IBABS Chapter 75.1 — World Indoor Athletics Championships Men's 60m Preliminaries

Before 8 a.m. that morning, Su Zhe and the other 14 national team members, along with accompanying officials like Zheng Wensheng, boarded the team bus emblazoned with the national team logo to the Olympic Sports Park.

On some of the roads leading to the park, traffic control had already been put in place for the day. Only buses carrying athletes from various countries were allowed to enter the designated area.

On both sides of the restricted roads, barricades marked with the World Indoor Athletics Championships logo lined the streets. From the athletes’ accommodation center in N City to Olympic Sports Park, colorful promotional flags bearing the event’s logo could be seen everywhere.

Crowds of excited citizens, their faces filled with anticipation, lined the streets. They weren’t just holding small national flags in their hands, they also had flag stickers on their faces. They were clearly on their way to the indoor stadium to watch the first day of competitions.

When the Chinese team’s bus passed by, the crowd erupted into cheers.

“Team China! Jiayou!”

People started shouting spontaneously and loudly. This passionate atmosphere and pure support made all the athletes on the bus straighten their backs.

Zheng Wensheng watched the enthusiastic crowd waving and cheering, and couldn’t help but feel moved. Only as the bus entered Olympic Sports Park did the cheers gradually fade.

“Did you see that?” Zheng Wensheng turned to face the athletes. “That’s the support and expectations our people. This is a competition on our home turf, so give it your all and live up to everyone’s support for us!”

The athletes all nodded in agreement.

Actually, Zheng Wensheng didn’t even need to say it. The overwhelming cheers along the way had already stoked their competitive fire. The last thing they wanted was to see disappointment on the faces of these passionate spectators.

“We’ll do our best,” Su Zhe said seriously, setting the tone.

Even someone as usually prickly as Zhou Tianjue wore a serious, determined expression.

This was a competition being held in China!

They were representing Team China.

How could they not give it everything they had?

Carrying the sense of mission to bring glory to their country on their own soil, everyone encouraged each other after getting off the bus, then walked toward the indoor stadium with smiles.

For this event, N City had not only built the largest indoor athletics stadium in the country that could accommodate nearly 5,000 spectators, but also constructed a huge swimming facility as a supporting venue that would serve as the athletes’ warm-up facility during the competition.

Compared to outdoor stadiums that could easily accommodate tens of thousands of people, an indoor stadium with less than 5,000 spectators did seem rather small, but the enthusiasm of the home crowd more than made up for it.

Unlike the previous Japan Indoor Invitational, this World Indoor Athletics Championships was much grander in scale, being a world-class event that brought together the world’s best indoor event athletes. However, the entire competition schedule was only 3 days.

Within these 3 days, the overall schedule was arranged very tightly, promising wave after wave of thrilling matches.

Taking Su Zhe as an example, he would participate in both the men’s 60m sprint and men’s 60m hurdles at this indoor championships. The 60m sprint preliminaries and semifinals were both scheduled for the first day of competition. If he advanced to the finals, he would face the 60m hurdles preliminaries on the second day, followed by the 60m sprint finals that evening.

The organizers had carefully arranged this schedule based on different events, taking into audience interest, event popularity, and the athletes’ individual event commitments.

After entering the Olympic Sports Park, those who had competitions in the morning like Su Zhe said goodbye to their teammates who didn’t have morning events, and headed to the warm-up facility specially arranged by the organizers for the athletes.

Before parting ways, everyone instinctively made encouraging gestures, cheering for themselves or their teammates.

By the time Su Zhe stepped into the warm-up venue, reporters from the sports channel and the live broadcast team were already waiting inside. Apart from them, only a few official local media outlets from N City had been granted access to conduct interviews.

The sports channel reporter who came to cover the event this time was also an old acquaintance of Su Zhe’s. It was Xu Zhi, who had previously interviewed him in Country D during the World Championships.

The moment Xu Zhi spotted Su Zhe and other national team members entering the warm-up area, his eyes lit up. He immediately approached them with his cameraman in tow.

“Su Zhe, Minghao, do you have time for an interview?”

Su Zhe and Zhang Minghao turned around, and when they saw it was Xu Zhi, they both greeted him with relaxed smiles.

Zhang Minghao grinned cheekily. “Reporter Xu, you’re covering this event too?”

Xu Zhi laughed at the question. “What’s wrong with that? I’m a veteran track and field reporter. Am I not qualified enough to interview you?”

Zhang Minghao immediately waved his hands with a fake serious expression, “Hey hey hey, Reporter Xu, don’t twist my words. I’ve been seeing you covering events since I was a rookie. Who knows how much dirt you have on me? How would I dare look down on you?”

Xu Zhi could only shake his head in amusement. He was well aware of Zhang Minghao’s unfiltered way of speaking. Although he was one of the ace athletes in the national track and field team’s high jump group, this guy’s mouth had no filter, and he could say outrageous things the moment he opened it.

