IBABS Chapter 52

From the late night of October 2nd to the early morning of the next day, sports fans and even casual onlookers in the country were immersed in a festive atmosphere. The joy lingered for a long time.

[#Country D World Athletics Championships# Our national men’s 100-meter sprinter Su Zhe advanced to the semifinals with a first-place finish in his preliminary heat on October 2nd, clocking 10.05 seconds. Tonight at 11 PM (7 PM Country D time), Su Zhe will compete in the men’s 100-meter sprint semifinals. Let’s wish him an excellent performance!]

After the sports channel and the Track and Field Administration Center each posted updates about Su Zhe’s competition schedule on their official accounts, netizens gathered in the comments section, eagerly anticipating today’s semifinal race.

[Ah, I’m a bit nervous. Can Su Zhe make it to the finals tonight??]

[Hard to say. Everyone who’s made it to the semifinals is among the world’s top sprinters. Even the lowest-ranked alternate who made it to the semifinals has a time of 10.17 seconds, and they all have the ability to push into the 10.10 range at any moment… Competition within this 0.1-second range really depends on the athlete’s competitive state, the venue, wind speed, even the track lanes, and other factors.]

[In my opinion, making it to the semifinals and securing Olympic qualification is already a complete success for our Zhe-shao! Even if he doesn’t make it to the finals, it’s still a win!]

[That may be true, but if he could make it to the finals… wouldn’t that be amazing? By the way, when will they announce the semifinal groupings? Hope Zhe-shao gets a favorable group!]

Not only sports enthusiasts and casual observers were paying attention. Because of an article by Zhuo Siming and the hype created by the Pear public account around the topic #Entertainment Circle Welcomes Su Zhe Back#, even star-chasing fans who normally only follow entertainment news were now somewhat interested in Su Zhe’s competitions, though with a completely different focus than sports fans.

An entertainment blogger named “Gossip and Pretty Boy Fan Girl” collected a complete set of Su Zhe’s debut photoshoots, raw photos, and fan-edited images. She also captured highlights of “Lu Ming” from “Chasing the Light” trailers and dumped all these images on Weibo.

[Ahhh, why am I only seeing this handsome and gorgeous brother today for the first time? Everyone, come look at what incredible treasure we’ve been missing! I’ve used his memes before, but if not for the Pear’s comparison of the meme pack with the actual person on their cover, I would never have realized the original source of those memes was such a beautiful brother… I’m done for, I feel like I’ve fallen for him, but he’s already abandoned the entertainment industry…]

As a major entertainment Weibo influencer with 5 million followers, Gossip and Pretty Boy Fan Girl’s influence rivaled that of some ordinary minor celebrities.

After her post went up, celebrity chasers emerged one after another in the comments.

[Ah, I noticed him when “Chasing the Light” released its trailer. Lu Ming is truly a human beauty… QAQ But when I searched for his Weibo back then, I discovered his profile had been changed to “athlete”…]

[I… lllllb¹… Such a handsome brother actually went off to become an athlete?? And because of a marketing plan failure, he became totally obscure?? Lemon Entertainment, open your eyes and look properly, do you have any other boys in your company who look like this?]

[I know him! Shao Xingchen @ mentioned him several times before. He’s really good-looking… The “Chasing the Light” crew released some behind-the-scenes photos, and I immediately spotted this boy, glowing white under the sun!!!]

[Wuwuwu, I did one sit-up just to sit up and stare at this pretty boy’s photos, licking the screen several times. This level of beauty is just too much!]

[I’ve been following the gossip about this brother these past few days (laughing and crying). His company proposed contract termination due to his low popularity, but now he’s already a rising star in the sports world. Yesterday, he even qualified for the Olympics. I went to check out his super topic, and his fans have all transformed into sports career supporters. They are happily waiting for competitions every day. They say that after becoming an athlete, his resources are much better than when he was with Lemon Entertainment. There’s no shortage of live events and broadcasts (laughing and crying again)… I must say, Lemon Entertainment is really a brainless company.]

