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IBABS Chapter 81.1 — Men's 60m Hurdles Semifinals End & Results
by RaineAt the finish line, Zhou Tianjue grabbed his hair with both hands, frowning as if he wasn’t satisfied with his performance. Ye Jun caught his breath and patted Zhou Tianjue’s shoulder.
“Come on, what are you getting worked up about? There’s still a chance.”
“…Ye-ge.” Zhou Tianjue pressed his lips together and muttered, “I just hate this feeling of having to pin my hopes on someone else. It’s awful.”
Ye Jun paused for a moment at that, then smiled and ruffled Zhou Tianjue’s hair. “You’re right, it’s because we’re not strong enough yet. But we’re working hard to improve. Next time, or the time after that, we’ll definitely fight for the winning position with our own strength. I believe we’ll have that chance, that day will definitely come.”
With Ye Jun’s comfort, Zhou Tianjue calmed down a bit and turned to look at the big screen, waiting for his final result in this group.
Soon, the judges sent the final results to the commentary booth, and the broadcast director switched the display on the big screen to show the rankings.
“Men’s 60m hurdles semifinals, Heat 1 final results: First place, Alcides (Spain) 7.50 seconds. Second place, Gomez (Brazil) 7.51 seconds. Third place, Zhou Tianjue (China) 7.55 seconds. Fourth place, Train (USA) 7.58 seconds. Fifth place, Ye Jun (China) 7.63 seconds…”
Zhou Tianjue’s 7.55 seconds was an improvement of 0.04 seconds from his 7.59 in the preliminaries. This was also his best result in recent 60m hurdles training.
In the commentary booth, Zhang Jing and Wang Miaochuan both felt a bit disappointed, while Lü Fei was frowning but still very satisfied with Zhou Tianjue’s result.
“In this race, all the athletes performed excellently. Alcides had very smooth form, his reaction time was outstanding at 0.119 seconds, which says it all. Gomez, who was competing with him for first place in this heat, had a reaction time of 0.128 seconds. The final time difference between them was almost entirely due to their reaction times. In terms of explosive starts and smooth rhythm during the hurdles, both have already reached a very high level. There’s no doubt about the standard of this heat.”
As the big screen began replaying the race in slow motion, Lü Fei started analyzing every detail of the competition for the audience.
When talking about Zhou Tianjue and Ye Jun, he commented, “Whether it’s Zhou Tianjue or Ye Jun, both have already given their absolute best today. They’ve both run their best times since winter training began. In today’s semifinal, their performance met or even exceeded my expectations, especially Ye Jun. He’s truly an athlete who’s been building up strength and is now experiencing explosive growth. I can say with certainty, just give them a little more time, and their growth potential is unlimited.”
Lü Fei’s evaluation was extremely high. Before this competition, he had never praised Ye Jun so clearly, which showed how much Ye Jun had changed his impression during this period.
Online, in the Track and Field Kingdom forum, a group of fans following the race were also discussing Lü Fei’s evaluation of Ye Jun.
Remember how popular Hong Mingwei was back then? Jun-ye was basically invisible, nobody paid attention to him. Later when Hong Mingwei completely fell off, even when Jun-ye started getting some results, everyone was still cautious and carefully watching.
It’s only been these past few years that he was recognized as the athlete who really withstood the pressure and grew into his role. But his results weren’t outstanding then either. He just gritted his teeth and carried the weight of China’s hurdles program, whether people criticized or praised him, he walked through it all without saying a word.
To be honest, from the second half of last year until now, seeing his steady progress and breakthrough results, I’m even happier than seeing Zhe-shao and Jue-ge’er’s results. He deserves his current achievements and absolutely deserves Coach Lü’s praise tonight.
Lü Fei’s comments during the live broadcast made the Track and Field Kingdom forum users who had been following hurdles for years feel very emotional.
Over the years, because Ye Jun was the only domestic hurdler standing at the top level in China, all the mindless criticism from trolls online fell on him.
Those trolls didn’t care about the current state of domestic hurdles, or that hurdles results had declined to different degrees globally. They only cared about complaining that China’s hurdles once stood at the world’s peak, so why were current athletes getting weaker with each generation?
If searching for Hong Mingwei and finding related terms like “Hong Mingwei, washed up” could be somewhat justified, then associated terms like “Ye Jun, past his prime” were purely the brainless rhetoric of trolls.
In the Track and Field Kingdom forum thread, one user finally posted a heartfelt comment.
Jun-ye’s current state doesn’t rely on any external force, it’s all him.
This comment was quoted by countless people on the forum, reposted by many sports influencers on Weibo, and referenced in many articles.
Amid the heated discussions online, the competition had already progressed to the second heat of semifinals.
Heat 2 brought together top contenders like USA’s Lister, Brazil’s Elano, and France’s Adolphe.
In terms of their 60m hurdles performances, these three were almost evenly matched. Adolphe was particularly strong in the early stages of the race, and if any of them slipped up even slightly, it was hard to predict who would come out on top.
