Chapter 162 (Four in One)
Cross the finish line!
Successfully crossed the finish line!
When Su Yu crossed the finish line amid the exclamations and screams of the audience, a big smile appeared on his face.
At this moment, the camera on the scene was filming the athletes crossing the finish line at a 45-degree angle from the finish line. When the camera lens was occupied by the scene of Su Yu crossing the finish line, many people in the audience silently held their hearts.
"Oh, what a beautiful child full of miracles!"
In the audience, many people were amazed by the scene that just flashed by. Although competitive sports always value strength the most, it is undeniable that players with good images are more likely to attract people's attention.
The audience at the stadium first paid attention to Su Yu because his performance in this game exceeded many people's expectations. After all, before this preliminary round, through the introduction of the official commentator on the scene, everyone already knew that Su Yu's initial results were ranked last.
Although this amazing young man from the Chinese team showed extraordinary strength in both the 100m and 200m events, his 400m result was too far-fetched in this category known as the 'death group'.
Many people in the audience had discussed Su Yu's performance before the game started. Those who participated in the discussion at that time also believed that if Su Yu had participated in the fifth group of the previous preliminaries, he might have qualified, but unfortunately he was in the sixth group of the preliminaries.
And now, this player who everyone thought might lose the qualification to advance due to luck in the group stage before the preliminaries, finally succeeded in winning the direct promotion spot in the group stage with his own strength...!
***
Domestic, in a certain urban area
The moment You Xiaomeng saw Su Yu successfully cross the finish line as the third in the group, she couldn't help but scream. The next second, the smile that was enough to impress all those obsessed with looks appeared on TV.
If she wasn't watching the game with her family at the moment, You Xiaomeng would have hugged her roommate and shouted, "Awei is dead."
After You Xiaomeng finished screaming, she just thought that it might be a bit inappropriate to scream like that. When she turned around and secretly glanced at her family and relatives around her, she saw that everyone had excited looks on their faces.
"Oh, Mengmeng, please tell us, did Su Yu win this time?"
The elders in You Xiaomeng's family seldom pay attention to these competitive sports events. For them, the concept of advancement is understandable but somewhat unfamiliar, so when it comes to competitions, they are more accustomed to the word "win".
You Xiaomeng was very excited at the moment and of course didn't mind bragging about her cub to her elders at home.
"We won, we won. We're third in the group! Didn't you hear? Teacher Tian, who just explained, said that Su Yu successfully won the last qualifying spot in this group!"
The elders nearby laughed happily after hearing this: "Ah, then this contestant named Su Yu from our country is quite good, right?"
"Of course not!" You Xiaomeng smiled brightly: "This is the first time in history that the Chinese team has successfully qualified for the semi-finals in the 400m event!"
You know, if we simply talk about "qualifying for the 400m", although Su Yu is the first athlete to qualify based on his own strength, in the early years, the Chinese team had also sent athletes to participate in the qualifiers for the 400m event. In some World Championships that did not require qualifiers, they also had experience in directly sending athletes to the 400m preliminaries.
But when it comes to successfully advancing to the semi-finals of the World Championships, this is a real first time!
Even to put it in the most realistic terms, Su Yu's achievement helped the Chinese team achieve a breakthrough in the 400-meter event.
Moreover, the result Su Yu achieved in the previous game was not in a group that was easy to advance to - just looking at the series of results of more than 43 seconds and more than 44 seconds among the players in the same group with him, you can know how difficult it was for Su Yu to directly advance in this group!
Thinking of this, You Xiaomeng suddenly remembered that in the previous groups, even in the fifth preliminaries group with the weakest players, the scores of the qualified players did not exceed 45.65 seconds.
So in this sixth group, which was originally called the 'death group', will the players' performance be bad?
Let’s take a look at the Colombian player in the eighth lane who had been chasing Su Yu all the way. Because his lane was adjacent to Su Yu’s, when Tian Ruhui and Zhou Jiming introduced the players’ results, the results of this Colombian player were connected with Su Yu’s.
You Xiaomeng still remembers that the Colombian athlete's result should be more than 44 seconds, and he is also a player who is fully capable of qualifying directly.
