IBABS Chapter 78.1 — 60m Hurdles Preliminaries & 60m Finals

Compared to the fourth preliminary group where Ye Jun was competing, Su Zhe’s fifth heat also had incredibly strong competitors, including Adolphe from France, Train from the US team, and Elano from Brazilian team.

With these three plus Su Zhe, the four of them were practically guaranteed to sweep all the qualifying spots from this heat.

In the commentary booth, Zhang Jing and Wang Miaochuan were analyzing the strength of the competitors in this group.

Zhang Jing looked at the performance data in his hands and said seriously, “Although the athletes in the fifth preliminary group aren’t the absolute top contenders, the three we just mentioned definitely have what it takes to reach the semifinals. Even setting aside their 110m hurdles records, just looking at their 60m hurdles performances from last season, Adolphe, Train, and Elano have all run under 7.55 seconds. Elano in particular even won two gold medals during last year’s indoor tour with a time of 7.49 seconds. In terms of indoor 60m hurdles, Elano is completely on par with athletes like Lister and Alcides.”

Wang Miaochuan continued, “As for Su Zhe, his only recorded time in the 60m hurdles so far is 7.66 seconds from the Japan Indoor Invitational. I wonder if the two months of winter training were enough for him to catch up to these three strong competitors?”

Beside them, Lü Fei thought for a moment, then spoke up, “There’s definitely been improvement in his times. Just like Tianjue, in the first heat just now, he easily ran 7.59, and that definitely wasn’t his best performance either. Ye Jun also ran 7.65 in the fourth heat. Compared to their times at the Japan Indoor Invitational, I can confidently say that all three have made significant progress during winter training.”

After a pause, Lü Fei added, “But unlike Tian Jue and Ye Jun, Su Zhe has been working with the coaching team to transition from an eight-step to a seven-step approach for the hurdles…”

What?!

“Eight to seven?!”

“Wait, an eight-to-seven step change?!” Zhang Jing and Wang Miaochuan were both shocked.

Wang Miaochuan followed up, “During the winter training interviews, you mentioned a secret training plan for Su Zhe. Was this the technical change you were referring to? But given Su Zhe’s height and explosive power, are you sure this adjustment is suitable for him right now?”

“This is indeed a rather risky attempt,” Lü Fei replied calmly but seriously. “But we made this decision only after collecting extensive data and studying other athletes’ cases. If the concern is solely about Su Zhe’s height, let’s take Holness from the third heat as an example. His height is only 1.80 meters, and he uses a seven-step approach.”

Finally, Lü Fei added, “Today will be Su Zhe’s first time using the seven-step technique in competition. This technique is still being fine-tuned, and our real goal is for him to master this hurdle technique by the Olympic season this year, so he can achieve even better results.”

Lü Fei’s explanation eased some of Zhang Jing and Wang Miaochuan’s concerns, but since they hadn’t seen Su Zhe actually use the seven-step technique in a race yet, they were still feeling uneasy.

Online, many track and field fans watching the live stream were also shocked to hear about Su Zhe’s technical change. Switching to a seven-step approach wasn’t an easy thing to do. Even Song Chen had struggled during his own transition back in the day. This kind of change wasn’t just about taking bigger steps, but involved comprehensive adjustments including which leg to use for explosive starts, starting position adjustments, force application method adjustments, starting rhythm adjustments, and many other detailed aspects.

With only two months of winter training, was it really enough for Su Zhe to complete this technical adjustment?

Even if Lü Fei was right that the real goal of this technical change was the Olympic season, did that mean they weren’t going to care about hurdles results before the Olympics?

Many fans started worrying and posted on forums expressing their concerns.

In the short time before the race began, a long thread analyzing the pros and cons of Su Zhe’s technical change had already piled up on the Track and Field Kingdom forum.

Amid the fans’ concerns, the men’s 60m hurdles fifth preliminary heat was about to begin.

