For track and field competitions held in outdoor venues, outdoor wind and rain was also one of the factors that athletes couldn’t avoid and would definitely encounter.
In sprint and long jump events, if the wind speed was high, it would affect the athletes’ performance to a certain extent, and a lot of athletes’ individual pb was achieved under such circumstances. It was also because the wind speed had a real impact on the athletes’ performance, so in the official competition, when the wind speed exceeded 2 meters per second, any record-breaking performance of the athletes wouldn’t be recognized by the IAAF.
[TN: IAAF—— International Association of Athletics Federations]
As an athlete, it wasn’t possible to enjoy the performance bonus when competing in outdoor venues when the wind was blowing, but the wind and rain were also realistic factors that athletes had to face.
When Su Zhe, Zheng Jian, Zhao Zhixuan and his father Su Yinsheng arrived at the scene, it was still drizzling.
Su Yinsheng frowned, apparently he was a little worried about the situation, not because he was worried about his disciples and Su Zhe’s participation being affected, but in fear that the rain would affect the athletes’ performance, ultimately making the standard players not win the World Championships qualification.
After Su Zhe arrived at the field to prepare, the men’s pole vault final just started, in the sound of rain, whether it was the athletes on the field or the spectators in the stands who came to watch the competition in the rain, the enthusiasm of all didn’t weaken because of the impact of the weather.
Whenever the athletes successfully jumped over the crossbar, the spectators in the spectator area would respond with a warm applause, giving the most enthusiastic encouragement to the athletes in the competition.
In the preparation area, Su Zhe watched the event in the rain while thinking about how to arrange the games he was going to participate in tonight.
According to the initial plan, he should be the same as in the morning, taking advantage of the first 100m preliminaries in the evening when he was more physically fit to sprint for the World Championships standard of 10:10 in the men’s 100m sprint, but the rain now completely disrupted his plan.
The track in the rain was different from the usual, the track would be more slippery, then in the race, it was bound to be more careful than usual to avoid slipping on the track, not only affect the results, there may even be a case of injury.
At the same time, he had 3 races tonight, in the case of not being familiar with the rain track, the best way was to collect a little momentum in the preliminaries, after trying to familiarize with the track, the last two races could be relatively more relaxed and adaptable.
The sudden rain did cause Su Zhe some trouble, but in the race, who could guarantee that everything would go well for him? Since he chose to step on the race course, these kinds of accidents were the obstacles he had to face and cross.
When he thought of the pleasure he felt when he rode the track in the morning, Su Zhe narrowed his eyes and showed a look of determination for the next race.
While Su Zhe was thinking about the next event, the other runners in the men’s 100m preliminaries arrived one after another.
After seeing Su Zhe, Wang Ming and Meng Hao both smiled and came close to say hello to him. Both of them had seen the 110m hurdles preliminaries in the morning and knew that Su Zhe’s foot injury had completely healed and was in great shape, so they congratulated Su Zhe for taking one seat in the race.
“Kid, you ran so fiercely, I think my fierce brother nickname should be given to you.” Meng Hao patted Su Zhe’s shoulder with a expression of admiration.
Wang Ming laughed at the side and said: “Come on, people call Su Zhe, Xiao Zhe, how handsome is this title? You keep this title of fierce brother for yourself.”
The crowd joked and laughed, then the preparation area, they began to stretch and other various preparatory actions, in this rainy day event, they had to prepare properly, in order to avoid and reduce the possibility of injury.
The time soon reached 18:33, the first group of runners had gone to the starting area to do the final preparations before the start, Zhao Zhixuan and Zheng Jian was also in this group.
In front of the commentary platform, Zhang Jing and Wang Miaochuan also began to explain today’s 100m preliminaries.
Zhang Jing: “Those who are watching the live broadcast should already know that it has been raining in L city since this afternoon, which will make the track on the field slippery and the athletes’ body temperature loss fast, very unfavorable for tonight’s 100m sprint pre-final and final and the 110m hurdles final.”
Wang Miaochuan: “The unfavorable factors on the field cannot be avoided, but we can see that the players on the starting line are still fighting high, and there is no fear of participating in the competition in the rain. We also hope that the players can continue to produce excellent results!”
The preparation time before the race was soon over, the referee on the field hit the starting gun, and all the athletes on the starting line reacted quickly and sprinted forward.
Perhaps because of the weather factor, the athletes’ reaction speed to the gun was weakened, and only Zhao Zhixuan and Zheng Jian still maintained a fast reaction during the starting phase.
The two of them took the top two seats by virtue of their advantage in the starting reaction, while Meng Hao, who was also in the race, wasn’t willing to be outdone. Although he was a little slow in the starting reaction, he still picked up speed quickly in the sprint phase and quickly closed in on Zhao Zhixuan and Zheng Jian.
On the track, after entering a high-speed state, the three of them competed with each other, biting each other’s speed, all trying to go further beyond their rivals while trying to maintain their own rhythm.
The spectators in the grandstand area also waved small flags and blew horns to wave flags and cheer for these athletes who were fighting in the rain. The whole field didn’t lose the original hot atmosphere because of the cold brought by the rain.