In this case, the Colombian player was ultimately unable to surpass Su Yu...
After recalling the race just now, You Xiaomeng felt that she had every reason to believe that Su Yu had once again broken his personal best in this 400-meter race...!
Not only You Xiaomeng, but also Tian Ruhui and Zhou Jiming were discussing the situation in the live commentary room of the sports channel.
Tian Ruhui and Zhou Jiming both believed that Su Yu should have performed "better than ever before" in this game.
Coincidentally, the TV screen began to replay the exciting scenes at this moment, and Tian Ruhui and Zhou Jiming also began to review Su Yu's performance in the previous game based on the replays.
"This part is Su Yu's explosive start - it can be seen here that Su Yu has made significant changes in the start of the 400-meter sprint compared to the beginning of the season."
"At the beginning of the season, Su Yu ran the first 100-meter stage relatively conservatively. Or, in other words, Su Yu had not yet entered his best rhythm in the 400-meter segment control. Now it seems that Su Yu has first increased his speed in the starting stage of the 400-meter sprint."
"This improvement in future abilities should actually be a clear sign of Su Yu's physical improvement."
After all, for an athlete, his theoretical physical energy is limited. How to reasonably distribute it among different sections is a big challenge for the athlete.
If you blindly increase the speed burst in the early stage, it may easily lead to insufficient physical strength and speed decline in the later stage.
But in the last game, everyone saw that Su Yu not only released a stronger speed in the early stages, but also maintained his speed very well in the later stages.
This undoubtedly shows that there is no problem with his rhythm control and physical energy distribution throughout the game.
In this case, the only explanation for Su Yu's change in rhythm is naturally that "Su Yu's personal ability (especially physical fitness) has improved."
Especially after the last race, after Su Yu crossed the finish line, he was also holding his knees with both hands and panting, and it was obvious that he was very tired and exhausted...
But he was obviously not exhausted to the point of collapse.
This state of exhaustion is already a huge difference compared to his performance in the 100m semi-finals and finals.
Of course, this difference may seem a bit strange to some viewers - why did Su Yu collapse to the ground after running 100 meters, but didn't look that serious after running 400 meters?
This is not only because Su Yu had a stronger sense of control over the entire 400 meters, but also because of more complex factors such as the degree of mental tension.
But no matter what, the staff of the Chinese team have now developed a habit of rushing to the finish line of the stadium to support Su Yu as soon as the game is over, to prevent Su Yu from collapsing and falling to the ground again.
When the staff member rushed to the stadium and supported Su Yu, he looked extremely excited. However, in order to avoid disturbing Su Yu's rest, he just handed Su Yu some energy drinks and a towel, and supported Su Yu on the stadium to wait for the final results.
To be honest, Su Yu's energy consumption in the last game was definitely not small, but because of his particularly excited mental state today, it seems that his energy consumption was not that serious.
To put it simply, he was so excited that he didn't even feel tired - of course, for an athlete, this state wouldn't matter if it was the finals, but Su Yu's state broke out a little too early, and it might affect his physical condition in tomorrow's 400m semi-final to a certain extent.
In this World Championships, Su Yu felt that although it was just a big competition, the experience he gained from it was richer than that of the past two or three seasons - just like today's premature imbalance in state, which once again made him clearly realize that even if Pei Dingshan and him made a detailed schedule plan, the ups and downs of his competitive state still could not be 100% controlled.
Compared with those world's top players who still have perfect control of their condition in the World Championships, Su Yu is deeply aware that he still has a lot of room for improvement in this regard.
While thinking, Su Yu leaned against the staff. At this time of excessive fatigue, the staff came forward to support him, which was exactly what he needed most.
After taking two breaths, Su Yu heard the staff beside him excitedly say to him, "Su Yu, congratulations!" ! ! '.
Hearing the staff's congratulations, Su Yu nodded: "Thank you."
"No thanks, no thanks, there's nothing to thank me for!"
It can be seen that the staff on the scene are a little too excited at the moment, and they want to worship Su Yu as a little ancestor.
At this time, Liu Qinlong, who was sitting in the Chinese player zone in the audience, was also overly excited.
"Ahhhhhh!!! Su Yu!!"