Besides these three, the other athletes in this heat weren’t weak either. On this unpredictable track, no one could say for sure if someone might suddenly turn things around.
Soon, at the starter’s signal, the cheering audience fell silent. In the quiet stadium, the athletes stepped onto their starting blocks and got into their ready positions.
After the starter’s command, the starting gun fired and the race officially began!
Under the watchful eyes of the live audience, this group of athletes created an atmosphere of fierce competition from the very start.
Whether it was Lister, Elano, or Adolphe, they all gave their absolute best. From their reaction times off the blocks to their acceleration and hurdling rhythms, they were closely matched. Adding to the mix, a Swiss athlete named Luca managed to keep up with the trio early on. He started with an aggressive push, even matching the three leaders during the first three hurdles. However, from the third hurdle onward, whether due to mental pressure or other reasons, Luca began having continuous technical problems, hitting hurdle after hurdle, and ultimately fell to third from last.
In the end, Elano emerged victorious among the trio, with Lister finishing second and Adolphe placing third.
In the commentary booth, Wang Miaochuan announced the heat results to the audience.
“Men’s 60m hurdles semifinals Heat 2: First place, Elano (Brazil) 7.49 seconds, second place, Lister (USA) 7.51 seconds, third place, Adolphe (France) 7.54 seconds, fourth place, Noland (Jamaica) 7.61 seconds…”
As soon as the results were announced, Zhang Jing and Wang Miaochuan’s expressions grew slightly tense. Adolphe, also in third place in his group, ran 7.54 seconds, just 0.01 seconds faster than Zhou Tianjue’s 7.56 seconds. This tiny 0.01 second difference meant another person now stood in the way of Zhou Tianjue’s advancement to the finals.
If the third-place finisher in the third heat ran faster than 7.55 seconds, it would completely eliminate Zhou Tianjue’s chances of making the finals.
This situation left the two commentators, as well as the live and online audience, feeling increasingly anxious.
Whether Zhou Tianjue could make it to the finals now almost entirely depended on the performance of the athletes in the third heat.
Zhang Jing turned to Lü Fei, who was frowning in deep thought, and asked, “Coach Lü, in your opinion, what are Zhou Tianjue’s current chances of advancing to the finals?”
After hearing this question, Lü Fei frowned and thought for a moment before speaking. “You already have the athlete list for the third heat. In this group, the athletes we need to focus on are Jamaica’s Holness and Percival, USA’s Louis, and finally Su Zhe…”
“This…” Wang Miaochuan looked down at the grouping sheet, his expression also looking troubled. “Coach Lü, are you saying all four of these athletes have what it takes to qualify for the finals?”
Lü Fei nodded. “Yes, from the moment I saw the grouping sheet before the semifinals started, I’ve been worried about this issue. First, there’s USA’s Louis. He’s an athlete capable of running 13.17 seconds in the 110m hurdles. Last season, his 110m hurdles time ranked in the top six for the year. At last year’s World Championships, Su Zhe competed against him, but Louis ultimately finished seventh due to mistakes. However, this absolutely doesn’t reflect his true ability.
“Besides Louis, Percival is also an exceptionally strong athlete. He’s another top Jamaican hurdler, and track and field fans who follow the sport for a long time will definitely be familiar with Percival. But even Percival, along with Noland from the previous heat, has been somewhat overshadowed in Jamaica over the past year by this young athlete named Holness.”
Lü Fei pointed to Holness’ name on the list, his expression serious. “Holness is about the same height as Su Zhe, only 180cm tall, but his personal best in the 110m hurdles is currently 13.02 seconds, and he’s on the verge of breaking the 13-second barrier. Even though he’s on the shorter side, his explosive power is incredibly strong. As early as last year, he had already completely mastered the seven-step approach to the first hurdle.
“Holness is particularly aggressive in the early stages of the race. Usually, by the time he reaches the third hurdle, he’s already hitting his maximum speed between the hurdles. His only weakness is his endurance in the later part of the race. Due to his early burst of speed, he tends to slow down slightly in the mid-to-late stages.
“But even this drop stays within a very safe range. By that point, it’s very difficult for competitors he’s already outpaced to overtake him.
“And in the 60m hurdles, because the track is shorter, this weakness becomes even less noticeable. Based on my personal experience, I believe he can easily run under 7.50 seconds in the 60m hurdles.”
Wang Miaochuan and Zhang Jing exchanged uneasy glances. Holness was a relatively new talent who had barely competed on the world stage, so he remained largely unknown in international competitions.
“So…” Zhang Jing organized his words and frowned. “Coach Lü, are you saying that Tianjue’s chances of making the finals this time are very slim?”
Lü Fei sighed and nodded. “Yes, if Tianjue wants to secure a spot in the finals this time, his chances are very slim.”
This conclusion was bad news for Lü Fei, the two commentators, and the audience both at the venue and watching the live broadcast.
The originally heated atmosphere on forums and Weibo also became somewhat tense.
Thanks for the translation!