Since the 1500-meter middle-distance race is a race regardless of track, there will be twelve runners participating in each preliminary round. The top five in each group and the other four with the best results will enter the semi-finals.
In the first group of the first round of the 1500-meter preliminaries, Ramzi from Bahrain, the favorite to win the championship, ran a time of 3 minutes, 32 seconds and 89 seconds, easily qualifying.
During the competition, Ramzi led almost all the way. It was obvious that his strength had an absolute advantage in this group. Even the second place in the group was 2 seconds behind him.
"Well done! Ramzi, you qualified first in the group, congratulations!" Ali, also a player from Bahrain, came on the stage to congratulate.
"It's your turn to play next, come on!" Ramzi continued encouragingly: "Don't take it lightly. South Africa's Deventer, Britain's Baddeley, and Morocco's Igueid are all here. Among your group, they are all players with the ability to enter the finals."
"And Zhang Guan." Ali continued.
"Don't worry about Zhang Guan. Didn't I tell you before? Zhang Guan has not even reached the Olympic A standard. You can ignore him as an Olympic B standard athlete. He is no longer the Zhang Guan he was back then." Ramzi said. explain.
"Judging from this morning's 100-meter preliminaries, Zhang Guan seems to be in very good condition. His time is the fastest among all the competitors." Ali said with some worry.
"Ali, you are too worried. The 100 meters and the 1500 meters are completely different. If I were Zhang Guan, I might as well give up the 1500 meters earlier and focus on sprinting. At least I can still guarantee the gold medal in sprinting. Ramzi said, patting Ali on the shoulder, and continued: "The opportunity to participate in the Olympics is rare in a lifetime, and we in Bahrain have never won an Olympic gold medal. If we win the gold medal, we will become Bahrain's Hero. Come on!"
…
The second group of contestants are already at the starting line.
Zhang Guan looked around the track and didn't recognize anyone except Ali from Bahraini. However, the players' sports vests all have their national flags printed on them.
"South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States, Morocco, Brazil, Cartel, Ethiopia, Bahrain... This group of players has a complete nationality. I heard that Kenya and Algeria have good middle-distance running standards, but not in this group. Morocco seems to be very strong in middle-distance running. I remember that Ramzi is a Moroccan who was later naturalized in Bahrain. If this Moroccan runs fast enough, I will follow him." Zhang Guan looked at the Moroccan guy. Iguide.
At this time, several other contestants are also planning to defeat their opponents and qualify for the qualifying round.
Many people have already noticed Zhang Guan. After all, Zhang Guan's reputation is there. Whenever he appears in any competition, he will attract a lot of people's attention.
However, the vast majority of the 1,500-meter middle-distance runners did not regard Zhang Guan as a competitor. After all, they entered the Olympic competition with the B mark. Under normal circumstances, the athletes with the B mark in the Olympics are all in the first round. Those who are extremely lucky may be able to advance to the second round, but they will definitely miss the finals.
Another point is that China has always been at the bottom of the world in middle distance running. Everyone's attention is focused on a few strong middle distance running countries, and few people pay attention to Zhang Guan's strength.
Zhang Guan has only participated in one international competition in the middle distance running event, the Asian Games. Asian athletes may know that Zhang Guan once won the championship in the Asian Games, but athletes who are not from Asia will obviously not care about the Asian Games. , so I didn’t know that Zhang Guan had achieved very good results in middle distance running.
The audience at the scene had high hopes for Zhang Guan. In the eyes of the Chinese audience, Zhang Guan is the undefeated God of War. As long as he appears on the field, he means first place and victory.
…
"The game begins! The players started to merge. Oh, Zhang Guan's merge was not smooth, and he was blocked by other players!" The commentator's tone was obviously angry, as if the player who blocked Zhang Guan He did something that was not allowed by nature.
Zhang Guan did have a bad start. Although his pass time was very good, Zhang Guan is not an athlete who specializes in middle-distance running after all, so things like rushing to the front have never been what Zhang Guan is good at. In domestic competitions, Zhang Guan can occasionally take advantage, but when it comes to the Olympics, there are so many strong players. Any competitor is stronger than the domestic athletes, so Zhang Guan will naturally not be able to take advantage. Cheaper.
Although Zhang Guan was not lagging behind at this time, he was caught in the middle, and there was another player on his right. It can be said that Zhang Guan was unable to advance or retreat.
If it were other athletes, such a sandwich-like position would definitely be very uncomfortable. Not only must they maintain a certain rhythm with the athletes in front, but they must also be careful of the athletes next to them to prevent them from getting in front of them. But Zhang Guan has the help of the "Follow Running" skill, so he doesn't have to worry about this at all. He only needs to use the skill to follow the player in front of him.
The preliminaries are of varying levels, ranging from the best in the world to weaklings who can barely reach the Olympic B standard. In the Olympic Games, how big is the gap between the strong and the weak? Ramz, who just appeared in the first group of the group stage, has already given the answer. Ramz's final time was 3:32.89, while the last Australian player in the first group had a time of 3:53.95. There was a difference of more than 21 seconds between the two.
The person leading the race at this time was a Brazilian player from Sousa. The South American’s natural enthusiasm and impulsiveness made him rush to the front as soon as the gunshot sounded. It's just that his leading speed can only be said to be quite satisfactory, neither too fast nor too slow.
For those players who are capable, it is more than enough to keep up with this speed, but those players who are not strong enough have to work very hard to keep up with this speed.
According to the normal situation of 1500 meters, during this period, everyone should maintain a stable rhythm and follow, and the ranking will not change much. However, in the middle position, there is one person who does not want to follow like this, and that is the Bahrain athlete. Ali.
Ali had been paying attention to Zhang Guan. At this time, he found that Zhang Guan was following behind more leisurely and at a very good pace. He was exactly the same as the player in front. Ali instantly remembered a scene at the Asian Games two years ago.
"The Asian Games two years ago were also like this. At the beginning, Zhang Guan followed honestly, but in the final sprint, he ran at an abnormal speed and directly left us behind. It seems that today's Zhang Guan has to repeat his old tricks again, but no, I have to improve my speed, so that even if I don’t make the top five in the group, I will still have an advantage in the final ranking based on time.”
Thinking of this, Ali turned away from the crowd and rushed directly to the leading position. Then Ali began to speed up, obviously preparing to increase the pace.
"Ali ran to the front, he speeded up!" South African player Deventer was very happy when he saw this scene, and he immediately speeded up.
"It's best this way. Eliminate some weak ones first, especially those Olympic B-standard athletes who have no hope of advancing. So don't come and cause trouble. Just follow behind honestly!"
There was pride in Deventer's eyes, and he took a big step and followed.
"Ali is leading the race very fast. If he leads at this speed, I guess only half of the people can keep up." When Deventer took advantage of the curve in front, he turned his head and looked back. Just as he said As expected, several players have indeed fallen behind.
"There seem to be more people following than I thought. Huh? Why are Zhang Guan following too!"
The second chapter has been sent. Thanks to Bingyi, MRHoratio, 99*392, Lost in the Starry Sky, and Happy Dancing in the South for the reward. Thanks!
(End of chapter)