The moment Su Yu successfully crossed the finish line as the third in the group, Liu Qinlong felt that he could immediately "react like a young man in his old age". At that moment, he wanted to jump three feet high, and then he pulled Zheng Sheng beside him up and gave him a warm hug.
Liu Qinlong's grip was so strong that Zheng Sheng felt like his bones were about to be broken.
It's just outrageous.
Zheng Sheng desperately shouted at him to calm down and let go. He shouted for an unknown amount of time before he saw Liu Qinlong, who had let go of his hand, with tears streaming down his face.
Zheng Sheng was disgusted by Liu Qinlong's behavior: "Look at you, you just advanced to the group stage and you're already crying like this - what a loser!"
After crying and laughing for a while, Liu Qinlong finally calmed down. However, he glanced at Zheng Sheng and said with disdain, "Oh, you're talking as if you were much better than me in the 200m group race."
The two old brothers argued with each other, and finally they both laughed.
Liu Qinlong wiped away the tears from his eyes and said to Zheng Sheng with a smile: "How lucky is Chinese sprinting?"
In front were Zheng Tianxi, Feng Chuming and Zhan Youming, and behind was Su Yu.
These few people alone are enough to support Chinese sprinting for more than 20 years, especially Su Yu, who is now almost single-handedly capable of showing all track and field fans that he can stand up on the world stage!
The uplifting power and influence it has on people's hearts is indescribable.
Liu Qinlong, Zheng Sheng and others knew clearly in their hearts that after this battle, after the end of this World Championships, Su Yu would have become an irreplaceable iconic figure of the new generation of Chinese sprinting.
Because Su Yu's existence represents the rising hope of Chinese sprinting, track and field fans will place countless expectations on Su Yu in the future, waiting for Su Yu to make new breakthroughs in his achievements.
And each of his breakthroughs will become the cornerstone of track and field fans' confidence in Chinese sprinting. As long as this cornerstone continues to grow, track and field fans' confidence in Chinese sprinting will be maintained for at least ten years or even longer...!
The sprint coaching staff of the national track and field team, who were once extremely anxious because Zheng Tianxi and Feng Chuming would retire one after another after the Tokyo Olympics, no longer have any anxiety.
Not only do they have a new iconic athlete, but it is also obvious to the naked eye that this young sprinting genius has the same strong sense of responsibility as Zheng Tianxi.
Thinking of this, Liu Qinlong paused for a moment - to be honest, their excitement and reliance were actually a heavy burden on Su Yu.
This is what is called the 'burden of genius'...
Thinking of this, Liu Qinlong was considering that after returning to the national team, he must discuss the pressure distribution issue related to Su Yu with Sun Gaoshu, Pei Yongsheng, Pei Dingshan and others, and also ask Coach Pei to pay more attention to Su Yu's mental state.
On the other hand, Liu Qinlong focused his attention on the electronic screen at the scene and asked Zheng Sheng beside him: "Old Zheng, what do you think Su Yu's score will be in this game?"
Zheng Sheng's mood had calmed down. He looked at Su Yu on the field with a smile and said, "You already have an estimate, right? Why are you asking me?"
After that, Zheng Sheng said cheerfully: "Apart from anything else, this result is definitely within 45.30 seconds."
***
In the live commentary room of the domestic sports channel, Tian Ruhui and Zhou Jiming usually don't like to guess the players' results, but when it came to Su Yu's turn, they couldn't help but start discussing it.
"Just now, the first runner to cross the finish line in the sixth group of the preliminary round, Geoffrey Capello of Kenya, finished in 44.84 seconds. Of course, this is the data record of the first runner to cross the finish line, and it has not been corrected yet. But based on Geoffrey Capello's result, we can also make a simple estimate of the results of the next two runners."
"Geoffrey Capello and the second Grenadian runner who crossed the finish line had a clear advantage over Su Yu. When they crossed the finish line, there was a distance of about two steps, or about 4 meters, between them and Su Yu."
According to this data, we estimate...
Tian Ruhui and Zhou Jiming quickly calculated Su Yu's final results in their minds, but after the calculation, they were afraid to say it out loud.
This performance data...is it possible? !
