That night, domestic track and field enthusiasts were all jubilant. After Song Chen's retirement, the hurdles event, which had been dormant for more than ten years, has revived again. The performances of Su Zhe, Zhou Tianjue and Ye Jun this time can be regarded as a rare highlight moment in the hurdles event in the past decade.
Domestic sports commentators wrote articles to celebrate the collective victory of the hurdles event in the Olympic preliminaries.
[Although this is only the preliminaries, the performance of Su Zhe, Zhou Tianjue and Ye Jun gives us hope for the rise of many heroes in the hurdles event.]
While people were celebrating online, in a small meeting room belonging to the Chinese team in the Tokyo Olympic Village in Japan, Su Zhe and others were having pre-match communication with the cross-country coaching staff before the second day of competition.
Lu Fei sat at the conference table and pointed at the semi-final group list he had already obtained. The groups on this list were not very friendly to Su Zhe and others from the Chinese team.
Or it should be said that any of the semi-final teams in this semi-final list can be called the group of death.
Similar to the 100m event, the 110m hurdles semi-finals are also divided into three semi-final groups. The top two athletes in each group will qualify directly for the next round. Finally, the top two athletes among the remaining athletes will also qualify for the final.
In the semi-final group list, Ye Jun is in the first group, and Holness is in the same group with him. In addition, Spanish strongman Alcides, American star Louis, and French player Adolf are also in this group.
Among these people, Holness' current personal PB is 12.97 seconds, which he ran in the Jamaican domestic competition this year, Alcides' personal PB is 13.05 seconds, Louis 13.17 seconds, Adolf 13.28 seconds, and Ye Jun's previous personal PB was 13.27 seconds, which is just barely higher than the level of French athlete Adolf.
Although in actual competitions, what matters is not the player's personal PB, but the player's personal condition and performance in the game. However, the personal PB that the player has achieved represents the player's upper limit most of the time, and is also an important reference for dividing the player's strength level.
If Ye Jun wants to advance in this group, then anyone in the semi-final group, whether it is Holness, Alcides or Adolf, will be his strong opponent.
The situation of Su Zhe's group is similar.
In the second group of the semi-finals where Su Zhe is located, there are Brazilian star Elano, American team's Train, French team's Huber, and Percival, who is also from Jamaica.
Among these players, Elano once ran under 13 seconds, with a personal PB of 12.98, and Train's personal PB is 13.07. Both of their personal PBs are higher than Su Zhe's 13.10. Although the remaining players are not as good as Su Zhe in personal PB, they may not be without threats. For example, Huber from the French team, his personal PB of 13.16 is already world-class.
Looking at the third group of the semi-finals where Zhou Tianjue is located, his current personal PB is 13.24, and he will face American star Lister with a personal PB of 12.95, Brazilian star Gomez with a PB of 13.13, British player Andre with a PB of 13.22, and other national stars.
"You have also seen the group list." Lu Fei sat at the conference table, tapping the table with his right index finger from time to time, looking at Su Zhe and others who were also sitting in the conference room, "How is it? What do you think?"
After staring at the list for a moment, Su Zhe retracted his gaze and shook his head with a smile: "I don't have any ideas."
For athletes, no matter what kind of opponent they face, they must not be stage-frightened or afraid of fighting.
He had already ingrained this idea into his bones, and it didn't matter to him what kind of opponent he would encounter.
In fact, it's not just him. The same goes for Zhou Tianjue and Ye Jun.
Zhou Tianjue's sharpness and Ye Jun's calmness, these personality traits of theirs destined them to not be the kind of people who would be afraid of the enemy on the battlefield.
Just as Su Zhe thought, Zhou Tianjue snorted and didn't say much.
Ye Jun just said very calmly: "I will do my best."
After Ye Jun's answer, the conference room was silent for a long time, with only the sound of Lu Fei's index finger tapping on the table.
Du, du, du…
After a minute or two of silence, Lu Fei said, "Although I shouldn't put all this pressure on you before the game, I still want to make a request to you."
"Keep trying. I hope to see athletes from our Chinese track and field team in the finals."
This requirement was indeed a pressure on Su Zhe and others, but it was also the driving force that pressed down on them from behind and urged them to move forward.
Sometimes, pressure and motivation are just a thought away.
Compared with Su Yinsheng, Lu Fei's coaching philosophy and ideas are more delicate and detailed. He is more experienced than Su Yinsheng in controlling the players' psychology.
He had thought deeply about what he said to Su Zhe and the others, including the seemingly pressured attitude. He was very sure that for Su Zhe and the others, these words and his attitude would not be a pressure that would crush them, but would stimulate them to achieve better competitive state on the court.
