Translator: dapotaturs
Release Date: 10/11/2023
Chapter 247: Is Xiao Cui in Love? & Hey, Jumping Door Frames?
As the live audience presented a bouquet of flowers to Cui Luoheng, he seemed to have regained his composure. With a slight smirk and a calm, collected gaze, he appeared exceptionally reliable.
At this moment, Shao Minyi and Li Sen were discussing another topic in the live broadcast.
"Oh my, for some reason, Xiao Cui looks much more mature and composed in this year's competition, doesn't he? He's barely 22 years old, but that composed demeanor of his doesn't seem inferior to many veteran athletes."
"You're right. It's only been a winter training period, but there's been a significant change in his overall demeanor."
They went on to discuss Cui Luoheng's performance in the previous World Indoor Athletics Championships in the 60-meter hurdles.
Before the transition from eight to seven steps, Cui Luoheng wasn't particularly skilled in the first half of the race. His rhythm on the first step and the first three hurdles was not brisk enough. His personal advantage in the 110-meter hurdles was in the second half of the race. Despite some technical adjustments and improvements, his first half of the race was still not enough to give him a decisive edge.
In indoor competitions, there were no 110-meter hurdles, only 60-meter hurdles. This to some extent weakened Cui Luoheng's strengths, as if he was highlighting his weaknesses. Sports media had discussed this topic before the competition, and people were concerned about Cui Luoheng's performance in the 60-meter hurdles. However, the end result was pleasing.
After winning the silver medal in the 110-meter hurdles at the Doha World Championships, Cui Luoheng also secured a silver medal in the 60-meter hurdles at the World Indoor Athletics Championships held in the city of N.
While two silver medals may not seem as satisfying as two gold medals, it's important to note that Cui Luoheng is still under 22 years old. He has not even entered the golden age range for hurdling athletes. Over the next six to seven years, there is a high possibility that this period will be the golden growth phase for Cui Luoheng.
In fact, even though the Tokyo Olympics haven't started yet, some are already predicting that even if Cui Luoheng doesn't win the gold medal at this year's Tokyo Olympics, in another four years, with his growth rate, he will be unstoppable.
While this may seem like casting doubt on Cui Luoheng's performance at this year's Tokyo Olympics, it makes sense to some extent. In four years, when Cui Luoheng competes in the next Olympics, he will only be 26 years old. As long as he doesn't suffer from injuries, by that time, with more mature techniques and his physical abilities at their peak, he has the potential to become one of the world's top 110-meter hurdlers.
Perhaps...
Could there be a chance for him to dominate the world's top ten rankings like Vladimir does now?
Regardless, Cui Luoheng has become the new generation champion in the hearts of domestic 110-meter hurdles enthusiasts. People are eagerly anticipating how Cui Luoheng's future performances will amaze the world as they follow his footsteps.
In today's Diamond League Qatar event, he easily outclassed his opponents and displayed an overall aura that left fans hoping for a strong start to his outdoor season feeling extremely satisfied and proud.
———【Xiao Cui is awesome!!! A new generation champion is emerging, and it's all about this momentum. Keep pushing, go get 'em! Let the world see once again how incredible Chinese 110-meter hurdles are!】———【It's so exhilarating! Xiao Cui's performance today on the field was that of a true dominator. The athletes beside him were no match. During the middle stage, that French guy, Leipwost, seemed like he wanted to overtake Xiao Cui, but instead, he disrupted his rhythm. He hit several hurdles in a row towards the end, clearly losing his composure!】———【Indeed, if it weren't for Shao Minyi and Li Sen, I would have forgotten about Xiao Cui's supposed lack of mental fortitude issue back then. In less than three years, he's gone from 14.57 seconds to having a chance to break the 13-second barrier... looking back, it feels like a dream.】———【Who isn't? From 14.57 to 13.06, when I saw that result at the World Championships before, as a grown man, I have to admit my eyes welled up. Our 110-meter hurdles are finally rising again!】———【Xiao Cui's aura today is really different. In the past, he had the same determination, but I always feel that today's Xiao Cui has an even stronger sense of 'must win,' that kind of fierce determination, knowing there's a tiger in the mountains and still heading to the mountains to catch it, no matter what...】
In the live broadcast room, Shao Minyi and Li Sen playfully teased Cui Luoheng.
Li Sen said, "Hey, has Xiao Cui fallen in love? Does he want to show off his achievements to his partner?"
Shao Minyi nodded with a smile, "Makes sense, and Xiao Cui's partner must be older than him, so he's trying hard to appear mature and composed, right?"
