IBABS Chapter 70 — Japan Indoor Invitational 60m Hurdles Heats, Semifinals & Three Demon Kings

While rubbing his head, Su Zhe returned to the field with the other athletes. As he walked into the arena, still slightly dazed, a sudden commotion erupted throughout the stadium, with distant shouts of “Kawaii” and similar phrases.

The loudest cheers came from Su Zhe’s fan club section.

When Su Zhe looked up in confusion, he realized the venue’s director had once again switched the camera to focus on him. What had just been displayed on the big screen was apparently his confused, dazed close-up.

…What the hell?

Even Su Zhe was stunned by this, and after a moment, he silently covered his face with one hand.

He really did not expect the director would zoom in on his face like that.

Beside him, Zhao Zhixuan laughed and shook his head. “Ah Zhe, looks like the director really likes you.”

Hearing Zhao Zhixuan’s words, Su Zhe felt an indescribable frustration – shouldn’t the big screen normally be showing slow-motion replays from various angles during this post-race period while waiting for results?

Fortunately, the camera soon stopped focusing solely on his face and zoomed out slightly to include Minamiyama Yuki, who was standing not far from Su Zhe and Zhao Zhixuan.

Minamiyama Yuki obviously noticed the change in camera angle. When he saw that he was also in the frame, he suddenly smiled and made a heart gesture toward Su Zhe, then also said “Kawaii” to him with a smile.

From the commentator’s booth, Ishida Ippei watched the scene and displayed a kindly uncle-like smile. “Athlete Su doesn’t seem to realize just how charming he is. On the track, he shines like a protagonist. It’s impossible to look away. Even Minamiyama-kun couldn’t resist sending him a cute heart! While they’re fierce rivals in competition, off the track, everyone’s so friendly. Now, let’s take a look at the race replays!”

This camera transition was actually part of a small project by Fuji TV, who was responsible for broadcasting the competition. Called “His Many Faces,” it collected images of Su Zhe in different states through various channels, while gathering data on how different audiences received Su Zhe’s image. The related footage would be included in the preview for Su Zhe’s post-competition special interview.

Su Zhe did not anticipate that Fuji TV would arrange these special touches for his interview. So far, he had assumed this interview would be similar to the 15-minute post-competition interview from last time.

After the judges uploaded the results to commentator Ishida Ippei, Su Zhe finally heard his final score in the finals.

“Men’s 60m sprint, first place, Minamiyama Yuki (Japan), 6.57 seconds; second place, Su Zhe (China), 6.60 seconds…”

After seeing his final score on the center screen, Su Zhe frowned slightly, then nodded.

This result was already a significant improvement from the semifinals, although compared to his 100m performance, it wasn’t particularly impressive.

Considering his World Championship run of 10.02 seconds, his 60m split time had been around 6.55 seconds. Theoretically, after this period of training, his data should have shown an upward trend, but his final result was still only 6.60 seconds.

Undeniably, his personal condition and unfamiliarity with indoor venues had a visible impact on his performance.

Su Zhe suddenly felt grateful that before the actual World Indoor Athletics Championships began, he had received this invitation from Japan to participate in such an event, giving him a clear assessment of his indoor competitive state.

As for Minamiyama Yuki… even during his competitive low point of the year, he had achieved a time of 6.57 seconds… perhaps he wasn’t far from breaking Japan’s 60m record again.

This Japan Indoor Athletics Invitational, although it had invited many strong athletics nations from across Asia to participate, was not particularly high-profile. Therefore, only Japan’s Fuji TV broadcast the competition within Japan.

There was no corresponding channel broadcasting this event in China, so Chinese sports fans who wanted to watch to endure the excruciating experience of accessing Fuji TV’s online stream through China’s internet firewall.

On the Track and Field Kingdom forum, after the competition, determined forum members who managed to watch the entire competition using international networks posted the final results.

