 400-meter sprint record that had just been broken last year.
Although Qiu Wen and Li Junhao still failed to enter the finals in this indoor championship, their outstanding performance in the semi-finals was enough to satisfy the spectators and track and field fans.
In the men's 4x400m competition of this indoor championship, it was Zhang Jiale's first time to appear as a substitute player for the 4x400m men's sprint relay team. Although in the final competition, Su Bai still chose Guo Dun as the main player, it was also the first time that Zhang Jiale felt the audience's expectations and support for their country's athletes in the competition.
After the World Indoor Athletics Championships ended in March, domestic audiences were still reminiscing about the competition, but the national team's 400m athletes had been directly disbanded by Su Bai and sent to various indoor tours at home and abroad to find the feeling of the competition.
For example, Zhang Ziyi, Qiu Wen, and Li Junhao were sent abroad by Su Bai to participate in various international competitions since last year, while Guo Dun was still kept in the country by Su Bai at the beginning of last year and no international competition schedule was arranged for him.
This year is different. In this year's schedule, Guo Dun and Zhang Jiale, who has just joined the national team, both have international competitions on their shoulders. However, unlike Zhang Ziyi and others who are running in Europe, although Guo Dun and Zhang Jiale also have international competitions on their 2020 schedule, their international competitions are still mainly in Asia, with a small number of European competitions. The selected events are mainly at the Grand Prix level, mainly to allow Guo Dun and Zhang Jiale to gain some international competition experience.
And in the national team, the most special member is Zhang Ziyi.
In last year's competition, Zhang Ziyi's score of 44.81 seconds successfully pushed his world ranking into the top 20 of the year. During the winter training period, Zhang Ziyi received an invitation letter from the IAAF to the 2020 Diamond League.
When the national team announced the list of invitees for this year's Diamond League, Zhang Ziyi's name excited the majority of track and field fans.
This is the first Diamond League invitation letter for the men's 400m sprint event issued by the IAAF to the Chinese national team. In Asia, Zhang Ziyi's invitation letter is second to none.
Although it always feels a bit old-fashioned to talk about China's 400-meter sprint results two or three years ago, track and field fans who have watched the men's 400-meter sprint event develop all the way to the present in the past two or three years will always inevitably review the difficulties at this moment.
This is what Huang Yiluan and his brothers did.
After learning that Zhang Ziyi had actually received an invitation to the Diamond League, Huang Yiluan's small group immediately became active again.
A horse doesn’t eat grass: [Brothers, here’s the invitation to the Diamond League! ! ! Our 400-meter sprint event has finally waited for this day! ! 】
Lao Yong doesn’t want to run: [Hey, who said it wasn’t? When I saw the invitation list today, I thought I had read it wrong, but then I thought about it again, there is nothing wrong with Zhang Shuai being invited! Last year he achieved a result of 44.81 seconds. In fact, we should have thought that he would be invited to the Diamond League this year. It’s just that we never thought about it before, so we were surprised today. 】
Huang is the serious Huang: [Who says it’s not? Two or three years ago, who among us would have dared to think about the Diamond League? It would be interesting for us to see Zhang Shuai run a few more World Athletics Challenge races... Watch one race and then rest for two months, and you'll be exhausted by the end. 】
What Huang Yiluan said was exactly how domestic track and field fans felt when they watched Chinese athletes participate in the international 400-meter sprint competition.
At that time, the only domestic player who could compete was Zhang Ziyi. Although Guo Dun was ranked second in the country, his PB could not even break 46 seconds, which was enough to make it difficult for him to participate in Asian-level competitions.
Not to mention Guo Dun, Zhang Ziyi's performance under 46 seconds was rare in international competitions at that time.
Although this result was not enough to put it at the bottom of the challenge, there were really few events that track and field fans could enjoy watching. Moreover, watching live broadcasts of foreign track and field grand prix events was not as convenient as it is now. At that time, TV stations and websites did not dare to purchase online broadcasting rights at a high price, for fear that the attention would be too low and no one would watch it. Track and field fans usually had to wait for the results of the competition to come out before someone would go to foreign websites to download related competition videos.
Most of the time, everyone can only look at the game results, or add a few photo reports sent back by overseas reporters, and then satisfy their curiosity.
Huang is a serious Huang: [Although it is an old saying, but in the past two or three years, the track and field competitions in China have really changed every year. Whether it is the quality of the competition or the attention it receives, it is no longer comparable to the past. 】
A horse doesn't eat grass: [Of course? Didn’t I say that two days ago? I went to watch a domestic indoor tournament. The athletes in the 400-meter sprint event were not as energetic as before. Just look at their speed on the field. This is the most intuitive thing that the audience can see directly on the spot. Compared with previous competitions, the athletes' performance in that competition has improved a lot. 】
Lao Yong doesn't want to run: [I know about this. I asked someone about it. During the winter training last year and this year, Mr. Su gave two lectures. The 400-meter coaches from provincial teams and sports schools across the country were almost fighting for a spot to attend the lectures. These coaches said that they gained a lot and they used it to adjust the training plans of their own teams when they returned. 】
Lao Yong doesn't want to run: [In addition, the ones leading the domestic competition now are from the S Province Track and Field Team where Su Da Lao used to stay, and the other group is the players from Su Da Lao's tryout camp who have returned. As long as these players were selected into the tryout camp, even if they were not originally for the 400m event, most of them chose to change their event. After they returned to their original teams, the later they returned, the more attention they received... Each of them was treated like a treasure in the team. Now that a winter training is over, plus what they learned during the tryout with the national team, these guys are now starting to exert their strength in domestic competitions. 】
Lao Yong doesn't want to run: [In addition to these athletes, the veterans and their respective coaches also had new ideas after Su's training. Although the follow-up effects of the adjustments to these veterans' training plans are not visible for the time being, in probably only one or two years, the overall results of the 400-meter event will definitely change significantly. 】
In general, with the members of the S Province team in front and the athletes of the right age in the trial camp in the back, plus the coaches taught by Su Bai, they have a more scientific understanding of the training and coaching methods of the 400-meter event.
With such a major environmental change, the 400-meter sprint event, which used to be a mediocre one, has undergone a complete transformation, to the point that those 400-meter sprinters who were just getting by in the past are now having a hard time.
In the past, these players just muddled through life, with each player's competitive state not being very good, so no one player seemed particularly bad.
But in the current environment - not to mention anything else, many 400-meter sprint novices in the team are thinking that if they compete well, maybe one day they will be noticed by the big boss Su Baisu and get into the national team?
There are many people who hold this idea, so in every game, they have to do their best to show their strength, right?
At worst, even if Su Bai doesn't like me, getting a good grade will be good for my future qualifications!
In such an environment, if someone messes around during the game, it will be particularly eye-catching.
While various domestic competitions were in full swing, time quietly turned to April. On April 15, Zhang Ziyi, Cui Luoheng and Wang Shen once again came to Doha, Qatar.
On April 17, the first Diamond League Doha race of 2020 will be officially held here!
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