After finishing the conversation with Su Zhe and others, Lu Fei waved his hand and let them go back to Su Zhe. Afterwards, only Lu Fei and his coaching team members were left in the conference room.
"Lu Tou'er, in tomorrow's game, how many of Jue'er and his friends do you think will make it to the finals?"
Assistant coach Wang Zheng asked with some concern.
Lu Fei rubbed his forehead and smiled calmly, "You know what happened on the field, right? No one can tell until the actual competition. If we really talk about the current results, the one who is most confident of entering the finals is of course Su Zhe. His results have been stable at more than 13.10 seconds before... In today's preliminaries, he seemed to have found a way to pace in front of the hurdles. If he finishes today's race well, he should be able to break the 13.10 mark."
What Lu Fei did not say was that Su Zhe's most terrifying quality was his extreme stability in personal performance. When other players, such as Lister, had performance fluctuations of around 0.2 seconds during a competition, Su Zhe's performance fluctuations were usually stable at around 0.1 seconds as long as he did not deliberately let his guard down.
An athlete who has unlimited potential to be tapped, whose performance is constantly improving, and who can always perform at a high level...
Whenever he thought of this, Lu Fei felt a little jealous of Su Yinsheng's family.
Nothing happened that night. The next day, because the semi-final of the 110-meter hurdles was scheduled for the morning session of August 5, Su Zhe and his friends got up early. After breakfast and a series of preparations, they took a special bus to the Tokyo New National Stadium.
8:00 AM in China.
Due to the time difference between China and Japan, in order to watch the semi-finals of the 110-meter hurdles event as soon as possible, many members of the Athletics Kingdom Forum have been hunkering down on the forum at this o'clock, reading forum posts while waiting for the live broadcast to start.
After the brisk preliminaries the day before, many forum members in the hurdles section of the track and field kingdom began to feel anxious again today. Especially after the semi-final group list was announced, the anxious atmosphere in the forum became even stronger.
Topic: [Discuss, among these three semi-final groups, which one is not the death group? ]
1L: [… Let’s discuss. Each of these three groups is a death group.]
3L: [I second.]
4L: [I second.]
5L: [I second.]
…
In this post, after the big brother on the first floor gave the answer, no one raised any objection, which shows how big an impact this grouping list has on everyone.
17L: […I’m so stupid, really. I only knew that Zhe Shao, Jue Ge’er, and Jun Ye advanced easily in the preliminaries, which made people feel happy, but I didn’t expect that the semi-finals would be like this.]
18L: [Don’t mention it. I originally thought that the semi-finals were actually fine. It wasn’t until I saw the group list for the semi-finals that I finally came to my senses. I’m smoking a cigarette now, feeling so worried!]
For those in the track and field world who have been watching various international 110m hurdles competitions for many years, the group list for the semi-finals should be very familiar.
Each group has familiar and memorable names, and the reason why these names leave a deep impression on people is because they have had outstanding performances in the competition.
But no matter how worried the forum members are, the competition will come as scheduled.
At 10:10 am, the semi-finals of the 110-meter hurdles officially began.
Su Zhe, who had already finished warming up in the warm-up venue, saw Holness and Ye Jun waving at him at the same time, and then watched them step onto the court first.
In the waiting area for the competition, there was a huge live TV screen hanging on the wall. Ye Jun, Holness, Alcides, Luis and others had already walked to the starting point of the track and began to adjust their starting blocks.
Not only Su Zhe, Zhou Tianjue also frowned and looked at Ye Jun in the live broadcast with a serious face.
For Su Zhe and Zhou Tianjue, Ye Jun is more than just an ordinary teammate.
He silently cares for everyone around him, truly cares for every friend, seriously considers and relieves everyone's worries, and has a firm heart.
Whether it is Su Zhe or Zhou Tianjue, they both ask themselves if they can be as perfect as Ye Jun.
This is a gentle but determined man who climbed up step by step from adversity. He has passed his golden age as a hurdles athlete, but after reaching the age of 28, he has continued to refresh his personal records.
Since last year, everyone has been saying that Ye Jun is a late bloomer, and everyone is impressed that his achievements have finally reached new highs step by step. However, only by being by his side and watching his extreme efforts can one truly appreciate how much effort he has put in to achieve this "late bloomer" and "sufficient accumulation for a sudden burst of success."
Come on.
Su Zhe took a deep breath, looked at Ye Jun on the court, and cheered for him silently.
On the field, the referee's voice has sounded, and all the athletes have stopped their actions, squatted on their own starting blocks, and made a ready posture.
