IBABS Chapter 50

October was not an ideal month for top track and field athletes to compete.

But this year’s World Athletics Championships in Country D had been postponed from its usual early August schedule to the cooler October season due to the host country’s extreme heat. However, even with this delay, the capital city of Country D remained unbearably hot.

Not only that, October typically marked the off-season for track and field athletes worldwide, when their competitive form would normally decline. However, to perform well at the Championships, athletes had no choice but to adjust their peak performance period to this unusual time.

Before the competition, many in the sports circle debated whether athletes could really perform at their best after forcibly delaying their peak competitive state. These discussions continued without resolution until the opening of the event.

Track and field fans across the globe eagerly awaited this biennial showcase, hoping their favorite countries and athletes would claim the highest honors.

On October 2nd, the much-anticipated event finally unveiled itself to the expectant track and field enthusiasts around the world.

Located in the heart of Country D’s capital, the Celion Sports Complex, which could accommodate 70,000 people, had been completely renovated for the occasion. To ensure athletes could perform optimally without suffering from the heat, the wealthy Country D had installed high-tech outdoor cooling systems throughout the open stadium, allowing everyone inside to experience a refreshing coolness unusual for Country D’s summer.

The massive venue’s stands were now filled with spectators from various countries, with all 70,000 seats occupied. In the VIP boxes, Country D’s king and royal family members had arrived to personally witness the grand event.

For Su Zhe, this was his second world-class competition since leaving the entertainment industry in June to become a full-time athlete. Yet, here he was, standing on the world’s most prestigious stage for track and field. Just this experience alone was nothing short of legendary.

Elite athletes from around the world gathered in this venue with the sole purpose of claiming the ultimate crown. The intense atmosphere was enough to make anyone’s blood boil just by being present.

Sitting in the athletes’ section, Su Zhe scanned the lively scene, feeling a slight, uncontrollable tremor throughout his body.

“Ah Zhe, what’s wrong?” Zhao Zhixuan, who was also seated in the athletes’ area, noticed Su Zhe’s slightly trembling hands.

“Ah.” Su Zhe shook his head and smiled, “I don’t know why, but during our closed training sessions, even though I felt my condition improving, I felt that I could run faster but couldn’t reach my ideal speed…”

“But sitting here now, feeling the enthusiasm of all these audience, I suddenly feel like I can run even faster!”

The sensation of being surrounded by strong competitors, the excitement of facing a major competition – all made Su Zhe impatient. He really wanted to step onto the track immediately and experience the thrill of racing on this stage.

Hearing Su Zhe’s answer, Zhao Zhixuan was slightly taken aback.

He didn’t expect to get such an answer.

Obviously, Su Zhe, who once would have been completely tense before competitions, constantly on edge, had quickly shed his former mindset after experiencing several competitive events.

This type of athlete who becomes excited simply by being at the competition venue, even feeling their performance could improve before the event begins, after ruling out blind overconfidence…

A competition-type athlete!

This kind of athlete cannot trigger their body’s excitement state during training without sufficient pressure from strong opponents. Only during competitions, especially major ones, do they reach their optimal competitive state due to physical and psychological excitement!

Among athletes, there are many training-type competitors who often perform excellently during practice but struggle to achieve similar results in major competitions for various reasons.

As for competition-type athletes… they’re naturally born for big events. In major competitions, their performance typically far exceeds their training results. They can even continuously break through their own limits and set new records in one competition after another!

Looking at Su Zhe’s shining eyes, Zhao Zhixuan smiled beside him – now, he also began to look forward to the upcoming competition!

On the first day of the World Championships, following the opening ceremony, a series of events would commence.

Among them, Su Zhe’s men’s 100-meter sprint preliminaries were scheduled to begin at 7 PM.

For this men’s 100-meter event, there were officially 48 participants, but not all had achieved the qualifying time of 10.10 seconds during the qualification period. Approximately 42 athletes had met the standard during the qualification timeframe, while the remaining six were admitted based on their personal best performances this season.