Li Sen and Shao Minyi exchanged a knowing smile and quickly moved on from this topic.
Shortly after the awards ceremony for the 110-meter hurdles, preparations were already underway for the 400-meter race. However, before the male 400-meter sprinters took the stage, the male high jump event, in which Wang Shen participated, had already begun. The top high jump athletes were participating in this event, and just like at the World Championships, the starting height was set at 2.19 meters by the head referee.
There were a total of 12 male high jumpers in this competition, but one of them had fallen ill after arriving in Doha and decided to withdraw from the competition. Among the remaining 11 athletes, 10 of them easily cleared the initial height of 2.19 meters, while Garozzo from Italy was eliminated in the very first attempt during the trial jump of the first round.
In China, in the live sports channel chat rooms, viewers who were watching the competition were left puzzled.
【What's going on? Can't they clear 2.19 meters?】
【I remember Garozzo made it to the finals at the World Championships, right? He's quite talented. Today, it's just 2.19 meters...】
【Confused +1. Athletes' form can vary, but this variation seems too extreme, doesn't it?】
Many of the viewers expressing these doubts had only recently developed an interest in watching athletics over the past year, and most of them only paid serious attention when there were Chinese team competitions. While they could be considered novice track and field enthusiasts, they didn't have a deep understanding of some of the common knowledge.
Some viewers in the chat provided a brief explanation.
【Well, you see, unless it's a top-tier championship, athletes often go based on their competitive form and mood. Most of them approach these events as practice sessions. Even in the Diamond League, it's the same. Moreover, it's the early part of the season. In China, there's winter training, and abroad, some athletes may seek further coaching, while others might take a break. It's normal for them to struggle to regain their form after some time without competition.】
【Also, if you look at the stats, I think Wang Shen's previous personal best was around 2.37 meters. So, 2.19 meters might seem low, but think about it... that's almost two meters and two centimeters. If a 1.9-meter-tall guy stands next to you in everyday life, you'd have to look up, right? 2.2 meters is significantly taller than your average 1.9-meter guy...】
【Or better yet, turn and take a look at the height of the door frame in your own homes... Typically, door frames are higher than two meters but not more than two meters and three centimeters... Now, think about it?】
The viewers who initially had no concept of the actual height despite hearing "2.19 meters" instinctively turned to glance at the door frames of their bedroom doors. Subsequently, the chat room fell into an eerie silence.
Many of them had a moment of realization.
The height of those door frames!
Some quickly checked the height of their own door frames at home—2.05 meters.
Alright then.
With that height, which was still less than 2.19 meters, could they attempt to jump over it?
Everyone swallowed nervously and fell silent.
Well, it seems the world's top athletes are truly top athletes. Even when they're not in their best form at the beginning of the season, 10 out of 11 of them easily cleared 2.19 meters—impressive! Amazing! Applause for the seals!!
As they chatted, the second round of trial jumps in the competition had already concluded, and out of the 10 athletes on the field, 9 of them successfully cleared the height of 2.22 meters.
Amazing!!!
There was no longer anyone in the chat room saying things like "2.22 meters looks so easy." In fact, they all found it quite impressive. Easy? If you have the skills, try jumping over a room door frame yourself! Jump over it first before calling someone "easy"!
For a moment, the atmosphere in the live stream room became extremely harmonious. Whenever they saw an athlete clear the bar, regardless of the height, the chat screen was filled with rows of clapping emojis. Even the commentators, Shao Minyi and Li Sen, didn't continue their banter about who was in good form and who wasn't. They were also absorbed in watching the competition.
At the same time, someone brought up this 'door frame' theory on Weibo and used it to counter those who had been discussing why "Ye Wenhao's performance diverged from Wang Shen's over the past year" and calling "Ye Wenhao's PB of 2.31 meters too poor."
In summary, everyone watched the men's high jump competition with great harmony. Although several athletes failed at the height of 2.28 meters, Wang Shen secured the championship by clearing 2.30 meters.
In the past, fans who had their expectations set high due to Wang Shen's PB of 2.37 meters at the World Championships might have criticized, "Why is the Diamond League so easy?" However, in the era when the 'door frame theory' was rapidly spreading and becoming popular, whenever someone came to criticize "Wang Shen's performance," they would be met with a comforting response from enthusiastic viewers: "Hey, can you jump over a door frame? Jump over it first before criticizing."
As a result, the majority of the critics were left stunned by the 'door frame challenge.'
_(:3)∠)_
In any case, the impromptu education session by the viewers in the chat room had an unexpectedly wonderful effect.