"Everyone, get ready..."
"Bang!"
When the gun fired, the eight competitors on the track moved at the same time and started a race for speed on the track!
"The competition begins!"
In the live broadcast room of the sports channel, Zhang Jing and Wang Miaochuan also lost the ease and calmness of the previous day. They watched the track nervously, looking forward to Ye
Jun was able to perform a miraculous performance in this game.
On the track, the one who stood out from the dust was still Holness, the black lightning. This Jamaican genius boy not only had first-class physical fitness, explosive power and skills, but also had a sharp reaction to gunshots and a terrifying speed beyond ordinary people.
His reaction time of 0.121 seconds, coupled with his strong personal explosive power, makes him like a flash of lightning on the court. It seems that he will disappear in front of everyone's eyes in just a blink of an eye!
The second place on the track is Alcides from Spain. He is indeed a top athlete in the 110-meter hurdles. His reaction time of 0.127 seconds is also better than many people in the field. He also uses the seven-step technique in front of the hurdles. His explosive power and forward momentum are very good. In the process of crossing the hurdles, his excellent hurdle-crossing technique and rhythm are also smooth and pleasing to the eye.
Ye Jun's reaction time in this game was not slow either, with a reaction time of 0.126 seconds, which was even slightly better than Alcides. He now knows his steps in front of the hurdles by heart. He used to start with his right leg, but now the explosive power of his left foot when he steps on the starting blocks no longer belongs to his right foot.
He used perseverance that is beyond the reach of ordinary people to force himself to change his personal habits in a short period of time. This perseverance alone is enough to make people admire.
After a short period of competition in front of the hurdles, his attacking skills have now reached a new level. He has already corrected the technical details such as swinging his legs too slowly and so on. When crossing the hurdles, he has practiced thousands of times and has been constantly approaching the limit.
Every hurdle-passing movement he makes is a display of strength and beauty.
Not only that, these precise technical movements also helped him perform better on the court.
In this race, even Louis, whose personal PB was better than his, only drove side by side with him at the first four hurdles. As he continued to control the rhythm of attacking the hurdles, his personal rhythm became smoother and faster. Soon, he successfully left Louis behind and began to chase Holness and Alcides in front of him on the track.
He remained calm and composed throughout the attack, but if you look closely at his eyes, you can tell that there is also a raging fire burning in his chest, and he is also extremely persistent in pursuing victory.
When he crossed the tenth hurdle, he was already very close to Alcides, who was in second place, with a gap of less than two body lengths between them!
"Come on Ye Jun!!!" Zhang Jing shouted loudly in the live broadcast room of the sports channel.
But with Zhang Jing's cheers, the first two people to cross the finish line were still Holness and Alcides.
Ye Jun tried his best to catch up, but at the last moment, he was unable to overtake.
"Ah... Ye Jun crossed the line!" Zhang Jing paused as he watched Ye Jun cross the line on the screen, and said, "In the 110-meter hurdles semi-final, our athlete Ye Jun won the third place in the first group of the semi-finals."
"In this match, Ye Jun showed his strong personal strength. Although he has not yet qualified for the finals, his third place in the group still gives him a certain advantage."
All the audience watching the live broadcast had actually been mentally prepared for Ye Jun's failure to directly qualify for the finals. However, when they saw Ye Jun trying his best and was just a little bit away from catching up with Alcides, everyone felt a surge of regret and pity.
On the court, Ye Jun slowed down and stopped after running past the finish line. He covered his eyes with one hand. After calming down for a moment, he let go of his hand and took a long breath.
Third place in the semi-finals?
Thinking about it, I still feel a little unwilling.
Ye Jun shook his head silently, and then after seeing all the results of the first group of the semi-finals displayed on the big screen, he glanced at his own results, with a complicated look on his face, and walked off the field with the crowd.
In the sports channel, Wang Miaochuan looked at Ye Jun's results and revealed a regretful expression: "Semi-final preliminaries, first place, Holness (Jamaica), 13.01 seconds (wind speed -0.2m/s), second place, Alcides (Spain), 13.14 seconds (wind speed -0.2m/s), third place, Ye Jun (China) 13.21 seconds (wind speed -0.2m/s)..."
"In this semi-final, Ye Jun successfully refreshed his personal PB. Let us congratulate him and let us look forward to whether this result can help him successfully enter the finals!"
Amid the commentary of Zhang Jing and Wang Miaochuan, the second group of the semi-finals that Su Zhe was in had already entered the competition field.