At the starting line, all the athletes had finished adjusting their starting blocks. Because Su Zhe had to change his starting power leg, his starting block positions were set up very differently from before.

With both hands on the ground and his feet set against the blocks, Su Zhe took a deep breath.

Although this would be his first major competition using the seven-step hurdle technique, he felt his condition was exceptionally good right now. Whether it was his physical state, mental state, or overall condition, he felt that today he was probably in the best pre-race state he’d ever been in.

He felt that today, even with the sand-sculpture system’s status boost, it would be hard to improve his overall condition any further.

Just as this thought crossed his mind, the long-absent mechanical voice unexpectedly sounded in his mind.
Host’s current physical and mental state has reached maximum values. Adding the Hurdles LV3 skill status buff will cause value overflow.
To prevent value overflow, this status buff value will be automatically reduced.
Congratulations to the host for triggering the value overflow state for the first time. Unlocking new task.

Task: Deep Learning
Objective: Trigger value overflow state 3 times
Reward: Unlock deep learning mode for all skills

What???

The system’s voice surprised Su Zhe for a moment, but this was the middle of a competition, and he couldn’t spare any extra time to think deeply about the system’s content.

Pushing the system’s task to the back of his mind, Su Zhe refocused all his attention on the race.

“On your marks, set.”

After the starter’s calm voice, the starting gun fired with a sharp “Bang!”

Following the clear gunshot, the long roaring cheers of the crowd erupted, and the sound of each athlete’s own heartbeat that only they could hear!

This state of excitement and intensity, born from nervous heartbeats, made everyone on the track feel their blood surge.

The moment the race began, Su Zhe clearly felt how good his condition was today. The instant the gun fired, he captured the sound instantly, pushed off with his left leg, and took a powerful first step!

Switching from eight steps to seven sounded difficult, but after mastering the technique, the advantages were undeniable.

It was precisely because of this that on international competitions, many top athletes chose the seven-step hurdle technique. For example, Elano, who was also in this race, also used the seven-step hurdle technique. At nearly 198cm tall, using the eight-step approach would feel too restrictive for him.

Elano, in lane 5, didn’t notice that beside him, this Chinese athlete who was nearly 20cm shorter than him was also daring to use the seven-step approach.

During the past few months of training, although the comprehensive attribute improvement training given by the system wasn’t completely finished, Su Zhe had already completed all the explosive power training.

Combined with the explosive power improvement training that Su Yinsheng and Lü Fei designed for him, Su Zhe had already made terrifying improvements in explosive power. Moreover, after switching to his left leg as his power leg, he discovered that his left leg actually had an advantage over his right when it came to explosive starts. The power generated by his left leg during the push-off was 10-20% higher than his right!

At the start, this powerful explosive momentum gave Su Zhe the illusion of flying forward, allowing him to effortlessly build up force in the initial phase.

From the explosive start to quickly raising his body’s center of gravity and sprinting forward, Su Zhe’s series of movements were all very smooth and natural!

One step, two steps, three steps…

It was clear that Su Zhe’s strides before the hurdle had significantly improved after his technical adjustments, but the drop in stride frequency that everyone worried about didn’t show any obvious downward trend.

At the same time, thanks to the powerful explosive force from his left leg drive, he was able to complete the initial transition from static to motion much faster during the starting phase.

“Good!” Lü Fei was the first to shout from the commentary booth. Obviously, Su Zhe’s pre-hurdle performance on the track was even better than he had expected!

Zhang Jing and Wang Miaochuan were also visibly excited. Not to mention anything else, almost all of Su Zhe’s domestic competitions since he started racing had been commentated by these two. From last year to this year, they both felt like they had been accompanying Su Zhe as he grew.

They didn’t want this young track and field genius to face unnecessary setbacks because of the risks involved in technical modifications.

On the track, Su Zhe smoothly reached the first hurdle after his start.