1L: [Aiya, 6.60 seconds, Zhe-shao’s performance was ordinary this time…]
3L: [Haha, not just Zhe-shao, look at all these Asian elites, who’s in good form? But that Japanese guy Minamiyama Yuki was in pretty good shape.]
6L: [Performance fluctuations are normal. It’s winter training season, who can maintain peak condition 365 days a year? If that happened, WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) would need to monitor them 24/7, wouldn’t they?]
8L: [Obviously a training exercise, just warming up. But I have to say, Japan’s spectator atmosphere is great. Looking at OP’s screenshots, the indoor stadium was packed. Kinda jealous, ngl…]
10L: [That’s right, but interest in track and field has increased quite a bit this year. Let’s hope it continues…]

Unlike the Track and Field Kingdom forum which focused on discussing athletic performance, in Su Zhe’s Weibo super topic, several Philosopher girls in Japan had already shared updates about today’s competition.

They posted not only pictures taken by Japanese girls and otaku, but also a short video clip of Su Zhe’s bewildered face appearing on the big screen after the finals.

The background audio of this video was filled with the recorder’s “Ahhh!” screams and Japanese girls’ “Kawaii” exclamations. Especially when Minamiyama Yuki made a heart gesture to Su Zhe on the big screen, the girl recording the video shouted loudly – “No!! Mom doesn’t approve of this marriage!!!”

…
……

After fans in the super topic watched this video, everyone’s unified reaction was an explosion of laughter.

[Hahahahaha, sister you’re amazing! =w=, That’s the Japanese athlete called Minamiyama something, right? I saw him before in our baby’s World Championship videos… How dare he make a heart gesture at our baby, his intentions are questionable!]
[_(:з」∠)_ Pfft, as a mom I don’t approve of this marriage either! What’s with this Japanese athlete, giving hearts to people so casually!]
[Hahaha, everyone’s focusing on this sister’s shout, but didn’t you see our baby’s confused face? From his talent show days to entering sports circles, we’ve always seen our baby seriously competing and training hard, but seeing him looking a bit confused today, he’s really so cute!!]

Amid the Philosopher sisters’ discussions filled with “hahahas,” another sharp-eyed girl suddenly jumped in.

[Hey, speaking of cute, I was browsing through the super topic, hasn’t anyone seen this photo?!]

This perceptive Philosopher girl immediately posted the photo taken on the day Zhou Tianjue’s track team first arrived in Japan.

After a few seconds of silence, everyone erupted with another round of “Ahhhs.”

[Isn’t this Zhou Tianjue our baby’s teammate? The one who always calls our baby “little sheep”! Wuwuwu, mom was wrong, mom will follow all of baby’s teammates right now, and scan Weibo to see if there are any hidden gems!]

Aside from happily appreciating his looks, the more analytical fans who ran the “Track and Field for Beginners” educational account in Su Zhe’s super topic neglect discussing his performance.

Everyone fairly acknowledged that Su Zhe’s 60m sprint performance was ordinary, but also explained that during winter training, fluctuations in results were normal. At the same time, several girls boldly made predictions.

[In the 60m sprint, from preliminaries to finals, Su Zhe’s improvement was very noticeable. Perhaps this shows he’s gradually regaining his competitive form during the competition. If so, we might look forward to seeing whether Su Zhe’s performance improves in the upcoming 60m hurdles.]

Since following Su Zhe, Teacher Tao developed quite a fondness for these fan girls. After reading the post where the girls had made serious analysis, he reposted and supported their view – [I also watched Su Zhe’s competition. Although his performance was average, his competitive state did show improvement in the finals. For tomorrow’s 60m hurdles competition, I personally hold an optimistic view that Su Zhe should achieve good results.]

Amid everyone’s expectations, the invitational tournament quickly entered its third day of events.

After the first two days of competition, Su Zhe gradually adapted to the indoor competition environment. At 5 PM on the third day, the 60m hurdles preliminaries officially began.