In this match, Su Zhe was in the fifth lane. On his left was his old rival Elano, and on his right was Train from the American team. This three-way stand made everyone nervous before the match even started.
In the track and field kingdom forum, some forum members who consider themselves as overconfident fans are now afraid to watch the competitions and only dare to read the competition-related information posted by other forum members.
When Ye Jun's result of third place in the first group of the semi-finals came out, all the players in the forum sighed, and when Ye Jun's result of refreshing his personal PB came out, the sighs became even louder.
Born at the wrong time...
Almost all forum members on the cross-column section couldn't help but think of this sentence when looking at Ye Jun's grades.
When Ye Jun first entered the arena, Song Chen retired and the domestic attention was focused on the highly anticipated supernova Hong Mingwei at the time. After Hong Mingwei's retirement, Ye Jun's performance had not really taken off, and for a long time, he was not very eye-catching.
Later, when he was the sole leader of the Chinese team's hurdles event, his results were only considered first-class in Asia. He still had considerable personal bottlenecks, and even his qualification for the World Championships was barely obtained.
When he really started to continuously refresh his personal achievements, two talented players, Zhou Tianjue and Su Zhe, diverted the attention from him at home, and super players like Holness emerged internationally.
Judging from today's semi-final, if Holness wasn't in his group, he might have been able to advance directly to the final.
In Ye Jun, many people saw the subtle arrangements of fate and his determination to fight against fate.
Su Zhe stood at the starting line. He had already adjusted his own starting blocks. Just now, the image of Ye Jun running forward with all his might was still echoing in his mind.
He naturally understood how much Ye Jun valued the Olympics and how much effort Ye Jun had put into it.
Just now in the final sprint stage, he failed to overtake Alcides. After crossing the finish line, Su Zhe also saw Ye Jun covering his face with his hands.
For Ye Jun, who was always calm and reserved, that was an expression that he would only show when he was extremely emotional.
Even so, before leaving the stage, Ye Jun turned around and greeted him, and made a firm gesture of encouragement to him.
Faced with Ye Jun's expectations, Su Zhe took a deep breath, put all distracting thoughts behind him, and began to look firmly at the ten railings in front of him and the finish line behind the railings.
"Come on, come on Su Zhe!"
In the audience seats, there were cheers from Chinese audiences, Japanese audiences, and even other overseas audiences.
Listening to these voices, Su Zhe asked himself.
Carrying the expectations of his teammates, the expectations of his supporters, the coaching staff, the national team... and the expectations of millions of Chinese people, how could he not give it his all?
The blood in his body was boiling and surging. When the referee's voice sounded, Su Zhe and the seven opponents around him squatted on their starting blocks at the same time, ready to take their own positions.
The referee's voice came over the radio again.
"Everyone, get ready."
Then, there was the sharp sound of a starting gun: "Bang!"
The moment the gun fired, Su Zhe keenly caught its sound, and at the same time, his left foot stepped on the starting block, his strength suddenly burst out, and then his body naturally changed from the preparatory posture to the forward posture!
Step, step, step.
With fast and powerful pedaling steps, Su Zhe quickly raised his upper body, and relying on the best force-generating habits that he had already formed in his memory, he began to rush forward with the best rhythm and posture!
His body leans forward slightly, and under the influence of the seven steps in front of the fence, his body center of gravity moves forward. In this state, his explosive power can also bring better forward effect.
It is difficult to describe the subtle changes in muscle control more clearly in this state, but Su Zhe can clearly feel that he has a deeper understanding of the changes in stride length, stride frequency and even muscle power when striding in front of the hurdles.
This understanding enables him to make the best use of his physical condition and achieve better results in this race!
From the viewing seats, all the spectators could see how agile and swift Su Zhe's movements were. He was like a ray of white light, passing in front of everyone's eyes, just like the black lightning in the previous game, making it difficult to chase and capture him!
"Woo! This is a terrifying speed!"
In the audience, some people opened their mouths in amazement, marveling at the amazing speed shown by Su Zhe.
In the audience seats near the racetrack, Shao Xingchen was holding his camera and concentrating on taking pictures of the boy who was difficult for the camera lens to capture.
On the track, Suzhe's speed in front of the fence has reached its limit, and not far behind him, Elano and Train are also chasing closely!
Of the two, Elano is already Su Zhe's old rival. He is well aware of Su Zhe's weakness in the stage before the hurdles. However, in today's game, Su Zhe's performance in the stage before the hurdles surprised him so much that he somewhat disrupted his own rhythm.
But Elano is worthy of being one of the world's top players. He quickly suppressed his surprise and focused all his attention on his own game.