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Chapter 248: Diamond League Qatar - Zhang Ziyi
While the men's high jump competition was in progress, the men's 400-meter sprint event was also taking place simultaneously.
Among the male 400-meter sprinters who participated in the Diamond League Qatar event, there was a familiar old rival for Zhang Ziyi, Roger from Qatar. Although Roger did not have particularly outstanding performances in the previous season and failed to make it into the top twenty rankings for the 2019 season, as a Qatari athlete, he still earned a spot in this competition.
In the men's 400-meter sprint event at this competition, there were only seven Diamond League athletes who had registered to participate, but each of these seven was an elite athlete. After all, they were all ranked within the top twenty in the world. Even though Roger had a poor performance in the 2019 season, his personal best was still 44.47 seconds, which was significantly faster than Zhang Ziyi's.
The other seven athletes in the competition all had season's best performances in 2019 that exceeded Zhang Ziyi's. While Zhang Ziyi had achieved an impressive time of 44.81 seconds during the 2019 season, he was still the lowest-ranked among all the athletes. He secured his Diamond League invitation with a year-end ranking of 20th.
Although he was now on the starting curve, facing opponents he had struggled against in the past, Zhang Ziyi remained composed.
During this winter training period, what excited him the most was when Coach Su Bai told him that his training condition and physical endurance were better than expected. While he was still undergoing high-intensity training, he didn't need to worry too much about potential health risks.
As an athlete who had grown up in the world of sports, he had old injuries, and he was well aware that he would need to take good care of his body after retirement. More than a year ago, when Su Bai asked if he was willing to undergo high-intensity training to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics, he had already mentally prepared himself for early retirement after the Tokyo Olympics or potentially competing with injuries.
But during this year's winter training period, Su Bai's words had given him new hope for his future career. Perhaps, he wouldn't be forced to end his professional career after this year's Tokyo Olympics!
During this year's winter training process, he had also felt that his physical condition was indeed better than expected. Even though the training was at an intense level, his overall health was well-maintained.
A combination of good physical condition, clear training goals, tangible results over the past year, and his own determination had become Zhang Ziyi's confidence.
Now, apart from being the captain of the national team's men's 400-meter sprint, he exuded a sense of maturity and confidence that had been forged through hardships.
In the live broadcast room of the sports channel, Shao Minyi watched Zhang Ziyi on the live feed with a happy expression.
"In last year's competitions, Ziyi had already shown the demeanor of a top athlete. Today in this competition in Doha, his composure and confidence... just like what we saw in Cui Luoheng's recent performance, this kind of confidence and form naturally gives people a sense of reassurance."
"Yes," Li Sen nodded in agreement. "In fact, over the past two years, whenever Zhang Ziyi competed, he has never disappointed the audience. No matter what, he always brings out an excellent performance. I believe that after another winter training cycle of training and improvement, Zhang Ziyi will definitely deliver satisfying results on the field in today's competition!"
In China, at the national athletics team training base,
Although most of the 400-meter sprint athletes had been sent out by Coach Su Bai to participate in competitions, younger athletes like Wu Tian, Zhuo Yutang, and Qiu Mingjie, as well as athletes who had recently switched events like Hou Mingye, were temporarily assigned to continue training with the national team. At least for this year, their competition schedules would be minimal.
This was the norm because there were not many U16 athletics events in China. The largest events were the joint competitions organized by national sports schools, known as the "Sports School Class A and Class B Joint Competition," along with the Athletics Youth National Championships.
In the past couple of years, due to the rising popularity of athletics, especially with this being an Olympic year, the Athletics Management Center had also increased grassroots promotion and event scheduling for track and field. However, these events mostly occurred in the mid-season, so it wasn't time yet for younger athletes like Qiu Mingjie to compete.
Nevertheless, not competing didn't mean they could be idle.
In addition to regular training, Coach Su Bai had assigned them learning tasks. They needed to watch all the races of the main team's selected athletes during this season together. Moreover, on Saturdays when training volume was lower, they also had to watch race and training videos from the past two years, featuring athletes like Qiu Wen.
Watching these videos wasn't just for the sake of watching; they needed to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the athletes in each race and identify the possible reasons for their performance.
Su Bai didn't expect them to have a profound understanding of the overall technique of the 400-meter sprint at this stage. Nor did he expect them to clearly recognize the technical issues and improvement directions of athletes like Qiu Wen and Zhang Ziyi.
By making these arrangements, Su Bai simply aimed to help them understand the purpose of each training exercise they underwent, bit by bit, while also gradually grasping their own technical characteristics during the analysis.
