IBABS Chapter 71.1 — Japan Indoor Invitational 60m Hurdles Final

Even though this was just an invitational meet that wasn’t particularly high-level, with quite a few Asian powerhouses gathered here, the fact that all three Chinese track and field athletes won first place in their respective semifinal groups was pretty amazing.

While Ishida Ippei was praising them, the other athletes at the venue looked toward the three Chinese hurdlers with a mix of surprise and wariness.

“China’s hurdles demons…” Endo Tatsurou sighed, eyeing Zhou Tianjue with apprehension before shifting his attention to Su Zhe and Ye Jun outside the track.

Ten years ago, when China’s hurdles king, Song Chen, was still active, all the hurdlers in Asia were buried under the shadow called China. Back then, whether in the 60m or 110m hurdles, Song Chen dominated Asia without question. His reputation as a formidable force even extended to the world stage.

“Is this the birth… of a new dynasty?” Endo sighed as he watched Zhou Tianjue and the others with a complicated expression.

In the end, Zhou Tianjue still topped the semifinals with a time of 7.63 seconds, while Su Zhe and Ye Jun followed closely in second and third.

Off the track, Ye Jun looked at the field with amusement. “That kid, I was a bit worried he’d get too excited… Well, he did get overexcited, but he still controlled himself pretty well.”

Su Zhe nodded with a smile too. Even though Zhou Tianjue had a chuunibyou personality and seemed a bit childish, his passion and natural talent for hurdling, and even his self-control on the track, had reached an excellent level.

“Every time I watch you and Tianjue compete, I wonder just how far will you two go once you’ve fully matured,” Ye Jun suddenly mused. “I don’t know if I’ll even be able to keep up with you by then.”

Hearing Ye Jun’s sigh, Su Zhe turned to respond, but Ye Jun shook his head with a smile. “Just a random thought. Seeing you two has given me a whole new perspective on my own future. Meeting rivals like you on the track… it’s my luck.”

Back home, on the Track and Field Kingdom forum, a die-hard fan who had painstakingly streamed the event from Fuji TV’s official broadcast returned with an explosion of excitement.

[Brothers!!! Three semifinal groups, three first places!!!]

After posting passionately, this poster edited and added all the details from that night’s semifinals in Japan, finally concluding: [That commentator uncle went crazy, he straight up called Jun-ye, Jue-ge’er, and Zhe-shao the three new demon kings! Look at this screenshot, the athletes at the scene looked at them like they were looking at gods!!!]

1L: [First! Holy shit, so you’re saying all three of them were in separate heats and each took first? That’s insane!]
5L: [Hey, man, find a way to download the live stream video! Just talking about it isn’t as satisfying as watching! Oh wow, looking at the times in the main post, being able to run these numbers during winter training, they’re are all in good shape. Looks like after the past two days of competition, Zhe-shao’s form is back too.]
11L: [LMAO, three new demon kings. I haven’t heard a title like that in ages. I’m actually getting emotional. Ten years, our hurdles events have been cold for 10 years. This year we not only have Jue-ge’er and Zhe-shao, but Jun-ye also looks like he’s about to bloom. I feel like it won’t be long before we can see three stars shining!]
13L: [No need for words, already bought tickets for the World Indoor Athletics Championships in N City in March, just waiting for the three bosses to go godmode!]

Because of this race where they swept first place in all three semifinal groups, the National Track and Field Team’s official Weibo also posted a congratulatory message: [December 12th, Japan Indoor Athletics Invitational Day 3, our athletes @Zhou Tianjue, @Su Zhe, @Ye Jun swept first place in all three men’s 60m hurdles semifinal groups! Wishing them the best results in the December 13th finals!]

Many big sports influencers also reposted this Weibo with their own congratulations. In the quiet winter training season, this was a rare piece of exciting news.

For a while, many people started focusing on December 13th, the final day of the invitational, eager to see who would take home the championship trophy in the 60m hurdles final.

One night passed in a flash.

December 13th, the Japan Indoor Invitational came to its final day of competition, with the 60m hurdles final scheduled for 9:10 PM.

For the closing events, the Japanese organizers and TV station arranged special entrance times for each athlete. In the evening, before the athletes entered, all the lights in the venue would go dark and spotlights would shine on the athletes, letting each one receive the attention of the entire crowd.

In tonight’s schedule, the 60m hurdles final was the very last event of all the competition events. Given its significance, the director even suggested that all the athletes could wave to the surrounding audience when they entered and stay a bit longer under the spotlights at the entrance.

As the only Japanese athlete among the eight finalists, Endo Tatsuro was arranged to enter first, while the remaining seven athletes waited behind the entrance gate.

Zhou Tianjue looked a little confused, not understanding why the Japanese would make such a big production out of it. “Isn’t this just a race?”

Ye Jun shook his head with amusement. “All major international competitions are like this. Did you forget about the World Championships final? When athletes enter, they practically want to put on a whole show.”

Hearing Ye Jun’s words, Su Zhe also remembered the grand athlete entrances at the World Championships final. He smiled and said, “Think about it, how much time can our race actually take? All together it’s less than 10 seconds. When the TV station broadcasts it, they need other footage, right? This kind of arrangement is completely understandable.”

While the three of them chatted, the other finalists had already made their entrances one by one. The three Chinese team athletes were arranged to appear last as the grand finale.

In the commentary booth, Ishida Ippei had pulled himself together today to face the commentary for this final 60m hurdles race. When Ye Jun, the first of the three, made his entrance, Ishida Ippei’s commentary began.