Train and Su Zhe had played against each other less frequently, and it was not until he competed against Su Zhe on the same track that he truly realized how powerful this Chinese athlete, who was often praised by his teammate Lister, was.
In the sports channel commentary room, Zhang Jing and Wang Miaochuan both showed excitement after seeing Su Zhe's performance.
"Su Zhe's performance in the first stage of the hurdles today was also excellent! His seven-step attack technique in front of the hurdles has reached a whole new level, which gives him a chance to win against other strong opponents in the first stage of the hurdles!"
There was a period of time before that when Su Zhe's performance in the pre-hurdle stage lagged behind, it had always been a concern for many people. At that time, some people lamented that if Su Zhe could improve his weakness in the pre-hurdle stage, then his performance in the 110-meter hurdles would be able to reach a higher level.
Just as that person said, after Su Zhe's performance and condition in the pre-hurdle stage gradually improved, his overall performance has been greatly improved. And in today's Olympic 110-meter hurdles semi-final, his outstanding performance in the pre-hurdle stage will definitely bring even better results!
"Come on! Come on!! Come on Su Zhe!!"
On the track, Su Zhe listened to the thunderous cheers from the crowd, he gritted his teeth, and stared at the finish line in front of him - he wanted to take first place on this track, for the sake of so many expectations and responsibilities he carried, and also for the desire and belief in his heart!
quick.
Hurry up.
Faster!
Even if the other opponents behind you haven't caught up with you yet, you can't let your guard down!
Only when you truly maintain this victory until the last moment and finally get the final victory, that is the real and true victory!
Su Zhe listened to the sounds surging from the bottom of his heart, along with the pounding of his heartbeat, the sound of his breathing, and the sound of his footsteps and stepping over the fence.
Every step he takes has a natural sense of rhythm.
On this track that requires excellent sense of rhythm, his talent for controlling his own hurdle rhythm enables him to have a beast-like keen perception and control over his own hurdle rhythm and speed.
He kept increasing his speed on the track, and his pace increased with each hurdle he passed. This increasing speed and rhythm gave him the thrill of constantly chasing and catching speed.
He thought, he could go even faster!
As Su Zhe continued to attack the hurdles and approached the seventh hurdle, he had already reached his fastest hurdle-breaking speed. But until this moment, his speed still showed no signs of decreasing. Even when he reached the eighth hurdle, when theoretically he should have experienced a slight slowdown in speed, he still maintained his fastest speed!
Behind him, Elano once again clearly noticed that this terrible Chinese boy had made new progress!
This realization made Elano marvel and envy.
He was sure that he had performed well in today's semi-final, but from the start, he was unable to truly surpass Su Zhe and take the lead.
Even so, Elano did not give up. He kept his eyes fixed on the front, determined to try his best to catch up with and surpass Su Zhe in the final stage!
Among the three, Train was a little slower, but he also did not give up the fight for the direct qualification to advance to the next round of the competition.
Even at the final moment, no one on this track thought of giving up!
“Sprint! It’s time for the sprint stage!”
In the commentary room of the sports channel, Zhang Jing and Wang Miaochuan both held their breath at the same time. They watched Elano and Train reach the sprint stage at the same time on the track. The gap between them and Su Zhe was not that big. If they were not careful in the final sprint, they might turn victory into defeat...
However, even on the 110-meter hurdles, Su Zhe's ability to accelerate in the latter stages has never disappointed anyone!
In the final sprint, Su Zhe, with the momentum accumulated in his future, sprinted forward with powerful steps. Finally, with a strong sprinting posture and an undoubted victory, he crossed the finish line of the 110-meter hurdles track!
In the Chinese players' booth in the audience, Qiu Wenzhong and others couldn't help but stand up in excitement when they saw Su Zhe cross the finish line first!
In the semi-final of the previous group, Ye Jun's performance was enough to make them happy, but the fact that Ye Jun failed to successfully secure the top two spots and advance directly still left them with some concerns.
Until this moment, until Su Zhe completely crossed the finish line of the 110-meter hurdles semi-final in first place, Qiu Wenzhong and others finally breathed a sigh of relief and waved their hands excitedly.
After more than a decade, the Chinese team's hurdlers finally made it to the finals of the Olympic 110-meter hurdles event again!
The author has something to say: Ahhh, two semi-finals, I tried my best! QAQ See you tomorrow!!!
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Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or gave me nutrient solution~
Thanks to the little angel who cast the [mine]: 2 bean☆sprouts; 1 Xiaowu, and or not, and original potato chips;
Thanks to the little angel who irrigated the [nutrient solution]:
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