Su Zhe watched their exchange with a smile before greeting Xu Zhi properly.

“Alright!” Xu Zhi said with a chuckle. “Enough joking around. I won’t take up too much of your time. Just a quick three-minute solo interview each, a couple of questions, nothing that’ll interfere with your warm-up. Su Zhe, you first.”

Xu Zhi and his cameraman moved very efficiently. After finding a solid-colored panel at the side of the venue to use as a backdrop, the cameraman turned on the camera, and Xu Zhi threw out his first question.

“Su Zhe, this morning at 10:15, you’ll be participating in the 60m sprint preliminaries. What are your expectations for this race?”

After a brief moment of thought, Su Zhe answered straightforwardly, “This indoor athletics championship will be a test of my winter training results and a completely new challenge for me. My baseline expectation for this competition is to make it to the finals.”

Xu Zhi didn’t expect Su Zhe’s answer to be so straightforward and confident. He followed up, “So have you considered what time you’ll need to run to secure a spot in the finals?”

“Of course.” Su Zhe nodded, “Around 6.55 seconds.”

“Your personal best in the finals at the Japan Indoor Invitational was 6.60 seconds. It seems your winter training has paid off?”

At this question, Su Zhe smiled. “The whole point of winter training is to refine our techniques, improve our results, and elevate our overall condition.”

Su Zhe’s answer also made Xu Zhi laugh, “Great! Then I’ll wish you success in achieving your goal and making it to the men’s 60m sprint finals at this World Indoor Athletics Championships!”

After this interview, Su Zhe excused himself and headed to the designated warm-up area for 60m sprinters.

This year’s men’s 60m sprint had a total of 56 participants, divided into seven preliminary groups. Among these competing athletes, Su Zhe saw many familiar faces, such as US’s Evanson, Gate, and Louis, Britain’s Baragon, Jamaica’s Hilm, and others.

These elite 100m sprinters were equally formidable on the 60-meter track.

Besides that, since the indoor championships also didn’t have a 200m event, some 200m runners with explosive starts had also entered the 60m competition.

The Japanese team sent out the same three athletes this time: Minamiyama Yuki, Kobayashi Kimiko, and Shiraishi Shouta. When they saw Su Zhe arrive, the athletes who were already somewhat familiar with him all waved at him in greeting.

When Shiraishi Shouta saw Su Zhe, he also enthusiastically waved at him. Although he was holding back a bit due to pre-race nerves, his happiness was still obvious.

When Su Zhe saw Shiraishi, he earnestly asked how his previous injury had healed, to which Shiraishi replied in Chinese, “Injury, good now, thank you care, please no worry.”

That vocabulary…!

Su Zhe smiled. Although he wasn’t sure how much Shiraishi had improved in his recent performances, his progress in Chinese was impressive.

Aside from the athletes warming up, the venue also had registration staff conducting check-ins for the competitors.

As a home athlete, Su Zhe’s check-in went very smoothly. Amid the staff’s well-wishes, he smiled and waved before turning to focus on his pre-race warm-up.

The men’s 60m preliminaries could be said to be one of the opening highlights of the morning on March 1st. After a brief opening ceremony, the seven heats of the men’s 60m sprint began!

From the moment the first athletes stepped onto the track, the stands erupted with enthusiastic cheers. No matter which country the competing athletes came from, they wouldn’t be ignored when they appeared on stage. This was the unique warm welcome and attitude of Chinese audiences.

And of course, when Su Zhe appeared together with the athletes from the fourth preliminary heat, the crowd’s excitement instantly peaked.

“Su Zhe!! Su Zhe!!!”

“Team China!! Jiayou!!!”

Many people waved bright red small flags in their hands, and some brought large banners to the venue. The crowd held up their flags and roared their loudest support for their national team’s athlete. Even after Su Zhe took his place on the track, the cheers didn’t fade. This overwhelming energy even made some of the other runners in his heat feel a hint of nervousness.

Su Zhe smiled and turned around, waving to the audience in the 360-degree circular seating around the venue, thanking everyone for their passionate support.

This was the advantage of competing at home. Under this kind of enthusiastic encouragement, who wouldn’t feel their blood boiling?

Among the athletes in the fourth heat, the strongest contenders were Gordon from the Bahamas, who had previously run the 60m in under 6.55 seconds, and Bustamante from Jamaica, who was also capable of finishing under 6.60 seconds. The rest, like the athletes from Germany and Trinidad and Tobago, didn’t have particularly strong 60m sprint results.

By the time the runners took their positions at the starting line, the atmosphere had reached a fever pitch. Even though the athletes were still just adjusting their starting blocks and doing test runs, it could still set off wave after wave of excitement.