In today’s preliminaries, 40 athletes participated in the competition. Su Zhe and Ye Jun were placed in the second preliminary heat, while Zhou Tianjue was assigned to the fifth preliminary heat.

In the previous Asian Championship Invitational, since Su Zhe was fully focused on qualifying for the men’s 100m sprint at the World Championships, he didn’t participate in the men’s 110m hurdles event. Among these Asian 110m hurdles elites on the field, only a few had competed against Su Zhe at the World Championships.

For these preliminaries, both Su Zhe and Ye Jun were quite relaxed. In their preliminary group, the best 60m hurdles or even 110m hurdles athletes had season bests of only 7.78 seconds and 13.47 seconds. For Su Zhe and Ye Jun, who could run the 110m hurdles under 13.40 seconds even during their competitive low points, these opponents didn’t pose much of a threat.

As expected.

In this preliminary round, Su Zhe and Ye Jun, while holding back their speed, still easily secured first and second place in their group.

Among the five groups of preliminary competitors, Zhou Tianjue, Su Zhe, and Ye Jun ranked first, second, and fourth overall with times of 7.72, 7.74, and 7.79 seconds respectively.

Among Japanese competitors, only veteran Endo Tatsuro managed to place third with a time of 7.77 seconds.

When these rankings came out, commentator Ishida Ippei let out an exclamation on the spot. “China’s hurdling squad has arrived! Incredible! This event that once belonged to China has been in decline for about ten years, but while no one was paying attention, China’s hurdling squad has risen again! Faced with such formidable opponents, can Japan’s hurdling champions withstand their attack?! What a terrifying squad that makes people tremble with fear…”

Although Ishida Ippei’s commentary was somewhat exaggerated, it reflected the current reality.

In the Asian Championships earlier this year, Japanese 110m hurdlers had occupied two spots in the finals, while China had only Ye Jun qualify for the finals.

The 110m hurdles champion then was ultimately Endo Tatsuro, with Ye Jun earning only third place with a time of 13.37 seconds.

In just over half a year, Su Zhe, Zhou Tianjue, and Ye Jun had jointly advanced to the World Championship semifinals. At that time, Japan’s domestic track and field community had been shaken by this, and Ishida Ippei naturally remembered this recent news.

In today’s indoor 60m hurdles competition, Zhou Tianjue, Su Zhe, and Ye Jun once again demonstrated their absolute leading position in Asia in the hurdles event.

In tonight’s 60m hurdles semifinals, Zhou Tianjue, Su Zhe, and Ye Jun happened to be assigned to three different groups. Before the competition began, Zhou Tianjue’s chuunibyou spirit was already burning intensely.

“Little sheep¹, Ye-ge,” Zhou Tianjue rubbed his nose, then with hands on his hips said, “Think we can sweep all three semifinal heats?”
Ye Jun sighed in amused exasperation. “Come on, don’t underestimate the opponents. There are many strong Asian competitors here. Taking the competition seriously is what’s most important.”

Hearing Ye Jun’s lecture, Zhou Tianjue just rubbed his nose again, lowered his head and mumbled, showing that he acknowledged his mistake. He naturally knew the importance of taking competitions seriously and respecting opponents, but due to his chuunibyou personality, he couldn’t help but say these provocative things. Among familiar company, it wasn’t much of an issue, but this was an international competition after all, so it was better to restrain himself.

However, given the three men’s current abilities, Zhou Tianjue’s idea wasn’t impossible.

Among the three, Ye Jun was assigned to the first semifinal heat.

As he prepared to enter the field, Ye Jun smiled at Zhou Tianjue and Su Zhe, then standing at the back of everyone, he raised his thumb up.

At first glance, it seemed a simple self-encouragement. But Su Zhe instantly connected it to Zhou Tianjue’s earlier declaration – Can we take all three heats?

After a brief daze, Su Zhe’s eyes also revealed a hint of amusement.