Although everyone could see that Su Yu should have run a very good new record in this preliminary race, compared with the results they quickly calculated in their minds, it still seemed a little incredible...
While Tian Ruhui and Zhou Jiming were still hesitating, the picture on the electronic screen at the scene flashed, and the final results of the men's 400-meter sprinters were finally displayed on the big screen at the scene -
The title was clearly displayed on it: the final results of the sixth group of the men's 400m sprint preliminaries of the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar -
First place: Geoffrey Capello (Kenya), 44.82 seconds, Q (direct attack);
Second place: Adam Gibson (Grenada), 44.93, Q;
Third place: Su Yu (China), 45.03, NR (national record), Q;
Fourth place: Jersin Roboledo (Colombia), 45.14, q (qualified by substitution);
Fifth place: …
In the audience, when Han Yiqing, Guo Debiao and others saw the result of 45.03 seconds, almost every 400m enthusiast who came to the scene held their breath, and then they didn't know who started it first. Anyway, this group of 400m enthusiasts soon burst into tears, and many of them wiped their tears while taking out their mobile phones and quickly made video calls to someone.
"Look!!! 45.03 seconds!!"
"Damn, Su Yu ran 45.03 seconds in this preliminaries!!"
"Damn it, I'll finally see a Chinese athlete reach the edge of 45 seconds in my lifetime! 45.03 seconds, just one step away from breaking the 45-second barrier...!"
"Just one step away!!!"
When Guo Debiao was posting a video with his brothers, he was so excited that he couldn't stop crying and couldn't hide his nasal sounds. However, he was in no mood to pay attention to these things. While wiping his tears, he pointed the camera of his mobile phone towards the large electronic screen at the scene.
"Fuck, did you see that? 45.03 seconds! NR!!! China's 400-meter sprint record has been updated!!!"
"Damn, my trip to Doha World Championships was worth it!! It was totally worth it!!"
There were too many 400-meter enthusiasts like Guo Debiao who were overly excited. Whether they were at the scene or not, almost everyone went crazy after seeing the number 45.03 seconds.
If you are not a die-hard fan of the 400m event, it is difficult to understand the excitement in their hearts.
Over the past few years, even though the domestic 400-meter event has never been able to develop or improve, they have always supported this unpopular sprint event.
They also knew about the Chinese team's original strategy of maintaining the 100 meters, and they all had a beautiful expectation in their hearts - the 100 meters in the country are improving very rapidly now, and it won't be too long in the future, when the country has enough 100-meter talents, they will begin to focus on developing the 400-meter event.
But they waited and waited, but they never saw the rise of the 400m event. Instead, what they saw was the increasingly decadent status quo of the athletes in this event.
China's original 400-meter national record of 45.50 seconds was already a huge gap from Asia's top level, but domestic athletes seemed to lack the courage and idea to challenge this record of 45.50 seconds.
Including Han Yiqing, these 400-meter enthusiasts still remember the tragic situation that in the past few seasons, except for Yuan Xinghua, no athlete could run under 46 seconds.
Even though Yuan Xinghua's results were not stable at that time and his performance in foreign competitions was very poor, the domestic 400-meter enthusiasts still regarded him as the only player at that time who had the opportunity to break the 45.50 record.
It was not until Yuan Xinghua's doping scandal was thoroughly exposed, as well as his private attitude towards training and competition, that some track and field fans who had originally held some hope for him became completely disillusioned.
At the beginning, before Yuan Xinghua was quietly put on ice and his doping incident was announced, for a long time, even hardcore 400-meter sprint enthusiasts like Han Yiqing felt discouraged.
Looking to the future, they see no hope for the 400-meter sprint as an individual event.
They even felt that based on the situation of the 400m in the country at that time, even if there was a surplus of talent in the 100m and 200m events later, the 400m event would probably have already become a mess that could not be fixed.
Whenever they recall that period, it was also a painful and dark time for 400-meter enthusiasts like Han Yiqing.
Until Su Yu suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
At first, in fact, even Han Yiqing himself couldn't think of his specific thoughts when he recalled why he organized friends in the group to watch Su Yu's first 400-meter race.
Perhaps there is still some final expectation left in his heart - hoping that this young athlete who has created miracles in both the 100m and 200m events can also create some miracles in the 400m event.