Due to the technical characteristics of the seven-step approach, he was already in an attacking position with his body leaning forward and pressing down when he reached the hurdle. The momentum built up over those seven steps quickly carried him over the first hurdle after his takeoff leg pushed off the ground!

It was a flawless first hurdle clearance.

His attacking posture and speed were smooth and fluid. Even spectators could feel the smooth rhythm and power!

“Incredible!” Zhang Jing looked at the track in amazement. “Su Zhe is now leading alongside Elano! Elano’s pace is a bit relaxed. He probably never imagined that the Chinese athlete beside him could actually keep up with him on the 60m hurdles track!”

As Zhang Jing pointed out, at first, Elano didn’t notice Su Zhe closing in on him. His strength in the 60m hurdles was basically on par with Lister and Alcides. On the 60m track, the three of them often took turns sitting on the throne of victory, and there hadn’t been a Chinese presence on that throne for many years.

Even though Su Zhe had delivered impressive performances in the 110m hurdles at the World Championships, Elano hadn’t really considered him a threat in the 60m event.

Until now.

It was while clearing the second hurdle that Elano noticed Su Zhe’s figure not far behind him.

This discovery surprised him.

During the preliminaries, he certainly hadn’t brought out his best performance, but that didn’t mean his current speed was something any ordinary athlete could keep up with.

Like right now on the track, besides Su Zhe, Team USA’s Train and Team France’s Adolphe were also competing, but compared to Su Zhe’s close pursuit, they were about half a body length further behind.

Frowning slightly, Elano quickened his rhythm between hurdles, trying to shake off this Chinese athlete on his left rear, but Su Zhe also quickened his pace without hesitation at that moment!

Elano’s heart jumped. This Chinese athlete hadn’t reached his limit yet either!

Su Zhe indeed felt that he hadn’t reached his true limit yet. The sensation of being in peak condition urged him to push his rhythm and pace between the hurdles even further.

In his usual 110m hurdle races, he typically reached his maximum speed at the seventh hurdle. Even in the 60m event, where the rhythm was accelerated, he usually hit his top speed at the fifth hurdle.

But now, he had already reached his maximum speed by the fourth hurdle.

Faced with Su Zhe’s relentless pursuit, Elano decided to ignore him and focus entirely on attacking forward and accelerating, but things didn’t go as planned. When he pulled all his attention back to his own lane, his technical form slightly faltered as he attacked the final hurdle. His lead leg made slight contact with the hurdle as he crossed it, causing the hurdle to wobble slightly.

Elano hit the hurdle!

Even though this contact didn’t have much impact on him, it definitely slowed him down just a tiny bit.

As Elano hit and cleared the hurdle, Su Zhe also smoothly and perfectly attacked his fifth hurdle!

Elano and Su Zhe almost cleared the fifth hurdle at the same time, with Train and Adolphe following closely behind.

Only the final sprint section remained!

After reaching the flat sprint section, the leading group of four led by Elano and Su Zhe all began charging toward the finish line at top speed.

In the final moments, Elano and Su Zhe were slightly ahead by half a body length. Relying on his excellent form today and the explosive momentum built up from attacking the hurdles, Su Zhe managed to push his speed even further during the last sprint!

“Men’s 60m hurdles preliminary heat five, the final first place qualifier is Su Zhe!!!”

From the commentary booth, Wang Miaochuan almost roared this sentence in amazement. He could barely control his excitement.

This heat was too amazing for them. Su Zhe actually managed to defeat a world-class 60m hurdler like Elano?!

After the finish judges officially released the athletes’ results, both the audience at the venue and the commentators Zhang Jing and Wang Miaochuan felt immense pride and joy.

“Men’s 60m hurdles results: First place, Su Zhe (China) 7.53 seconds, Second place, Elano (Brazil) 7.55 seconds, Third place, Adolphe (France) 7.60 seconds, Fourth place, Train (USA) 7.62 seconds…”

A time of 7.53 seconds in the heats was outstanding enough to rank within the top ten worldwide for the entire 2019 season.