Even these so-called substitute athletes typically had personal bests under 10.10 seconds but failed to achieve better results during the qualification period due to poor form.

In tonight’s competition, Su Zhe would face off against these 47 men deemed the world’s fastest in the 100-meters.

With the opening of the World Championships, casual fans on domestic social media began discussing championship-related topics. General discussion naturally focused on how Su Zhe might perform, with many even fantasizing about him bringing home a medal or two.

Recently, thanks to sports channel broadcasts and the hype generated by Pear’s public account, public interest in track and field events had indeed increased significantly. However, the general public lacked clear understanding of actual competition results and the relative strengths and weaknesses of their country’s sprinting program.

Track and field enthusiasts were much more level-headed about this.

After noticing the direction of online discussions among casual fans, many sports bloggers voluntarily began educating people about the sport.

Lao Bai’s Track & Field Insights: [I’m happy to see everyone’s enthusiastic anticipation for the competition, but honestly speaking, our country has no real advantage in sprinting events. Just look at our participation quotas for this World Championships. In men’s track events, from 100 meters all the way to 15000 meters, across this huge range, the only qualifying spot we secured was Su Zhe in the men’s 100 meters. If Chen Dashen¹ hadn’t been injured, we might have earned at most one more spot in the men’s 100 meters… At this point, everyone should understand the massive gap between our country and the track powerhouses.]

As a sports blogger, Lao Bai’s statement was both cruel and realistic. After being shared widely by sports fans, it served as a cold shower for the casual fans riding high on excitement.

Many casual fans expressed their shock in the comments of Lao Bai’s Weibo post.

[Well but… I knew Su Zhe was the only one participating in the World Championships men’s 100 meters when following the news earlier… but it turns out he’s the ONLY person who successfully qualified across ALL men’s events from 100 meters to 15000 meters???]

[The surreal nature of reality hits hard… The world of talent is so scary… Honestly, I still have his reaction memes in my head, and now I find out that meme guy is our country’s lone representative across all these running events?]

[Ummm… after reading this Weibo post, I’ve already deleted all his reaction memes from my phone to show respect for this big boss.]

[Ahem, friend above, that’s not necessary. Those memes are actually quite cute once you get used to them…]

[I’m here to learn more about this. From what you’re saying, does this mean Su Zhe is just participating for the experience?]

Among the many comments, Lao Bai specifically replied to this question seeking information.

[Based on past experience, as long as he performs well in the preliminaries and runs around 10.12 seconds, he has a chance to advance to the semifinals. Judging from Su Zhe’s recent performance during training camp tests, he has a good chance of running under 10.12. However, an athlete’s condition can be affected by various factors, so for now we can only remain hopeful and wish Su Zhe achieves a good result!]

Besides these track and field fans, the “Philosophers” had also been busy creating various educational content online about track and field knowledge.

After following Su Zhe through a series of competitions, these “Philosopher” girls were no longer as clueless about track and field as they once were. Many of them compiled the confusing points they’d encountered when they first started watching competitions into a “Track and Field for Beginners” guide.

Although the original purpose was to educate others about Su Zhe’s competitions, the content created by these young women was simple to understand and addressed many common misconceptions of first-time track and field viewers. Their educational content was quickly reposted and praised by prominent sports influencers, and even the National Track and Field Team’s official account reposted their series.

The original account that released this content, Su Zhe’s official fan club, seemed to have transformed from a celebrity fan account into a sports blog through this post and subsequent Q&A interactions.

In their fan group chat, the “Philosopher” girls who participated in creating the content felt both happy and proud – while their beloved son was competing abroad, they were working just as hard on the home front, creating a better public environment for him and spreading the sport he loved to more people.

This feeling of working together toward a common goal was the most beautiful aspect of their fan journey.

At the Celion Sports Complex in Country D, the time had reached 6 PM.

The check-in time for the men’s 100-meter participants had arrived. Following the staff’s guidance, Su Zhe officially entered the massive venue.