This last reply, because it was so amusing, was liked all the way to the top by other fangirls.

However, some people didn’t believe Su Zhe’s fans could truly transform into sports career supporters, so many went to Su Zhe’s super topic to observe the “Philosophers” fan ecosystem.

In Su Zhe’s super topic, fans had put aside the previous day’s celebratory atmosphere and started preparing for the evening competition.

Some were sharing educational information, introducing the difficulty level of World Championship semifinals to fans who lacked professional knowledge, while others prepared comment control drafts to safeguard Su Zhe’s online reputation in case his competition didn’t go well.

The first pinned post in the super topic wasn’t the usual set of rules found in other celebrity forums, but rather a short paragraph:

[We witnessed the light of his rising star and accompanied him through his darkest valleys. The path of being a fan is long, but we’re willing to pause here, walking beside him through every step of the journey. This is athlete Su Zhe’s super topic, welcome.]

Everyone seemed busy yet organized. There were no typical celebrity fan configurations like fundraising groups. The so-called comment control drafts merely stated objectively that being an athlete isn’t easy, many factors affect performance, and hoped everyone would view athletes’ performance fluctuations rationally.

In this seemingly ordinary and laid-back super topic, perhaps the most interesting part was the resource thread.

In other super topics, resource threads were full of screenshots of brothers participating in variety shows, magazine covers, web dramas or TV series, or beautifully edited photos from front-line fan photographers.

Su Zhe’s was different. Resource threads contained on-site competition photos from sports journalists, news images, recorded competition livestreams, collections of recorded “Fitness Bar” series livestreams from the sports channel, and so on. The visiting fangirls were completely confused.

Wait, this wasn’t quite what they expected. Were these fans really this laid-back?

Searching through the comprehensive resource thread links, they finally found videos and photo resources from when Su Zhe first participated in the talent show. Besides that, the most normal resources were “Chasing the Light” trailer clips and a few behind-the-scenes photos, along with some short videos and edited photos taken by Philosopher girls who attended live competitions.

In the pinned Weibo post, there was also an image labeled “Su Zhe’s Schedule.” When they clicked on it, they discovered that this schedule was actually Su Zhe’s World Championship participation timeline, with the men’s 100-meter sprint, 110-meter hurdles, and 4×100-meter relay preliminaries specifically highlighted, noted as events Su Zhe would definitely participate in.

Curious visitors came with interest, but most left when they found no gossip. A small group stayed behind, slowly integrating into the world of the Philosophers…

Unlike the still-joyful atmosphere in China, the mood was much different in Country D. The track and field team leader Zheng Wensheng and the sprint coaching staff all had grim expressions.

They had already received Su Zhe’s semifinal grouping schedule for tonight at 7 PM, placing him in the second group of tonight’s men’s 100-meter semifinals. But this semifinal group… could be described as the “group of death”.

In tonight’s semifinals, the top 2 finishers from each of the 3 groups would advance directly to the finals, with the next two fastest times from the remaining athletes also qualifying.

Under these rules, semifinal group two included 3 powerful competitors who could break the 10-second barrier at any moment – world #1 ranked American athlete Evanson, Nigerian athlete Sandy whose season-best ranked third globally, and American athlete Gates whose season-best ranked eighth globally. Their season bests were 9.81, 9.86, and 9.95 seconds respectively.

With such strong competitors, let alone competing for the top 2 spots, even the hope of securing one of the two remaining alternate spots for the finals was extremely slim.

Zheng Wensheng looked at the grouping table, his expression changing several times before he finally sighed helplessly and fell silent.

Su Yinsheng’s expression was also serious, but he remained composed. “It’s fine. Making it to the semifinals in the 100 meters has already exceeded our initial competition goals, and he’s secured Olympic qualification. No matter how you look at it, his performance in this competition is already excellent.”

