At 6:15 pm on the 11th, Moscow time, the 400-meter semifinals began.
In the group stage, Zhang Guan did not encounter a strong opponent, and only had a time of 46.05 seconds as a reference. In the semi-finals, he was placed in the same group with two players from the US team, namely the future star Rashawn Merritt of the United States and Milton Campbell, who has a high reputation for winning the championship.
Zhang Guan vaguely remembered that at the future Capital Olympics, the American team won the gold, silver and bronze medals in the men's 400-meter sprint event. At that time, the 400-meter king Jeremy Varina only won the silver medal and defeated Varina to win the gold medal. The one is Rashawn Merritt. However, the 20-year-old Merritt is still just a teenager on the US team. Among the athletes participating in the indoor track and field competition this time, the leader of the US team in the 400-meter section is Milton Campbell.
Campbell is also an experienced player. Although he has not won any major awards in his career, he has always been in good condition. He is the kind of athlete who cannot win when facing strong opponents and cannot lose when facing weak opponents.
For the audience, the men's 400 meters did not seem to attract much attention, because fifteen minutes ago, the women's pole vault competition had begun, and the Russian pole vault queen Isinbayeva was about to appear. The Russian Everyone is paying attention to Isinbayeva, but no one is watching the semifinals of the 400-meter dash.
The rhythmic applause at the scene made Zhang Guan feel a little depressed. He remembered that during the rematch of the Athens Olympics, the game was interrupted by Isinbayeva, and today, the same situation happened again.
For this reason, the men's 400-meter sprint semi-finals had to be postponed for a few minutes. After Isinbayeva successfully jumped over the crossbar, the starter signaled the athletes to stand on the starting block.
Merritt and Campbell both looked in the direction of Zhang Guan. The time of 46.05 seconds did not put much pressure on them. The key point was that Zhang Guan's running method was so strange that they couldn't figure it out. Why was Zhang Guan able to explode so fast in the final sprint
However, the starter's gun sounded soon, and Merritt and Campbell could personally experience Zhang Guan's special running style on the track.
The first 100 meters of the race was still uneventful. Everyone ran normally without making any mistakes. Zhang Guan's rhythm seemed very good. With the speed he showed, he was definitely at the level of the world's top players.
Next, the athletes entered the second 100 meters. Zhang Guan did not change his rhythm, while Campbell seemed to increase his speed slightly, and Merritt's pace slowly began to increase.
Merritt stole a trick he learned from Jeremy Wariner. After entering the straight, he tried to keep the frequency of his steps unchanged, and then expanded the width of his steps. Although he did not master this technique very well, It's far behind Varina, but at least he showed his good talent.
Varina's technique is not something everyone can learn.
We normal people can feel it when we walk. If we deliberately increase the pace, the body posture will change and the physical exertion will increase. For 400-meter sprinters, if we deliberately increase the pace on a certain section of the track, , also means a change of rhythm and physical exertion, so this becomes a difficult technique to master.
For example, Liu Feiren's training of changing eight steps to seven steps on the first hurdle actually means that each previous step has to cover one-seventh of the distance. And this change took Liu Feiren several years to complete. master. Liu Feiren only changed the 13.72-meter distance in front of the first hurdle, while Varina needed to change the entire straight runway area. You can imagine the difficulty.
At this time, Merritt felt very good. He had just begun to learn the technique of taking long strides on a straight track. In today's competition, he felt that he had performed at his best level in usual practice.
However, after running like this for dozens of meters, Merritt still had problems adjusting his pace. His rhythm seemed a little flustered. He had to slow down a little to adjust his rhythm. This kind of forced The adjustment actually affects the speed. His previous efforts were not in vain at this moment, but he was slightly behind Kebbell and Zhang Guan.
In the third 100-meter race, Campbell slightly reduced the pace and increased the rhythm slightly. He was about to start sprinting!
Campbell still used Michael Johnson's running method, starting to accelerate at about 250 meters, then making slight adjustments, and then immediately entering the final sprint.
Campbell stood out at this moment. After all, he is a very capable player. Even if everyone accelerates at the same time, Campbell can still gain an advantage.
Merritt's acceleration was later than that of Campbell's, and it also appeared to be in a hurry.
As for Zhang Guan, the rhythm remains unchanged.
"I'm in the lead! Okay, let's rush to the finish line in one go." Campbell visually inspected Merritt's situation and felt that if he continued running like this, Merritt would have no chance of beating him!
Merritt turned his attention to Zhang Guan.
"I'm already ahead of Zhang Guan. Can I qualify second in the group? Wait a minute, Zhang Guan is using the same running method as he used in the group stage!"
At the next moment, Campbell, who was in the lead, took the lead in entering the last 100 meters. At this time, he had already exhausted a lot of energy, but he still forced himself to speed up again and make the final sprint.