At this moment, 48 athletes from various countries were queuing up, waiting for the check-in process.

When Su Zhe reached the check-in point, Bellman, the Bahraini² athlete he had encountered on his first day in Country D, happened to spot him. He smirked and gave Su Zhe a thumbs-down gesture of contempt, then turned away with his head held high toward the competition waiting area without waiting for any reaction.

Su Zhe didn’t have many thoughts about such an arrogant opponent. The Bahraini athlete Bellman wasn’t considered a top-tier competitor even among naturalized athletes. Although he had once achieved a time of 9.95 seconds before changing his nationality, since switching countries, his personal season best had remained between 10.06-10.07 seconds for three consecutive seasons.

Looking at his current performance, he really didn’t have the ability to overwhelm Su Zhe, and whether he could even advance to the semifinals was questionable.

If Su Zhe needed to worry about someone like this, how could he fully focus on the competition in such a grand arena?

As Su Zhe was observing the audience while waiting for check-in, an excited voice with a strange accent suddenly called out.

“Su, Su!”

The newcomer was Shiraishi Shouta, the Japanese friend Su Zhe had met at the Asian Championship Invitational.

After the invitational ended, Shiraishi Shouta pestered Su Zhe until he learned how to use WeChat and Weibo. Even though he couldn’t understand Chinese at all, Shiraishi regularly sent Su Zhe greeting messages. During their difficult communication process, Su Zhe had also learned how to pronounce Shiraishi Shouta’s name and picked up some simple Japanese vocabulary.

“Hello, Shiraishi-san.”

As an athletic powerhouse with first-class sprinting talent in Asia, the Japanese team naturally sent more participants than just Shiraishi Shouta. Besides him, Minamiyama Yuki and Kobayashi Kimiko standing next to him were ranked first and second among Japanese sprinters, ahead of Shiraishi Shouta.

Of these two, Minamiyama Yuki had set a new Japanese sprinting record last year with a time of 9.99 seconds. However, in previous major Asian competitions, he had always been suppressed by Chen Zhi. The pressure of facing Chen Zhi had even once sent him into a slump.

Not just Minamiyama Yuki, but for all Japanese athletes and current generation of Asian competitors, Chen Zhi was their nightmare, a mountain they couldn’t seem to overcome.

Despite having his teammates beside him, Shiraishi Shouta made no attempt to hide his excitement at seeing Su Zhe. Minamiyama Yuki and Kobayashi Kimiko beside him seemed quite used to this behavior and gave Su Zhe friendly smiles.

Even after Su Zhe left under the staff’s guidance, Shiraishi Shouta couldn’t contain the happiness on his face.

“Ah, he’s really as beautiful as the rumors say!” Minamiyama Yuki commented, “Although I’ve already watched recordings of the competitions, seeing him in person is definitely more impactful!”

“I agree,” Kobayashi Kimiko nodded, “Ishida Ippei-sensei wasn’t exaggerating at all… Such beauty combined with such incredible strength… What a captivating opponent!”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Shiraishi Shouta looked at his two teammates with alarm, “Su is mine! Are you two trying to steal him from me?”

“Pfft, hahaha!” Minamiyama Yuki burst out laughing at Shiraishi’s words, “Look, Shiraishi-san, Su clearly only sees you as a friend, you know?”

“Ah… damn it.” Shiraishi Shouta lowered his head dejectedly, “I can feel Su’s dedication and persistence toward running. I’m not confident I can surpass running’s position in his heart…”

“Don’t get discouraged,” Kobayashi Kimiko patted Shiraishi’s shoulder, “At least you can first become an opponent he won’t easily forget!”

Su Zhe naturally had no way of knowing about Shiraishi and his teammates’ conversation.

After completing the check-in, he learned his competition group: Preliminary Round Group Three.

Bahrain’s Bellman wasn’t in the same group as him, but Japan’s Kobayashi Kimiko would be competing alongside him, with their lanes adjacent to each other – seven and eight respectively.