“Oh! Here he comes! This is one of the three great demon kings from China! Athlete Ye Jun! Throughout this season, Ye Jun has continuously broken his personal best records. Currently, his 110m hurdles personal best is 13.32 seconds, and he will also appear on China’s track and field team hurdles roster for next year’s Tokyo Olympics! He’s also the most experienced of the three Chinese hurdlers! What kind of performance will he bring tonight?”

Under the spotlight at the entrance, Ye Jun smiled and waved to the audience, and the crowd responded with enthusiastic applause.

In just one day, the reputation of China’s three hurdles demon kings had deeply rooted itself in the hearts of Japanese track and field fans. For today’s final, many people had specifically bought high-priced tickets to come witness this 60m hurdles final in person.

After Ye Jun walked onto the track, Zhou Tianjue also stepped through the opening gate with his long strides, carrying his unique chuunibyou aura as he stood under the spotlight.

Perhaps the spotlight was a bit too bright, Zhou Tianjue frowned slightly, then stood in place with his hands on his hips, slowly scanning the entire audience.

This chuunibyou domineering presence made all the spectators gasp in amazement, then they welcomed his entrance with even more enthusiastic applause and cheers.

“This one! This is the youngest of China’s three great demon kings! He just entered his twenties this year! But don’t underestimate him… his head coach is the same coach as the legendary king Song Chen!”

After Ishida Ippei finished this segment, the audience area immediately erupted with gasps.

“Dubbed Song Chen’s undisputed successor in China, Zhou’s back-to-back first-place finishes in yesterday’s heats and semifinals prove his strength… he’s absolutely the most amazing of the three demon kings! He’s looking down on the entire venue, oh, this demon king is like he’s surveying his territory, looking at our humble venue… that piercing glare sends chills down the spine!”

Matching Ishida Ippei’s commentary, the audience gradually fell silent under Zhou Tianjue’s sweeping gaze. Finally, Zhou Tianjue frowned with a puzzled expression, then strode away from the spotlight area toward where Ye Jun was positioned on the track.

After Zhou Tianjue also entered the track area, Su Zhe finally stepped into the spotlight as the last athlete to enter when the entrance gate opened.

Whether it was his instinct from being an idol artist or the body memory from the recent devil training in camera presence courses, the moment Su Zhe stood under the spotlight, a warm, flawless smile curved his lips as his eyes met the lens head-on.

The stadium screen magnified his dazzling, almost ethereal grin. The audience, still recovering from Zhou Tianjue’s intensity, suddenly exploded into deafening cheers. Especially in the area where Su Zhe’s fan club was seated, their crazy cheering gradually got all the other spectators involved, quickly spreading until the entire arena roared his name.

“Su! Su!”

The excited voices made the entire venue’s energy keep climbing.

“He’s here! The man himself!” Ishida Ippei’s face showed uncontainable excitement. “It’s him, athlete Su from China! He’s not only a genius in the men’s 100m event, but has also achieved extraordinary accomplishments in the 110m hurdles! His beauty and warm smile are like his bewitching disguise. On the track, he lures you in with charm… then crushes your confidence with his strides, harvesting his victories!”

“Mmm, his beauty and strength make me both love and fear him. He’s the most terrifying of the three demon kings from China… he’s like the most beautiful ray of light from the depths of hell. When he smiles at you, he can lead you into the abyss…”

“With these three monsters dominating the field, will our Endo-kun be able to break through tonight and claim a spot on the podium? This is a battle of conviction for him. Let’s look forward to Endo-kun’s performance together!”

After the lengthy entrance introductions, all eight finalists had finally assembled at the starting line. Su Zhe, Zhou Tianjue, and Ye Jun were positioned in lanes 3, 5, and 6 respectively, while Japan’s Endo Tatsuro was in lane 4.

Besides the four of them, the remaining four lanes were occupied by athletes from Kuwait, Kazakhstan, and other countries.

At the starting line, everyone was warming up in their own way. The somewhat lengthy introduction segment before their entrance had cooled down the eight athletes’ pre-race condition a little. Now, taking advantage of the final moments before the race, everyone was making the most of the last bit of time to get themselves into peak condition.

Su Zhe patted his legs and arms, also letting his body relax a little.

After a few minutes of preparation time, the assistant starters beside the track made the gesture to start the race, and the venue’s lighting switched from the previous dim setting to bright.

Soon, everything was ready. All eight athletes had crouched down at their starting blocks, hands braced against the ground. Everyone had focused their minds, preparing to decide the winner on this short 60-meter track.

In the audience seats, all the spectators held their breath and stayed silent, not wanting their noise to affect the athletes’ ability to hear the starting gun.

“The race… is about to begin!”

After Ishida Ippei’s final commentary before the race, the starter also gave the command at the same time.

“On your marks.”

“Set… Bang!”

When the gunshot rang out, all the athletes pushed off from their starting blocks simultaneously, but before everyone could start accelerating, an alarm blared across the stadium…

This was a false start!

In sprinting, the human body’s minimum reaction time to the gun is 0.1 seconds. On the detection device connected to the starting blocks, if any athlete’s starting reaction time falls below this limit, it is ruled as a false start.

All the athletes, after their brief burst of power, sprinted forward a few steps following their body’s momentum, then gradually slowed down their pace. Zhou Tianjue rushed too hard and ran all the way to the first hurdle before stopping, accidentally knocking down the hurdle in front of him.

“What happened…”

Zhou Tianjue looked back at Su Zhe and Ye Jun. Su Zhe pointed to the display showing the notification: Lane 2—Kuwait’s Salwan, false start.

The Kuwaiti athlete slapped his forehead in frustration but said nothing. After his moment of regret, he calmly followed the staff’s instructions and left the track.