Merritt followed closely behind. At this moment, Merritt showed the potential of a future sprint star. His physical reserves were better than Campbell's, and his sprinting speed was also very fast. He began to slowly approach Campbell.
"Come on, we'll surpass Campbell soon!" Merritt thought to himself. And at this moment, a red figure suddenly appeared from beside him, and then passed very quickly, heading straight for Campbell in front!
"It's Zhang Guan!" Merritt's eyes widened. Zhang Guan once again showed a speed that was not part of the 400-meter dash, and this time, his sprint was faster than in the group stage!
Yesterday, Merritt watched Zhang Guan's 400-meter dash live, but the feeling of watching the game was completely different from the actual competition. While watching, Merritt just thought Zhang Guan's sprint was incredible, but in the actual competition, When Zhang Guan passed him at such a fast speed, Merritt suddenly felt a sense of despair in his heart.
"Zhang Guan runs so fast, how can I catch up?"
The final sprint became another performance for Zhang Guan to surpass his opponents. He surpassed Merritt, Campbell, and everyone in front of him, and then crossed the finish line, finishing first in the group in 45.63 seconds to advance to the finals.
…
Behind the hotel where the athletes stayed was a school with an open-air track and field.
Campbell, dressed in sportswear, jogged into the school and ran towards the track and field, but the school security guard just glared at him and did not stop him.
"How did Zhang Guan do it? Could it be that keeping the rhythm completely unchanged for the first 300 meters can really save more energy, but it is impossible to sprint so fast! I always feel that something is wrong. I have to try it myself. OK." Campbell ran to the track and saw a familiar figure speeding on the track. It was Rashawn Merritt.
Merritt had already entered the second corner at this time. His rhythm was very smooth, but it looked a little strange. Campbell could clearly feel that Merritt's speed was slower than usual.
Next, Merritt did not accelerate at the original acceleration point, or in other words, he did not accelerate in the curve at all. He ran into the final straight, then suddenly started to speed up and rushed towards the finish line.
Merritt sprinted very fast, much faster than the usual final sprint, but as he got closer and closer to the finish line, Merritt's speed slowed down. Campbell could tell that Merritt was struggling, or maybe he could It was said that at the last moment, Merritt had run out of energy.
Merritt crossed the finish line, then looked at the stopwatch in his hand and shook his head in disappointment.
"No, I followed Zhang Guan's running method, and it was almost 50 seconds! And if I ran like this, the final sprint would not be able to reach Zhang Guan's speed, and my physical strength would not be able to support the finish line! What happened to Zhang Guan? Did you do it?”
"Rashawn!" Campbell's voice sounded from not far away: "Are you trying Zhang Guan's running method?"
"Yes." Merritt nodded, and then said: "But I can't do it. I have tried it twice. I deliberately slowed down a little in front to reserve more energy, but in the end it was far worse than not doing it. The speed of the sprint and the distribution of physical strength are a big problem, and I can't maintain that speed to the finish line."
"You give me a timer and I'll try." Campbell said and stood at the starting line.
One minute later, Campbell also reached the finish line. He didn't ask about his time at all, because he knew that his time was almost 50 seconds.
"How can there be such a strange running method in the world!" Campbell couldn't help complaining: "I ran 300 meters in front of me. Even if I ran very slowly, I wouldn't be able to sprint at that speed with the rest of my energy!" Is that guy Guan an alien?"
Merritt continued: "I think if I had twice as much strength as I do now, I should be able to have that kind of sprint in the final stage."
"Twice as much? Rashawn, what are you kidding! How could anyone in the world have such abnormal physical strength..." Campbell suddenly stopped talking. As an experienced professional athlete, he knew what Merritt was talking about. Yes, if you really have twice the physical strength than usual, you can indeed do what Zhang Guan did.
"Does Zhang Guan have such abnormal physical strength?" Campbell took a breath of cold air. He suddenly realized that the strongest point of Zhang Guan, the world's number one flying man, may not be the explosive power beyond ordinary people, but the ability to surpass the normal human category. Physical fitness.
The second chapter has been delivered. Please give me a guaranteed monthly ticket and a recommendation vote! I've been in a bad state recently. I sat in front of the computer all night and couldn't type a few words. I'm suffering from the sequelae of the Spring Festival! I'm also working hard to adjust and try to break out after the Lantern Festival next week! Thanks to book friends Riding Piggy 1, Superman Does Not Love Flying, 9922392, Zhu Luoyan, Flowing Water Whispering, I Love Fish, Four Fires, kwj, Huang Xixi Feng, The King Sent Me to Read a Book, Phoenix Spirit, Xing Xuerou, Chiyue Yanxing, Special Service Brigade, Ten Thousand Years Bookworm Oh Yeah, Mao Xinjun rewarded. Thanks!
(End of chapter)