Or maybe he just wanted to watch a game.
He thought - as a player who could actively participate in both the 100m and 200m races, then at least Su Yu's appearance would allow them to see a 400m race with players who did not give up, right?
The original idea was that simple.
Han Yiqing and the others didn't even have too many expectations for Su Yu's results. They just wanted to see the 400-meter runners go all out in the arena and not give up.
Looking back now, watching that game became a historic turning point for China's 400-meter sprint event.
China's 400-meter sprint event seems to have finally ushered in the light of hope after falling into the cruelest abyss.
Even though China’s 400-meter sprint event has still not broken the 45-second mark, everyone can see that hope is just around the corner, right before our eyes...!
No one knew who started it, but by the time Han Yiqing reacted, a group of them were already waving flags and banners, and shouting loudly in the direction of Su Yu on the field -
"Su Yu! Su Yu!! We love you!!!"
"Come on Su Yu! We will always support you!!!"
Although the voices of the group of people were not unified and the content of some people's shouting was also different, this still did not affect Su Yu on the field from hearing their shouting.
On the court, after Su Yu heard the voices from the audience, his mood had returned to normal after the game, and his body fatigue had begun to surge wildly. However, after hearing these voices from the audience, Su Yu still waved in the direction of the audience.
Thanks.
Thank you to all the track and field fans who came from afar and thank you for their support.
Su Yu thought that his good performance in this World Championships should be attributed to the support of these track and field fans.
***
In the Chinese athlete zone seat at the scene, even though Liu Qinlong had already made his own estimate of Su Yu's result, after actually seeing the data of 45.03 seconds, he still opened his mouth and was unable to say anything for a moment.
45.03...
It’s 45.03 seconds! ! !
Su Yu's result basically means that he improved China's original national record of 45.50 seconds by half a second within a year!
Such a crazy magnitude, even Liu Qinlong was shocked by the data before him.
On the side, Zheng Sheng was also shocked after seeing Su Yu's result.
"...Old Liu, Su Yu's result is not far from breaking the 45-second mark, right?"
After Liu Qinlong heard Zheng Sheng's words, the breath that had been stuck in his chest seemed to finally be released. He couldn't help but burst into laughter, and as he laughed, tears welled up in his eyes again.
“Yes, yes, yes!!”
"It's not far from the 45-second mark!"
There may still be a long way to go before reaching the world's top results, but once Su Yu breaks the 45-second mark, it will mean that the Chinese team will finally be able to reach Asia's top level in the 400-meter sprint!
Liu Qinlong originally thought that before he retired, he might hardly see any Chinese athlete break the 400-meter national record of 45.50 seconds.
But who could have known that in just one season, the Chinese team's 400-meter performance would improve to such an extent.
From 45.50 seconds to 45.03 seconds.
Such a leap is undoubtedly epic...! It is impactful and full of shock!
It was not until Liu Qinlong suppressed the tingling sensation on his scalp and body, and looked at everything in front of him, that he suddenly said to Zheng Sheng: "Old Zheng..."
Zheng Sheng turned his head and glanced at Liu Qinlong, without asking anything, just waiting for Liu Qinlong to say what he wanted to say.
Liu Qinlong did not look back, but looked at Su Yu who was being supported by the Chinese team staff to the backcourt, and said, "You think Su Yu's performance will bring some excitement to the domestic 400m runners, right?"
Listening to Liu Qinlong's words, Zheng Sheng laughed: "Too conservative, right? With Su Yu's performance, can it be just 'a little' exciting?"
Liu Qinlong also smiled after hearing this: "Then what I hope now is that Su Yu's results can really bring them greater stimulation and make them more sober."
"Let them know that the Chinese players are not bad. The world's top players are scary, but the Chinese players also have the hope of standing out from the most terrifying death group and achieving a miracle!"
***
"…Su Yu's performance is 0.47 seconds higher than the Chinese 400-meter sprint national record of 45.50 at the beginning of the season."
"This result also means that the Chinese team's athletes are very close to the 45-second mark in the 400 meters!"