As previously China’s number one 110m hurdler, Ye Jun naturally had his own confidence and pride. Even though his training results hadn’t yet surpassed those of Su Zhe and Zhou Tianjue, his form in post-World Championship training was getting better and better. This 27-year-old 110m hurdler was gradually showing the power of his accumulated strength.

On the track, the brief 60m hurdles event passed in a flash.

From the starting reaction time to approaching and clearing the first hurdle, Ye Jun maintained an excellent rhythm. By the time he crossed the fourth hurdle, commentator Ishida Ippei was already exclaiming that the winner of the first semifinal group had been determined!

Just as Ishida Ippei said, Ye Jun secured first place in the first semifinal heat with a time of 7.74 seconds. As Su Zhe was about to enter, Ye Jun, who was about to exit, looked back and gave Su Zhe a thumbs up.

After smiling, Su Zhe also raised his right hand, giving a thumbs up in response to Ye Jun.

In the commentator’s booth, Ishida Ippei also saw Su Zhe’s gesture, but also assumed it was just a normal encouragement. “In the preliminaries, we already witnessed Su’s quick pace that could shatter opponents’ confidence, and now with such ability, he’s raising his thumb before the race to encourage himself! This makes me sense something dangerous… In this semifinal group, Endo-kun and Su are in the same group! Endo-kun, you must do your best too!!”

Endo Tatsuro was a famous athlete with an extremely high standing in Japan’s 110m hurdles. In this year’s Asian Championships, he had set a personal best of 13.31 seconds while also winning the championship trophy.

For Su Zhe, in this semifinal, the only obstacle to joining Ye Jun and Zhou Tianjue in taking first place in their respective heats might come from him.

When all athletes assumed their ready positions, the starter issued the official starting command, and then the starting gun fired!

At the sound of the gun, Su Zhe calmly maintained his superior reaction time, starting first with a time of 0.134 seconds. In this Japanese indoor competition, he was still temporarily using his previous eight-step approach technique. In the approach phase, although his explosive speed wasn’t the fastest, it was not inferior to anyone else on the track.

Among all the competitors, only he and Endo Tatsuro had gained about half a body length advantage over the others before reaching the hurdles.

Perhaps driven by an overeager desire to win, when crossing the first hurdle, Endo Tatsuro’s technique showed slight instability. He slightly scraped the hurdle when clearing the first one, which visibly affected his speed, subsequent rhythm, and momentum.

In the 110m hurdles event, Su Zhe’s most stable aspects were his hurdling technique and rhythm between hurdles.

From the first hurdle, he maintained excellent form.

Right leg pushing off the ground, swing leg starting the hurdle, lead leg quickly pulling up to follow, rapidly transitioning into stride pattern between hurdles after clearing, with steady and gradually increasing speed, attacking the hurdles all the way forward!

This was a victory without question.

Even though Su Zhe’s truly dominant section couldn’t be fully displayed in the 60m hurdles, his acceleration through the first five hurdles was enough to secure him first place in today’s semifinal again.

In this semifinal, Su Zhe’s final time was 7.68 seconds.

After the 60m competitions of the previous two days, Su Zhe clearly felt that his condition had improved in today’s event. After fully immersing himself in the competition and eliminating distractions, his control over himself on the track was further strengthening.

In the commentator’s booth, Ishida Ippei’s voice was somewhat heavy. “The second heat of the 60m hurdles semifinal has ended, with Endo-kun only ranking second. On this track, Su moves like a snow leopard hunting, beautiful and agile! He has torn apart all opponents’ hearts! Strength and beauty combine perfectly in him… He and his two companions are spreading a terrifying shadow across this indoor track. Who can stop these three’s victorious stride? Or perhaps… the only ones who can defeat these three Chinese athletes are themselves?!”

After the second heat of the semifinals concluded, the three Chinese hurdling powerhouses led by Su Zhe had truly engraved the word “terrifying” into the hearts of other competitors.