As the competition drew near, Su Zhe’s excitement grew stronger. He was already in the waiting area watching the first group of athletes take their positions. He could barely contain his eagerness.

Around him, the other athletes in his group began warming up. Only Kobayashi Kimiko noticed Su Zhe’s excited state. He felt the gradually strengthening aura around Su Zhe, and a cautious expression appeared on his face.

The transitions between groups in the men’s 100-meter preliminary were very quick.

Soon, the athletes of preliminary Group Three were notified they could enter the field to prepare.

As Su Zhe stepped onto the track and saw the newly laid pink lanes of Celion Stadium, his gaze couldn’t help but sweep across the stands. This massive stadium holding 70,000 people remained full of enthusiasm even at 7 PM. Tourists from various countries waved their national flags, cheering for their athletes.

Among the vast sea of spectators, since Su Zhe’s appearance, figures waving red flags had been desperately signaling to him. He could even hear passionate cheers carrying his name echoing through the air.

Unlike the other athletes around him who were tensely making preparations, Su Zhe stood on his lane eight for a moment, even closing his eyes briefly. The somewhat noisy sounds transmitted through the air to his ears, and an indescribable, profound feeling filled his chest.

Only when a staff member reminded him to immediately prepare for the race did he smile and nod. He quickly crouched down to adjust his starting angle and distance.

“Ding.
Target mission: Advance to the World Championships men’s 100-meter sprint semifinals.
Mission reward: Perfect Idol Training Space usage hours *5.”

As Su Zhe adjusted his starting blocks, the sand sculpture system’s voice sounded simultaneously. The almost casual reward seemed to indicate the system’s assessment of the difficulty level for his task of advancing to the semifinals.

At the World Championships venue, the two commentators responsible for the event were introducing the athletes of the men’s 100-meter preliminary Group Three. When introducing Su Zhe, both commentators’ voices carried a hint of playfulness.

Commentator Chris said with a laugh, “Oh, the athlete in lane eight, Su from China, just a moment ago, he stood in his lane with his eyes closed. Maybe listening to the voice of God?”

Bills also chuckled, “This athlete is so exquisite he looks like an angel from the East. Perhaps he really did hear God’s voice? Let’s look forward to his performance shortly!”

During the two commentators’ jokes, all athletes had completed their preparation. At the side of the track, the starter stood ready with the starting pistol, while the referee calmly issued the preparatory command through the microphone system.

“On your marks!”

“Set!”

After everyone had assumed their ready position, “Bang!” The starting pistol fired!

The race began!

From the moment the starting pistol fired, Su Zhe reflexively pressed his right foot against the starting block, propelling his body forward with his strongest explosive power, using this forceful momentum to complete his initial acceleration from zero!

The closed training during this period, and all the practice completed in the training space – all of this transformed into Su Zhe’s strongest drive and foundation at this moment.

On the World Championships track, even in just a preliminary race, Asian athletes had no room to hold back or conserve energy.

Su Zhe was doing exactly that. He unhesitatingly released all the power within his body. At this moment, the explosive force in his body seemed endless, fueling his continuous forward rush.

The wind on the track swept across his face. In Su Zhe’s perception right now, even the stadium’s wind felt scorching hot, along with the burning blood boiling in his heart.

Thump, thump.

The sound of heartbeats.

The rhythm of his heartbeat synchronized with the rhythm of his running, making his body increasingly heated.

During the starting acceleration phase, he could still feel that on his left, Kobayashi Kimiko’s starting reaction was also very quick, even keeping pace with him on the first 30 meters of the track.

But these brief seconds passed in an instant.

In the next segment of the race, the cheers filling the stadium seemed separated from him by some unknown space. The spectators’ shouts echoed beyond that space, while in his heart remained only the sound of his own heartbeat, and in his eyes only the single goal of the finish line ahead…

The opponents in the lanes to his left had been completely forgotten by Su Zhe. He swung his arms, alternated his legs, and the stride length between each step had become deeply imprinted as instinct through this period of training.