The distance of 100 meters passed quickly, and Zhao Zhixuan took the lead over Zheng Jian and Meng Hao in the final sprint. In the end, Zhao Zhixuan won the first place in the preliminary round with a score of 10.20 seconds, while Meng Hao and Zheng Jian ranked second and third with a score of 10.23 seconds and 10.27 seconds respectively.
Wang Miaochuan: “We can see that the rain still has a slight impact on the state of the runners, and everyone didn’t let go of their speed, but I believe that after the preliminaries, the runners adapted and became familiar with the characteristics of the slippery field and can run in a better state in the final later in the day.”
After the first group of runners came off the field, Su Zhe and Wang Ming and other runners from the second group of the preliminaries also stepped onto the field and entered their respective tracks and started to do simple pre-race preparations.
In the second group of men’s 100m preliminaries, except for Wang Ming, the remaining runners weren’t well known to Su Zhe, but before the race, Wang Ming also introduced him to two young runners who had set a new personal Personal Best in this year’s season, namely Wang Qin and Qiu Xinchu.
Qiu Xinchu was obviously not very good at communicating with people, and after Wang Ming introduced them separately, he just said hello to Su Zhe in a quiet manner. Wang Qin, on the other hand, seemed relatively more active, and after greeting Su Zhe, he enthusiastically praised Su Zhe’s achievements, and unceremoniously blew himself up, saying that he had also reposted the topic of telling Su Zhe to get out of sports at first, and seriously apologized to Su Zhe.
The more events he participated in, the more spectators recognized him and began to support him, while the recognition of the runners allowed Su Zhe to further integrate with the sports industry.
With a light breath, Su Zhe stood at the starting line for the final stretching preparations.
The rain in the sky was fine and dense, and seemed to have a tendency to get bigger gradually, most of the players’ hair became wet, and Su Zhe’s hair was no exception, he used both hands to lift his slightly long hair to the back of his head, revealing a clean forehead, the rain-dampened hair looked deliberate, which gave him a sharp momentum.
After Su Zhe took the stage, many of the spectators in the stands who had just been convinced by Su Zhe’s momentum this morning let out a shout, cheering for Su Zhe’s next event.
After all the runners finished warming up, they were already all ready to start the race with crouching movements on their starters.
“Ready – each in position -“
The referee’s voice sounded at the right time, the runners quickly prepared for the action, followed by the starting gun.
“Bang”!
The race began!
Athletes after the gun went off, quickly burst forward sprint, in just a moment, the hot race atmosphere had been set off!
Su Zhe’s response to the gun tonight was still very rapid, after the gun went off, he stomped on the starter and completed the first step of the burst sprint, then his two hands swung his arms quickly and forcefully, with a strong leg burst, he pulled his starting speed to the highest, and at the same time began to gradually raise his body, connecting the starting action into the most important acceleration state in the first 30 meters.
Although the slippery track had an effect on his pedaling strength, Su Zhe still minimized this effect with his strong body control.
Although the 100-meter dash only seemee to run a mere 100-meter stage, it required a super strong instantaneous explosive force which put a heavy load on the player’s body, when the speed accelerated to a certain level, the player’s body muscles would enter a state of hypoxia, and at this moment the high speed and intense running under hypoxia were a huge test of a 100-meter dash runner’s body!
Wang Miaochuan: “The players in the second group of the preliminaries generally reacted faster to the start of the start phase, and the players were in good shape, but the fastest of them was still Su Zhe! His rapid outburst of speed after listening to the gun reaction allowed him to occupy a greater advantage in the acceleration running phase on the track!”
On the grandstand area, the audience’s shouting was also stimulating the atmosphere as they cheered for the players’, so that the players could mobilize the exuberance in their bodies more strongly!
“Boss Zhe cheer!!!”
“Ah Wang, run!!!”
Amidst the fierce shouting, Su Zhe’s heart also felt more excited because of this enthusiastic atmosphere. He stroked his legs more strongly and slightly increased his stride, gradually pulling away from the other runners behind him by 1 position in the sprint!
The drizzling rain made it difficult for the runners to reach the hottest physical condition, and the passing of body temperature also intensified the physical exertion of each person.
After entering the en route running stage with high speed, Su Zhe obviously felt the physical energy passing in his body, but he didn’t pay much attention to it, but focused his attention on the control of his own rhythm and body strength, stride length, and step frequency.
The easier the moment of fatigue, the more he couldn’t relax, otherwise when the body received the signal of attempted relaxation, the original strong rhythm and state could quickly collapse under this mental state.
Zhang Jing and Wang Miaochuan watched the pace of the game on the field from the commentary stand, and their hearts were both pinching tight for the players on the field at the same time.
Zhang Jing: “It’s raining heavily now, which is very unfavorable to the players on the field, but everyone on the field is not the least bit relaxed, they are all fighting hard on the field!”