“That’s true…” Zheng Wensheng said hesitantly, “But this is only Su Zhe’s second time competing in a world-class event. In the semifinals… this is his first time facing so many world-class competitors. If he fails, won’t it affect his competitive mindset? And if it further affects his condition for tomorrow’s 110-meter hurdles preliminaries…”

Beside them, Zhang Ye and Wang Jingsheng also looked worried. Clearly, this was a concern shared by everyone.

Su Yinsheng was naturally not completely at ease about this issue either, but he was the most open-minded among them. “Regardless, the competition must go on. Su Zhe will encounter these world-class competitors eventually as his abilities continue to improve. This hurdle is one he’ll have to overcome sooner or later, and he’ll have to push through it on his own.”

Seeing that Zheng Wensheng seemed to want to say something more, Su Yinsheng waved his hand to interrupt him. “Alright, let’s report to the domestic team first. They should have received the grouping list already. All we can do now is tell the kid to relax his mindset. The rest is up to him.”

As he spoke, Su Yinsheng took the grouping list and left first, preparing to officially inform Su Zhe.

Back in China, at the Track and Field Administration Center

After receiving the men’s 100-meter semifinal groupings from the competition organizing committee, the previously enthusiastic atmosphere was doused with a bucket of cold water.

Sun Zhihai sat in his office with Chen Guangzhi beside him, both letting out long sighs.

After a while, Chen Guangzhi finally spoke. “It’s fine, we’ve already gained more than expected in the 100-meter event, so we shouldn’t demand entry into the finals. I’ll have the office staff notify the media to keep public opinion positive – emphasize that the semifinals are full of strong competitors, especially in the second group, and that maintaining mental balance on the field is itself a victory.”

Soon after the Track and Field Administration Center released the semifinal grouping information, the sports fans and gossip followers who had been laughing happily online fell silent.

[This grouping… is simply unbelievable.]

The previous laughter and cheers seemed to have had its pause button pressed after facing such a cruel grouping list, temporarily losing its vitality.

In Country D, at Building 8 of the Athletes Village, Su Zhe remained quite calm after receiving his grouping list.

Su Yinsheng stared at his son for a while, then asked, “What do you think of this grouping list?”

“Huh?” Su Zhe was momentarily confused before finally understanding his father’s meaning, then smiled and said, “Coach Su, isn’t this something that would happen sooner or later?”

“Meeting the world’s top competitors, competing against them on the field… I think it’s great.” Su Zhe’s face bore a smile, his gaze determined. He didn’t feel dejected despite the many strong competitors on the schedule; instead, there was a hint of excitement emanating from him.

Seeing him like this, Su Yinsheng felt relieved, his eyes also revealing a hint of amusement.

After Su Yinsheng left, Su Zhe looked at the schedule in his hand and exhaled deeply – what would it feel like to compete against the world’s top athletes?

Where exactly was the gap between him and these world-class competitors?

During this training period, his best performance had improved from 10.07 seconds at the Asian Championship Invitational to yesterday’s 10.05 seconds. This improvement was already quite significant, but it was also almost his best condition.

Now that his times were gradually approaching the 10-second barrier, he could feel that improving his performance was becoming increasingly difficult.

Every 0.01 second of progress was an exploration into the unknown.

Perhaps after competing against these world-class opponents, he could see from them the direction he needed to work toward next.

That evening, as Su Zhe stepped into the Celion Sports Complex, feeling the thunderous atmosphere of the packed stadium, the excitement of the upcoming competition began to surge through him.

This excitement intensified after seeing Evanson, Sandy, Gates and others in the check-in area.

Perhaps because Su Zhe’s gaze was too enthusiastic, Evanson and his group, who were chatting casually, noticed Su Zhe and gave him a friendly wave and greeting.