Additionally, it was about teaching them how to read races and build confidence in competition, among other goals.
In summary, all these were topics that these young athletes and those who had recently switched events needed to study diligently.
Although it was late at night in China, Su Bai was still sitting in the third meeting room of the National Athletics Team Training Base with these athletes. They were all watching the live broadcast of the Diamond League Qatar station on the large projection screen.
Qiu Mingjie and the others were at an age where they could stay up late with boundless energy, but due to their rigorous daytime training and well-established sleep patterns, they were starting to feel a bit sleepy now that it was late into the night.
When he got too tired, his brain didn't work very well. He wasn't sure how much of the night's race he had actually absorbed, but he was diligently scribbling in his notebook, giving the appearance of someone studying earnestly.
Beside him, Wu Tian turned to glance at the notebook in Qiu Mingjie's hands and then squinted with a mischievous smile. "Qiu Xiaojie, what kind of handwriting is this... What have you written?"
Hearing Wu Tian's low voice, Zhuo Yutang also turned to take a look. On Qiu Mingjie's notebook, while he had seriously written the names of Zhang Ziyi and his other competitors, as the race hadn't started yet, the section for officially recording race insights was still empty.
However, apart from that, there were some random writings on the page, such as 'Oh no, the coach is making us watch the race together. How can I pretend to understand everything? Waiting online, urgent!'
_(:3)∠)_
Qiu Mingjie knew very well that when he was extremely tired, his brain could write all sorts of random things in his notebook. He didn't think much of it, but after Zhuo Yutang saw it, he asked in a low voice, "What will you do when the coach asks for the recorded content later?"
...
Because he had lost his mind due to exhaustion, Qiu Mingjie immediately jolted awake. He obediently turned to the next page and, once again, wrote the names of Zhang Ziyi and all the participating athletes correctly on his notebook. The 400-meter sprint race in the live broadcast was about to begin.
Qiu Mingjie discreetly glanced in the direction where Su Bai was sitting. In Su Bai's row, the other coaches for the 400-meter events were also sitting behind him, and they had the same task as him.
Qiu Mingjie felt like his own coach, the big shot, seemed to have looked back at him with a hint of a smile, but because the projector was on and the room was dimly lit, he wasn't sure if it was just his imagination.
In any case, the race had begun, and Zhang Ziyi had now fully focused his attention on the projection screen in front of him.
The moment Zhang Ziyi heard the starting gun, he knew clearly that his condition today was indeed quite good.
In this race, his time on the curved start was only 0.146 seconds, a speed that many athletes might not achieve even in major competitions. From the start, he could feel more distinctly that he had finer control over his body.
During this year's winter training, in addition to intensified training in physical fitness and strength, Su Bai had focused Zhang Ziyi's training on "body control" and the finer details.
After all, he was already proficient in rhythm control, having broken down and reassembled his own rhythm the previous year. This year, he needed to delve deeper.
In previous internal team training sessions, although Qiu Wen and Li Junhao had provided him with competition, he was too familiar with them, and the internal team matches couldn't give him a good sense of how his improved body control would feel in official competitions.
Now, as he sprinted on the track, he even had the mental capacity to think about the subtle demands on his leg braking, muscle strength control, and fragmented adjustments to his rhythm...
These thoughts briefly crossed Zhang Ziyi's mind, and he then completely pushed them aside, immersing himself wholeheartedly in this race where he felt exceptionally in top form.
In this race, American 400-meter star Barnes was also present. He had initially thought that victory in this early-season Diamond League event would surely be in his hands. However, he did not expect that the Chinese athlete had firmly held onto the advantageous position in lane five right from the start and had never given him a chance to overtake while running in lane four.
Barnes had originally assumed that perhaps it was due to him not using his full strength in the early stages of the race – after all, one of his biggest advantages was his explosive chase during the initial phase.
However, it wasn't until the final straight section that Barnes caught a glimpse of Zhang. As they entered the last stretch, the athlete leading the race was still this Chinese runner...
What was going on?
This Chinese runner barely made it to the Diamond League with a 44.81-second PB. Who in this field didn't have a better PB than him?
But this guy, making his debut in the Diamond League, was actually leading the race until now... no, until the very last moment?
Back in China, on the sports channel, both Shao Minyi and Li Sen were left somewhat dumbfounded as they watched Zhang Ziyi cross the finish line in first place in his debut 400-meter sprint event at the Diamond League.
What had just happened?
Zhang Ziyi, in his first Diamond League 400-meter sprint event, had won the gold medal?
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