Wang Miaochuan: “Yes, among the runners on the current course, Su Zhe is still the fastest, you can see the rain has completely wet Su Zhe’s hair and body, but his overall rhythm is still very well controlled, on the way stage, he still occupies the first position with a steady rhythm!”
Su Zhe’s superb control talent of his own stride length, stride frequency and even rhythm was unquestionably displayed on this short 100-meter straightaway.
Even in the high-intensity anaerobic state, he still had a strong control of his strength.
His every running movement, breathing rhythm, every precise and powerful stride action, all made him located in the leading position on the field.
At this moment in the race, Su Zhe has immersed all his mind in the short course, his eyes gazing ahead, the only goal in his mind was the finish line.
He had gradually adapted to the impact of the rain, he kept a strong grip on his feet so that he could run fast enough even on the slippery track.
Faster!
He could go faster!
The belief in victory and the instinct to chase speed made Su Zhe’s heart beat even faster.
In a flash, Su Zhe had already entered the final sprint stage, and the two people who were immediately behind him were Wang Qin and Qiu Xinchu, whom he had just met!
Before Su Zhe came out of nowhere, they were regarded as the most promising newcomers in China, with their strong explosive power and ability to maintain speed during the en route stage being their common characteristics, while Qiu Xinchu’s ability to accelerate in the latter part of the race was also a source of great interest to track and field fans.
Their only shortcoming was that their form was still not stable enough, and the difference between their performance in different races had even reached 0.35 seconds due to the ups and downs of their personal form – this level of performance ups and downs had caused them to have great variations in performance in different races.
And at this moment in this preliminaries, apparently the two of them were in perfect condition, even with the rain pouring down on them, they were close behind Su Zhe.
But Su Zhe’s attention wasn’t affected in any way by their urgent pursuit.
At this point they had entered the sprint stage, even if the physical exertion had been very great, but Su Zhe’s back-end acceleration ability was still sharp!
After entering the sprint, Su Zhe’s body gradually leaned forward and the angle of his stirrups was finely adjusted to make his sprint even faster and more powerful.
The atmosphere on the field also reached its peak during the sprint stage, with shouts, screams and horns incessantly shouting the names of the runners they supported.
“Boss Zhe charge!!!”
“Go cub!!!”
Various voices mixed into the final cheering sound, stimulating the runners to keep running forward.
Wang Miaochuan: “Last 30 meters sprint! Su Zhe still holds the leading position! Behind him in the second group are our young runners Wang Qin and Qiu Xinchu! Qiu Xinchu’s ability to accelerate on the backstretch is obvious to all of us, and at this moment he is biting not far behind Su Zhe, but it is obvious to see that Su Zhe’s final acceleration sprinting ability is still stronger than Qiu Xinchu’s, and his pace rhythm is obviously accelerated, almost with the effect of cutting through the rain curtain!”
Zhang Jing: “Crossing the line!!! Su Zhe is still first in the men’s 100m sprint tonight! Qiu Xinchu crossed the line after Su Zhe, and Wang Qin took the third position at the same time! Let’s wait for the results of the preliminaries to be compiled by the judges later!”
Su Zhe slowed down after crossing the line, and gradually stopped his pace after a short jog.
This group of preliminaries, he was still the undisputed first, but he couldn’t help but feel a headache, in the middle of the race, he didn’t follow his initial plan to control the speed, or couldn’t resist speeding up the pace, and now his body fatigue had gradually come up, and in about 20 minutes, he would be facing the next 110m hurdles final.
Now in such a physical state, since he had run to the World Championships participation standards, should he give up the 110m hurdles final?
Su Zhe and the other players retired to the side of the field to avoid the rain, while thinking about the event arrangements later, the commentary desk had gotten the corresponding preliminaries results.
Zhang Jing: “The first in this group of preliminaries, Su Zhe: 10 seconds 12 (-0.6), Qiu Xinchu, 10 seconds 19 (-0.6), Wang Qin: 10 seconds 22 (-0.6) ……”
Wang Miaochuan’s voice was tinged with regret: “Su Zhe’s performance in this preliminaries is also very good, but hasn’t been able to reach the World Championships participation standards, the rainy conditions of the field and the headwind factor in this race may have caused some impact on the performance of the players, I hope that in the evening final, you can see the players more excellent performance! “
The results broadcast by the commentary made Su Zhe frown, it was just the preliminaries, although there was rain influence, he had actually run in a better state, and after such a huge physical exertion, and then after the second physical exertion of the 110m hurdles …… to the 100m final 1 and a half hours later, could he still run a better result?
“Ding – new target task.”
Just when Su Zhe felt headache for the next two races, the long-lost system tone sounded again.
How did this system …… suddenly pop up at this time?
With doubts, Su Zhe clicked on the system’s task panel, and then saw the latest target task issued by the sand carving system.
Mission objective: win the World Championship Challenge 110m hurdles championship.
Mission reward: fast physical recovery skills.
This reward ……
After staring at the reward for more than ten seconds, Su Zhe finally revealed a firm smile – since this system was doing this for his benefit, then for the next races, he could put up a good fight again!
Thanks for the chapter! 💕