Competing alongside Su Zhe this time, apart from Evanson’s group, was Japan’s top-ranked Minamiyama Yuki, who had smoothly advanced to the semifinals with a time of 10.09 seconds in the preliminaries. Kobayashi Kimiko and Shiraishi Shouta had also made it to the semifinals with times of 10.11 and 10.14 seconds respectively. Having three athletes simultaneously advance to the World Championship semifinals was arguably Japan’s best achievement in the men’s 100-meter event.

There were also Monty Reid² from Canada, Yak from Turkey, and Adrian from France. These eight men made up the entire lineup for the second semifinal group.

In the waiting area, all 100-meter competitors were warming up and adjusting their condition for the upcoming race. Su Zhe caught a glimpse of Shiraishi Shouta, who had arrived at the waiting area at the same time as Minamiyama and Kobayashi. The three of them looked rather serious at the moment, and when they saw him, they just nodded in acknowledgment before beginning their individual warm-ups.

Except for top-tier competitors like Evanson who could consistently maintain the world’s number one position, nobody could be certain how they would perform in the upcoming race.

For a time, the atmosphere in the semifinal waiting area felt extremely tense and heavy.

When the local time reached 7:05 PM, Shiraishi Shouta and the other athletes in the first semifinal group stepped onto the track. The athletes in the waiting area also turned their attention to the first group’s competition on the big screen.

Although there was no world number one like Evanson among the first group’s competitors, South African athlete Dlamini, who had shown strong momentum this season, was in this group. His season-best time of 9.93 seconds was tied for fifth best this season with several other athletes.

At the same time, Dutch athlete Anthony in lane seven was also a strong competitor who had broken the 10-second barrier during the season.
On the tense track, at the sound of the gun, all athletes shot forward like arrows. Everyone’s starting reaction speeds were very close, but in the first 10 meters of the start-to-acceleration phase, Dlamini visibly pressured all other competitors, with only Anthony following closely behind Dlamini, ready to overtake at any moment!

In the mid-race section that followed, Anthony gradually overtook Dlamini, and the two formed a back-and-forth tug-of-war, creating a clear gap between themselves and the other competitors behind them.

These two worthy top-tier athletes with similar abilities showed superior form on the track, making it impossible for the other competitors to catch up. In the end, Anthony surpassed Dlamini in the sprint phase and advanced to the finals with a group-best time of 10.02 seconds. Dlamini also easily qualified with a time of 10.04 seconds.

Behind the two, German athlete Richard crossed the finish line with a time of 10.07 seconds, while Shiraishi Shouta only managed 10.10 seconds, placing fifth in the group with no hope of qualifying.

After the first group of athletes left the track, Su Zhe’s second group of competitors stepped onto the field under the guidance of the staff.

Back home, on the Track and Field Kingdom forum, there were fewer posts than usual at this time. The highest-ranked post was a request for help.

[Help please, let me know when Zhe-shao’s race is over and how he did… I won’t watch the race. Years of experience have taught me that whoever I watch performs poorly. I’ll wait here today, so please, everyone, share Zhe-shao’s results after the race, and I’ll catch up on the video later!]

Under this post, many self-proclaimed “jinxes” sent “shut up” emojis, creating a tense atmosphere on the forum that rivaled the one at the competition venue.

At the track, Su Zhe was positioned in lane six, with world-dominating Evanson in lane five to his left.
After everyone had prepared and taken their positions on the starting blocks, the referee’s voice sounded at the appropriate moment.

“On your marks!”

In the stands, all spectators held their breath, not daring to make a sound for fear of disturbing the athletes listening for the gun. In the Chinese team’s section, members who weren’t competing sat in the team area, alongside Zheng Wensheng and others, anxiously watching Su Zhe on the track.

“Set!”

“Bang!”

The starting gun fired, and the instant Su Zhe sensed it, his right foot pushed against the starting block with explosive force, propelling himself from a stationary position into acceleration.