"With the emergence of Su Yu's results, it undoubtedly means that Su Yu has officially entered the first-class level in Asia. I believe that for Su Yu, his next goal is to break the 45-second mark and bring China's 400-meter results into the 44-second era!"
"By then, it will be a small step for Su Yu, but also a big step for China's 400-meter sprint...!"
In the dim room, Li Mingzhou did not turn on the lights. He sat in his dormitory, watching Su Yu's performance on TV alone.
In his room, there was a retirement application form that had already been filled out.
He is not young anymore, and he had planned to win a place in the Asian Championships this season and then retire. Unfortunately, he didn't even get a spot in the Asian Championships, and that spot finally went to Su Yu.
Just looking back at Su Yu's performance in the Asian Championships, even someone as selfish as Li Mingzhou could not say that he could perform better than Su Yu if he were to play.
Even if he were to replace Lin Zekai, he had no confidence that he could run better than Lin Zekai.
What a ridiculous joke.
It was obvious that Li Mingzhou had great talent, but in the end he seemed to have accomplished nothing. He even wrote out his retirement application form before the winter training started at the end of the season, and planned to retire directly at the end of the season and then transfer to a local job to be done with his life.
Li Mingzhou thought - this should actually be a good result for him.
After all, he is already this age, does he still want to compete in the Olympics or the World Championships? Those are dreams that you should have when you are young.
But now if Li Mingzhou were asked to look back on his dream when he first joined the provincial team, he really couldn't remember what kind of performance and ideas he should have had.
But now he was watching the group match of the World Championships, watching Su Yu's final result, watching Su Yu's 45.03...
It turns out that when facing those international players, the Chinese team's players were not always the last to come in, right?
It turns out that the Chinese players can also make their opponents chase them in the international arena...
It turns out that the Chinese team’s players… can their results be so close to the 45-second mark? Will the players of the Chinese team also eventually enter the 44-second era? !
I don’t know when it started, but Li Mingzhou just felt his heartbeat getting faster and faster.
He didn't know when it started, but the retirement application form in his hand began to weigh more than a thousand pieces of gold. Whenever he touched it, he felt as if he was burned by that simple form.
Just as he was staring at the form in a daze, a message suddenly popped up on his WeChat phone -
[You can submit your retirement application form now. Your family has already made some connections for you. With your grades and diploma, you can go directly to the provincial sports bureau, and there will be a lot of room for advancement in the future. 】
Yes, Li Mingzhou looked at the information.
Of course he knew why he had such a selfish and quick-succession character, because his family had this kind of character running through their veins. His parents and relatives and elders were all such sophisticated egoists who would try their best to make what they thought were the best arrangements for the children in the family.
He was sent to study track and field in the first place because he had a temperament that was out of tune with his family since he was a child. He was very wild and his grades were not good.
So his family arranged another "path" for him.
He originally thought that he had broken free from the constraints of his family, but he didn't realize that the older he got, the more he became the person he never wanted to be.
After all, he wasn't as strong and determined as he thought he was when he was a child.
But this time, when he watched Su Yu crossing the finish line on TV and saw the smile on Su Yu's face at that moment, he suddenly felt that he still had some damn attachment to the 400-meter race.
He suddenly didn't want to leave the arena so early.
He is 27 years old, yes, but he is not 72 years old!
Are you going to retire from the arena now and start a life as a civil servant with a foreseeable end?
But screw him!
Li Mingzhou typed a paragraph of words quickly: [Goodbye, I won’t retire and I won’t leave. 】
After a while, the person on the other end of WeChat seemed to react. He seemed to be typing at first, but soon he made a voice or video call. From the look of his face, it was clear that he was calling to scold him, and after that he wanted him to be obedient and retire.
Li Mingzhou simply turned his cell phone to silent mode and let the voice notification ring as it pleased - it had nothing to do with him anyway.
After making up his mind, he switched to another chat page and sent a message to his head coach:
Li Mingzhou: [Lao Zhang, can you give me a chance? Should we increase the amount during winter training? A few more games next year? 】
Recently, his head coach probably saw that he was planning to retire and has stopped paying much attention to his training.
After returning from training with the national team, I found a few good talents in the youth group and began to train new players with all my strength.
