IBABS Chapter 60.1 — 4x100m Relay Race Heats

After several days of fierce competition, today marked the second-to-last day of this year’s World Championships.

Although it wasn’t a rest day, the stadium was still packed to capacity, with everyone seizing the final moments to experience this biennial track and field event.

At 10:50 AM, the first heat of the 4x100m relay officially began.

The first group, consisting of eight competing teams including UK, Barbados, Japan, and Trinidad and Tobago, had all taken their positions on the track.

On the field, athletes from various countries were measuring the starting marks with their feet, carefully making their respective preparations for the upcoming race.

In the preparation area, Su Zhe and several others had completed their warm-up activities and began waiting for the final results of the first preliminary heat.

“France, Japan, UK, Trinidad and Tobago… there are quite a few strong teams in the first group. I wonder what the final results will be…” Zhao Zhixuan watched the teams preparing on the field and silently calculated what standard the final results for this group might reach.

“The real powerhouses here should be France, Japan, UK, and Trinidad and Tobago,” Wang Ming chimed in from the side. Since joining the relay team, Wang Ming had committed every opposing relay team to memory. He confidently said, “Besides these four teams whose results consistently stay within 38.20 seconds, the other teams in the first group, like Barbados, have inconsistent performances. They often run times around 39 seconds.”

“What we need to pay attention to is what time the fourth-place finisher among these four teams will run…”

These four powerhouse teams had practically secured their spots in the relay finals; it was just a matter of seeing what time the fourth-place team would post.

And after that, when the second group’s relay race officially began, they would need to run a time at least as good as the first group’s fourth-place team to ensure they could advance smoothly.

Su Zhe and the other two naturally understood Wang Ming’s meaning. In this competition, they needed to at least make it to the finals to meet everyone’s expectations.

Thinking about this, the atmosphere among the group became somewhat tense. Noticing his teammates’ stiffness, Su Zhe patted their shoulders reassuringly.

“Don’t worry! Didn’t our joint practices go smoothly these past few days? As long as we maintain the smooth state we had in training during the competition, we’ll definitely be fine!”

Su Zhe’s words brought a hint of a smile to Zhao Zhixuan and the others’ faces.

He was right. Before the competition began, how could they continue to let others’ confidence overshadow their own? Their training over this period had already shown good results. Just as Su Zhe said, as long as they performed smoothly, their results would definitely get them into the finals without any problem!

On the track, under the watchful eyes of 70,000 spectators, the first group of 4x100m competitors had completed their preparations. On the pink track, athletes from all eight teams had positioned themselves for the start.

Under the referee’s calm announcement over the loudspeaker, the previously noisy stadium instantly returned to silence, with everyone holding their breath to focus on the athletes preparing to start the race.

“On your marks.”

“Set.”

“Bang!”

At the same moment, the first-leg runners on all 8 lanes sprang into action, starting their acceleration with batons in hand.

The first runner for Japan was Shiraishi Shouta. His reaction to the gun was extremely fast. As a powerful new sprint talent in Japan, he had been selected for Japan’s 4x100m relay team two years ago, and had been training as the main first-leg runner.

His starting technique on the curve had become quite polished. After the start, he quickly raised his forward-leaning body, shifting his center of gravity inward to adjust to the centrifugal force of running the curve.

His start and acceleration around the entire curve were very smooth, and just in the starting phase, he had already firmly secured a position in the top two.

As he approached the second-leg position, Takeshita Hiroaki was fully prepared.

For the Japanese relay team, their most praiseworthy aspect was their baton exchange technique. Around the year 2000, Japan began adjusting their traditional baton passing technique to the current upward-flick style. This technique wasn’t easy to master, but once mastered, compared to the downward-press method, it was better suited for athletes to complete baton exchanges while moving at high speeds.

It was precisely because of the team’s skilled mastery and synchronization with this technique that the Japanese relay team had broken the Asian record for the 4x100m relay multiple times since 2000.

Even though the individual abilities of their team members couldn’t surpass athletes like Chen Zhi from the Chinese team, their relay team’s overall average strength and advantage in baton exchange coordination still exceeded the Chinese relay team at this time.

The exchange between the first and second legs between Shiraishi Shouta and Takeshita Hiroaki went very smoothly. After receiving the baton, Takeshita Hiroaki quickly began sprinting forward, his movements clean and efficient without any mistakes. Although his 100m time ranked in the middle to lower range within the relay team, in relay races where the start was eliminated, just the mid-race acceleration phase, Takeshita Hiroaki’s standard was still commendable.

Japan’s third-leg receiver was Kobayashi Kimiko. His performance in relay races was known for zero errors in baton exchanges. When Japanese media praised his relay standards, they often refer to him as the “zero-error perfect runner.”

This baton exchange posed no problems for Kobayashi Kimiko either. From preparing his run-up to smoothly receiving the baton from Takeshita Hiroaki in the exchange zone, Kobayashi Kimiko executed everything perfectly.

Meanwhile, in lane six next to the Japanese team, Trinidad and Tobago had a small problem with their second and third leg exchange. The third-leg receiver started too late, causing a delay in the exchange at his position. Trinidad and Tobago, who was originally in third place, was instantly caught up by the team that had been in fourth place.