Who else could stop these three Chinese hurdlers?

Everyone was asking this question in their hearts.

“Here he comes! The third hurdler from China!” Ishida Ippei exclaimed when Zhou Tianjue entered. “This hurdler is the youngest of China’s three hurdling demon kings! In the recent World Athletics Championships, Zhou’s time in the preliminaries was 13.26 seconds. In the semifinals, this young Zhou only missed qualifying for the finals due to an unfortunate accident… Without that accident, perhaps in the previous World Championship 110m hurdles final, we would have witnessed the amazing scene of two Chinese athletes competing together!”

“In front of this hidden Chinese powerhouse, is there anyone in the third semifinal heat who can contend with him?!”

With Ishida Ippei’s worried voice, the final group of the 60m hurdles semifinal at this indoor competition officially began!

On the track, after seeing both Ye Jun and Su Zhe capture first place in their semifinals, Zhou Tianjue practically vibrated with energy after watching his teammates dominate. Saying he was eager would be an understatement of his current condition.

First place!

Sweeping first place in the semifinals of this competition with his teammates!

This burning thought made Zhou Tianjue’s eyes grow brighter. As he crouched on the starting blocks, his excited state and aura caused the competitors on both sides to sense something.

When the starter’s starting gun sounded, Zhou Tianjue’s reaction time reached an astonishing 0.122 seconds, his powerful explosiveness allowing him to dominate everyone in the starting phase!

From the perspective of height and leg length, Zhou Tianjue was more suited for a seven-step approach than Su Zhe. This was also the inevitable improvement direction Lü Fei had planned for him, but since he had been in the senior division for less than a year, he hadn’t yet formally begun his approach stride modification.

Even so, his speed was already astonishing enough.

He quickly and effortlessly cleared each hurdle. Given his rhythm between hurdles, by the fifth hurdle, he was already approaching his fastest split time.

For him, if calculating based on his overall 110m hurdles rhythm, he could more easily achieve better results than Su Zhe in the 60m hurdles.

Little sheep and Brother Ye had both taken first place, could he lose this race?

No, he absolutely would not lose!

Throughout the entire track, Zhou Tianjue maintained his excited state. Even with competitors continuously chasing from behind, it didn’t affect his rhythm at all.

In fact, his continuously improving rhythm between hurdles slightly disrupted the Kuwaiti athlete who was closely pursuing him.

Until he crossed the fifth hurdle and entered the final sprint, no one had been able to overtake Zhou Tianjue.

“Thud.”

After sprinting across the finish line, the obviously overexcited Zhou Tianjue, even after slowing down, still crashed heavily into the foam wall. But he just shook his head, then happily let out a roar!

“Ha!!”

His eyes looked toward the edge of the track, where Su Zhe and Ye Jun were smiling at him.

Zhou Tianjue excitedly extended both arms, raising the index finger on each hand, making the gesture for number one!

On the third day of the Japan Indoor Invitational, at this moment when the 60m hurdles semifinals ended, the venue fell momentarily silent.

In the commentator’s booth, Ishida Ippei shook his head and sighed, “Ladies and gentlemen at the venue, we have witnessed the rise of three hurdling demon kings from China!”

Author’s note:
Spicy chicken’s interview time:
Cai Cai: (Sighing face) Zai, mom feels that Zhe-bao’s exclusive fans are growing in number, what should we do…
Boss Shao: … =.= Oh.
Cai Cai: … Why are you so calm?
Boss Shao: (Coldly) Nothing, I’m used to it.
Cai Cai: ???
Boss Shao: =.= After all, someone said I live like a fan site admin who occasionally comes online.
Cai Cai: …!!!
Boss Shao: =.= What, can you refute that?
Cai Cai: … QAQ… I-I can’t… T_T Zai, you’ve worked hard, mom is guilty, wuwuwu…