Li Mingzhou originally thought that it would take some time for Lao Zhang to reply to his message. However, not long after he sent the message, he saw the other party start "typing..." and typed for a long time, but he didn't know what he was struggling with.
After a while, he saw a message coming from the other side.
Lao Zhang: [What? Not retiring? 】
Li Mingzhou: [What? Are you in your seventies or eighties? It took me an hour to type just these few words? 】
Lao Zhang: […Fuck, you traitor, have you grown wings enough to talk to me like this? ! 】
Lao Zhang: [No, you have changed your character? I haven't seen you acting like a little gangster in years. What's wrong? Don't you really want to retire? 】
Li Mingzhou: [Why, do you want me to retire so much? I just ask you if you will give me a chance. 】
Lao Zhang: [Hey, kid! If you really don't want to retire and really want to train more, then just wait, I will give you a big package during the winter training! ! 】
Li Mingzhou: [Are you so impatient? 】
Lao Zhang: [Haha, kid, I haven’t bullied you in a long time, and I feel refreshed. But to be honest, you have a really good talent, but you just wasted it... Never mind, the environment at that time didn’t have much to do with you. Anyway, if you still want to fight now, grab the chance and fight for a few more years! 】
Lao Zhang: [You are really talented. If you work hard in the next few years, who knows, you might be able to achieve some kind of late bloomer achievement? But what's wrong with you, kid? Why did your mind suddenly turn 180 degrees? 】
Li Mingzhou: […Nothing much, probably just watched a game. 】
…
At the same time, similar conversations were not only taking place between Li Mingzhou and his coach Lao Zhang.
Like Zhang Mingliang, Lin Zekai... and many other athletes who have put in a lot of effort in the 400m event but gave up in the end.
Su Yu's achievement and his performance in the World Championships are like a ray of light that breaks through the long night for many domestic 400m runners, planting the seeds of hope and desire in the dried-up hearts of these runners.
From then on, flowers of hope blossomed in the fertile soil of everyone's heart.
***
At this moment in Doha, Qatar, Su Yu did not know the various changes that were taking place in the country because of his performance in this game.
After the results came out, he followed the staff towards the backcourt locker room. On the way, he naturally met Liu Yu, Lin Weixiong and others. In fact, it was not just Liu Yu and Lin Weixiong. Some media from other countries also invited him for an interview after seeing him. Su Yu also stopped and gave some simple answers.
For these international media, if Su Yu was just a player with outstanding talents in 100 meters and 200 meters two days ago, then after he advanced to the semi-finals in 400 meters today, his value has increased infinitely.
After all, if it was just 100 meters and 200 meters, even in this World Championships, there were athletes like Su Yu who successfully advanced to the semifinals in both events, and there was even a multi-event athlete who advanced to the finals in a single event.
After advancing to the semifinals in all three events, considering Su Yu's age, this almost represents a miracle.
At the same time, Su Yu still has too many records, such as his men's 100m sprint WU18B (world U18 best). Currently, with his 200m PB reaching 20.21 seconds, while breaking the Asian youth record, Su Yu's 200m personal best in history is approaching the world 200m U18 best of 20.13 seconds created by the legendary sprint king.
For these foreign media, Su Yu has performed too many miraculous things. If it weren't for the fact that as the records he created increased day by day, he would have already become the subject of routine spot checks by the World Anti-Doping Agency, and his spot check results have been as clean as they can be so far, otherwise the rumors about him would have been a series of negative news.
Now facing this new generation of Chinese sprinting genius who has won a series of impressive results in the World Championships, these foreign media have finally put aside their initial judgmental scrutiny and are truly interviewing him as an excellent athlete.
——"Su, you are now synonymous with miracles. Perhaps we can know what your current goal is in the sprint event?"
——"Su, now that you have qualified for the 100m and 200m events at the Tokyo Olympics next year, will you challenge for the 400m event next?"
——"Su, do you think you still have a chance to go further in tomorrow's 400m semi-final?"
——"Su..."
Su, Su, Su...
When passing through the circle of foreign media, the staff only heard the voices of these foreign media calling Su Yu's name.
Even after the matches between Zheng Tianxi and Zhan Youming, it was rare to see a large amount of foreign media paying close attention to them.