The ranking order that had been maintained until now changed in that moment.

Regardless of how the teams beside him performed, Kobayashi Kimiko lived up to his nickname, showing not the slightest error or hesitation on the relay track.

His curve-running technique was also excellent. With his outstanding performance on the curve, he shook off the strong third-leg runner from the French team who was catching up from behind – Adrian, an athlete who had competed alongside Su Zhe in the men’s 100m semifinals.

Japan’s final leg was Minamiyama Yuki, widely acknowledged as Japan’s top sprinter.

As Japan’s number one sprinter, Minamiyama Yuki was one of Chen Zhi’s most frequent rivals within Asia. His 100m times were very consistent. Although he had only broken the 10-second barrier last year, his times consistently stayed within 10.12 seconds, and he rarely had off days.

His start and acceleration weren’t particularly advantageous, but his ability to maintain high speed during the middle portion of the race was excellent. Therefore, in relay races, Minamiyama Yuki was assigned to the fourth leg, where he often performed exceptionally well, securing many victories for the Japanese team.

In today’s preliminary, the top three teams were already fairly stable.

After receiving the baton, Minamiyama Yuki even seemed to slightly hold back his speed. The British athlete Barrigan in first place did the same. As he approached the finish line, Barrigan made no significant effort to dip at the line but instead ran through the finish with his body upright.

Shortly after he crossed the line, Minamiyama Yuki also finished, with the French runner Adrian behind him.

Trinidad and Tobago, who had been in the top three positions during the first and second legs, couldn’t regain their advantage on the subsequent track due to their baton exchange error between the second and third legs. They could only cross the finish line in fourth place.

In the Chinese team’s seating area, Zheng Wensheng was visibly tense.

Compared to previous events like the 100m and 110m hurdles, Zheng Wensheng felt more pressure now than ever before.

For this World Athletics Championships, the Track and Field Administration Center did not set particularly strict performance requirements for the men’s 100m sprint and 110m hurdles. But for the 4x100m relay, because of the men’s sprint relay team’s consistent past performance, even with veteran Liu Hanjiang’s retirement and Wang Ming as a replacement, the relay team should have been able to have a smooth transition period.

Considering various factors, the Administration Center had initially set a goal of “secure sixth place, strive for fifth.”

But with Chen Zhi’s sudden injury, the relay team’s core was crippled, bringing the team to its most difficult period.

Since Su Yinsheng joined the national team to oversee this training, he had repeatedly raised related issues with the Administration Center. The Center also considered the actual situation of Chen Zhi’s injury and Liu Hanjiang’s retirement, so they adjusted the goal to “secure seventh place, strive for fifth.”

But even so, it was extremely difficult for the relay team at that time.

Fortunately, Su Yinsheng made the tough decision to put Su Zhe on the relay team, and Su Zhe indeed lived up to expectations, successfully coordinating with his teammates to become the team’s new core member, reuniting the previously somewhat chaotic and scattered relay team.

However… no matter how well Su Zhe performed, there were still issues with the short training and practice time of less than a month, Meng Hao’s adaptation problems switching from fourth leg to third leg, Wang Ming’s slightly insufficient individual ability…

All these issues combined together.

Could such a team really withstand the pressure of major competition and performance expectations, successfully demonstrating their usual abilities and making it to the finals?

For days, Zheng Wensheng had been troubled by the relay team’s issues, tossing and turning at night, unable to sleep.

Now, watching the completed first heat of the 4x100m preliminary, Zheng Wensheng felt his heart in his throat. He smiled bitterly at Su Yinsheng beside him and shook his head, sighing, “Ah, watching our team compete in person is really too stressful… Lao Su, do you think we can make it to the finals today?”

Su Yinsheng sat in his seat with his arms crossed, without responding to Zheng Wensheng right away. He was focusing on the announcer’s report of the results from the commentary booth.

Chris looked at the results sheet sent up by the judges’ panel and announced the final results of the first heat: “First place, UK, 37.72 seconds. Second place, Japan, 37.89 seconds. Third place, France, 38.20 seconds. Fourth place, Trinidad and Tobago, 38.40 seconds. Fifth place, Barbados, 38.57 seconds…”

Looking at the stands, Su Yinsheng frowned slightly after hearing the results, without saying much.

Beside him, Zheng Wensheng also breathed a small sigh of relief after hearing the first group’s results announcement.

After thinking for a moment, he said, “Lao Su, I remember our recent practice times have all been under 38.50 seconds. What do you think… as long as we can smoothly place fourth in the second heat, we should secure a spot in the finals, right?”

Su Yinsheng watched the second group of competing teams already on the field preparing, and nodded, but still cautiously said, “Let’s wait and see. This group also has many strong competitors… the final results will depend on their performance.”

After the first group of competitors left the field, Su Zhe and his three teammates arrived on the track following the staff’s guidance.

Before heading to their respective lane positions, the four teammates high-fived each other with smiles, placing their trust in each other through this tacit gesture.

“Let’s go!”

“We’ve got this!”

With just these simple words, the four immediately turned and headed to their positions to begin their pre-race preparations.