In just under two seconds, all athletes had completed the transition from explosive start to acceleration.
Around Su Zhe, Evanson had already secured the leading position, while Sandy and Gates were equally strong, with reaction times at the start phase nearly matching Evanson’s.

Su Zhe’s reaction to the gun was extremely fast, just 0.132 seconds, ranking him among the top two of all competitors. However, in the explosive start phase, although he performed at his limit, there was still a noticeable gap compared to Evanson and the others. This erased the time advantage he had gained from his quick reaction, making it impossible to compete with the leading trio.

Nevertheless, among the remaining athletes, Su Zhe’s advantage was still quite obvious!

But at this moment on the track, Su Zhe no longer had spare energy to pay attention to the other competitors’ conditions!

He stared intently at the finish line ahead, with only Evanson remaining in his peripheral vision.

That formidable Black athlete was racing down the track, far ahead of everyone else. That sense of unreachable speed gave Su Zhe a momentary feeling of defeat, but simultaneously ignited an even stronger desire to chase.

The wind swept across Su Zhe’s face on the track. At such extreme speeds, even this gentle breeze felt like a spatial barrier.

Su Zhe gritted his teeth, eyes fixed ahead, trying to tear through the barrier before him with his speed.

Faster!

Even faster!

What was this bit of wind anyway?

Tear through them!

Su Zhe instinctively controlled his body, maintaining the stride length determined by the calculation team, and began trying to increase his stride frequency.

During this training period, his speed endurance had improved significantly compared to before, allowing him to stabilize his speed while constantly trying to increase it, without slowing down due to oxygen deficiency or muscle fatigue.

At the fifty-meter mark, the four people behind Su Zhe had already fallen a visibly noticeable distance behind him. His feet alternated continuously, and from the spectator stands, it was clear that he was closing in on the leading trio ahead!

In the stands, Chinese spectators and members of the Chinese team area were frantically cheering for Su Zhe!

“Su Zhe! Go!!! Su Zhe!!!”

“Go!!!”

Zheng Wensheng had long abandoned the reserved demeanor expected of a Track and Field Administration Center leader. At this moment, he was simply a pure track and field enthusiast with his heart set on the Chinese athlete.

He shouted himself hoarse for Su Zhe on the track, while other team members waved their national flags, sending their support through their cheers.

The final 20 meters!

Evanson still held the first position!

About one body length behind him was Gates, also from the United States. Nigerian star Sandy showed a slight decline in the final sprint phase, getting overtaken by Gates and falling behind the two American athletes.

And behind Sandy, Su Zhe was approaching like lightning.

The last 20 meters was Su Zhe’s strongest late-stage acceleration phase. The power and momentum he had accumulated in the earlier part of the race exploded in the latter half, allowing him to continuously accelerate forward!

Su Zhe’s upper body leaned slightly forward as he engaged in a duel with Sandy in the final stretch, sprinting with everything he had!

It seemed to last an eternity, yet also felt like just an instant.

In the stands, spectators from every country were shouting themselves hoarse for this duel on the track. Even the two commentators in the commentary booth let out exclamations of surprise!

Commentator Chris watched in astonishment as Su Zhe gradually closed in on Sandy from fourth place, even matching him in the final sprint phase, possibly overtaking him for third…

“China’s Su!!!! His late acceleration is astonishing!! He’s overtaking Sandy, will he succeed?!”

“They’ve crossed the line!!! He and Sandy crossed almost simultaneously! Who is the ultimate winner between these two???”

In the final moment, Su Zhe and Sandy both made a forward-pressing motion as they crossed the line. The speed difference between them was so minimal that it was difficult to judge with the naked eye who had won third place in this heat.

Soon, as the audience waited, the judges pulled up the final finish line video screenshot. From the comparison lines drawn on the screenshot, it was clear that Su Zhe’s torso had crossed the line a fraction earlier than Sandy’s. Obviously, the time difference between the two was only within a few thousandths of a second.

The third place in the second semifinal group belonged to the athlete from China – Su Zhe!