Faster!

He could go even faster!

His legs were strong and powerful as he pushed off the ground, each step almost giving him the illusion of flying.

He felt as if he was leaping all the way toward the finish line.

Thump, thump.

Hot blood flowed through his body, and the pulsing sound of his heart jumped beside his ears.

Amidst the enthusiastic cheers from the stadium regardless of nationality, everyone watched in amazement as the Eastern youth in red and white sportswear surpassed all his opponents, racing toward the finish line in a unique stance.

At the commentary desk, commentator Chris exclaimed in surprise, “Ohhh! My goodness, that Eastern angel… he’s dominating all his opponents, he truly seems to have sensed divine power!! His running form looks like he’s actually flying…”

Amid Chris’s exaggerated exclamations, Su Zhe crossed the finish line with an absolute advantage!

World Athletics Championships, Men’s 100-meter preliminary Group Three, First place, Team China, Su Zhe!

When they saw Su Zhe cross the finish line in first place, dozens of Chinese spectators at the venue erupted into frenzied cheers. Simultaneously, at the athletes’ area, China’s team leader Zheng Wensheng along with the sprint group coaches and other track and field team members who had come to watch all let out excited shouts.

“Su Zhe!!! Well done!!!”

For this year’s national track and field team lacking Chen Zhi, the Track and Field Administration Center’s initial hope was simply for someone to secure a position in the men’s 100-meter World Championships.

Zheng Wensheng never imagined that Su Zhe would not only obtain this World Championships spot but would even advance to the semifinals by winning his preliminary group!

Such an achievement would be impressive even if Chen Zhi were competing today.

What more could they ask for?

At Team China’s seating area, everyone was hugging each other, celebrating Su Zhe’s victory. Only Su Yinsheng remained focused on the track.

After excitedly relaying the news of Su Zhe’s first-place advancement to the semifinals back to China, Zheng Wensheng looked up to see Su Yinsheng still wearing a serious expression, which aroused his curiosity.

“Lao Su, your son Ah Zhe has made us so proud, why are you still looking so serious? Shouldn’t we be celebrating?”

Hearing this, Su Yinsheng took a deep breath and pointed toward the commentary booth, indicating to Zheng Wensheng that he was waiting to hear the upcoming announcement of the complete preliminary Group Three results.

So he was waiting for the preliminary results!

Zheng Wensheng nodded in understanding, but his face remained relaxed – they’d already secured first place in the group, so what was there to be nervous about?

As they spoke, the announcers at the commentary booth had received the athletes’ results and began broadcasting them.

“Men’s 100-meter sprint preliminary Group Three, first place, Su Zhe (China): 10.05 seconds (+0.6)…”

When this result was announced, Zheng Wensheng didn’t react at first, but soon he froze in place, completely ignoring the subsequent results of other athletes…

“L-Lao Su…!” Zheng Wensheng almost jumped to his feet in excitement, while the surrounding athletes displayed expressions of surprise and wild joy.

10.05 seconds!

Everyone present could immediately understand what this number represented.

“Lao Su… did I hear that right?! What was Su Zhe’s time just now?!” Zheng Wensheng’s hands trembled slightly as he anxiously looked at Su Yinsheng, fearing he might hear a negative answer.

Only then did Su Yinsheng finally show an expression of relief. He looked at Zheng Wensheng with certainty and said emphatically, “Yes, the time is 10.05 seconds!”

Hearing this confirmation again, the surrounding Chinese athletes’ section once more erupted in thunderous celebration, and Zheng Wensheng couldn’t help but excitedly shout “Great!”

At this moment, in the Chinese athletes’ section, no one wanted to suppress their excitement, and even curious glances from other countries’ athlete areas couldn’t stop everyone’s excitement.

On the first day of the World Championships, the Olympic qualification for the men’s 100-meter sprint had been secured!