The staff were originally worried that Su Yu would not be able to deal with these foreign media, but when they heard Su Yu speaking fluent English to these foreign media during interviews, the staff suddenly remembered - Oh, by the way, Su Yu is not some little contestant who can't speak English fluently, he is a top talent that is fought over by Q University and B University, so accepting interviews in English is probably a piece of cake, right?
Su Yu did not notice what the staff were thinking. After he answered the questions from foreign media one by one, he saw Liu Yu and Lin Weixiong not far away.
But both Liu Yu and Lin Weixiong just looked at him with a smile, and did not ask him any complicated questions. Instead, they asked him a question that seemed very "confusing" - what do you think of this game?
Su Yu could see that both Liu Yu and Lin Weixiong could see that he was tired, so they planned to let him finish the interview so that he could return to the backstage lounge to rest early.
Su Yu paused for a moment, then blinked gratefully, and finally said with a smile: "Very good, right? But of course I also hope that I can perform better in tomorrow's game - although for me, today has indeed reached my limit."
Liu Yu and the others didn't expect that Su Yu didn't answer using their usual trickery, but instead answered with something like this.
Liu Yu subconsciously asked: "Xiao Yu, are you saying that your condition today has reached its limit? Aren't you worried that the audience will be disappointed with your answer?"
As soon as he asked the question, Liu Yu wanted to slap himself - what kind of question was that?
But Su Yu didn't mind. He said seriously, "I will try my best in tomorrow's game, but I can't guarantee my results tomorrow - it is precisely because of the unknown that competitive sports are full of a different kind of charm."
"I also believe that as long as I give my all in the competition, the audience will understand and support me no matter what my final result is."
"I will do my best to live up to expectations, and I also believe that the audience will not be disappointed in me because of my occasional shortcomings - I think this is the kind of tacit understanding that I can have with the audience that does not need to be explained."
…
It was not until Su Yu finished the interview and left that Liu Yu and Lin Weixiong suddenly realized that Su Yu's answers to reporters now seemed much more mature and fluent.
They could hear that Su Yu's answer was conveying the idea of the most harmonious relationship between athletes and spectators.
Liu Yu said with some emotion: "...Su Yu, this child is not the type to be so precise in his words."
Of course Lin Weixiong also knew this.
Liu Yu sighed deeply: "If I'm not mistaken, there should be some signs in the national team that Su Yu will gradually take over Zheng Tianxi and others, although this is a matter of time..."
It’s not that there’s anything wrong with Su Yu’s appropriate answer now, but Liu Yu still feels that the burden on Su Yu is a bit too heavy.
Lin Weixiong patted Liu Yu on the shoulder at the end and said, "Okay, Liu Ji, don't worry so much. I actually have some other ideas. I'm afraid Su Yu made such a speech today because of the emotion brought to him by the track and field fans at the scene. Didn't you see how crazy those track and field fans from China were before the opening and after the end of the game?"
After listening to Lin Weixiong's words, Liu Yu was suddenly stunned. He felt that it was a bit too early for him to worry about these things.
***
Su Yu, who had already returned to the backcourt lounge, had no idea about Liu Yu and the others' troubles. After returning to the lounge, he first took a breath, drank a few sips of energy-replenishing drinks, and then let out a long sigh of relief.
At this moment, besides him, the only one left in the backcourt locker room was Zhan Youming, whose game was still very early to start.
After he came back, Zhan Youming gave him a big hug, rubbed his head fiercely, and then said with a smile: "Ah, Su Xiaoyu, your 400-meter performance is so outstanding. I have to go all out in my 200-meter race tonight to avoid being outdone by you."
Su Yu blinked, but he didn't believe that Zhan Youming was going to "go all out" for his 400 meters. After all, he already knew about Zhan Youming's "medal-winning declaration."
Zhan Youming probably saw that Su Yu didn't believe it, so he pointed to the live TV in the room with a smile and said, "Hey, whether you believe it or not, we'll tell you later. Now that your competition is over, it's our turn to watch the men's high jump competition together!"
At this time, it is 5:00 pm local time in Doha, and today's men's high jump qualifying competition is just about to begin.
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