At 6:15 pm on the 11th, Moscow time, the 400-meter semi-final began.
In the group stage, Zhang Guan did not meet a strong opponent, so only a score of 46.05 seconds can be used as a reference. In the semi-finals, he was in the same group with the two players of the US team, namely the future stars of the United States, LaShawn Merritt, and Milton Campbell, who was very popular to win the championship.
Zhang Guan vaguely remembered that in the future capital Olympics, the US team won the gold, silver, and bronze medals of the men's 400-meter sprint event. At that time, the 400-meter king Jeremy Varina only won the silver medal and LaShawn Merritt defeated Varina to win the gold. But now 20-year-old Merritt is only a teenager in the US team. Among the athletes who participated in the track and field indoor competition this time, the US team gave this 400-meter section to Milton Campbell.
Campbell is also an experienced player. Although he hasn't won any big prizes in his career, he has always been in a good state. He belongs to the kind of athletes who can't win against the strong hand and cannot lose against the weak.
For the live audience, the men's 400 meters seems to not have much attention, because 15 minutes ago, the women's pole vaulting competition has begun, the Russian pole vaulting queen Isinbayeva is about to debut, most people paid attention to the Russian Isinbayeva, where everyone else is there to see the semifinals of the 400-meter sprint.
The applause with a sense of rhythm made Zhang Guan feel depressed. He remembered that during the rematch of the Athens Olympics, the game was interrupted by Isinbayeva, and today, the same situation reappeared.
For this reason, the men's 400-meter sprint semi-final match had to be postponed for a few minutes. After Isinbayeva successfully skipped the crossbar, the starter signaled the athlete to stand on the starting block.
Merritt and Campbell both looked in the direction of Zhang Guan. The 46.05-second result did not have much pressure on the two. The key to Zhang Guan's running method was too strange. They couldn't figure out why Zhang Guan can run so fast in the final sprint.
However, the starter's gunshots quickly sounded, and Merritt and Campbell can personally experience Zhang Guan's special running style on the track.
The first 100 meters of the game are still unstoppable. Everyone runs normally without any mistakes. Zhang Guan's sense of rhythm looks very good. At the speed he showed, it is the level of the world's top players.
Next, the athlete entered the second 100 meters, Zhang Guan did not change his rhythm, and Campbell seemed to slightly increase his speed, while Merritt's pace gradually began to increase.
Merritt's technique is a trick he stole from Jeremy Varina. After entering the straight, try to keep the pacing frequency unchanged, and then expand the pace of the pace, although he has not mastered this technique too well. It was far worse than Varina, but at least showed his good talent.
Varina's technique is not something everyone can learn.
Normal people can feel when walking, if you increase the pace deliberately, the posture of the body will change, and the physical exertion will also increase. For 400-meter sprinters, they will deliberately increase the pace on a certain track. It also means the change of rhythm and the consumption of physical strength, so this has become a difficult technique to master.
For example, when Liu Feiren changed his training in the first column from six steps to seven steps. Each step in the previous step had to extend one-seventh of the distance, and this change took Liu Feiren several years to grasp. What Liu Feiren changed was only the distance of 13.72 meters in front of the first column, and Varina needed to change the whole straight runway area, the difficulty can be imagined.
Merritt feels very good at this time. He has just begun to learn the technique of striding on the straight track. In today's game, he feels that he has run the best level than in his usual practice.
However, after running for more than a few dozen meters, Merritt's pace adjustment still had problems. His rhythm seemed a little flustered. He had to slow down a little to adjust his rhythm. The adjustment affects speed. His previous efforts are not in vain at this moment, but he is slightly behind Campbell and Zhang Guan.
In the third 100-meter schedule, Campbell slightly reduced the pace and increased the rhythm slightly. He was about to start sprinting!
Campbell still used Michael Johnson's style of running. He started accelerating at about 250 meters, then made a slight adjustment, and then immediately entered the final sprint.
Campbell stood out at this moment. After all, he is a very strong player. Even if everyone accelerates at the same time, Campbell can still gain an advantage.
Merritt's acceleration was later than Campbell's, and it seemed to be in a hurry.
As for Zhang Guan, the rhythm remains unchanged.
"I'm ahead! Well, I can rush to the finish line in one breath." Campbell visually inspected Merritt's situation and felt like he continued to run like this, Merritt should have no chance to win against him!
Merritt turned his attention to Zhang Guan.
"I'm already ahead of Zhang Guan. Can I become the second qualifying in the group? Wait a minute, Zhang Guan is still using the same running method as the group stage!"
At the next moment, the leading Campbell first entered the final 100 meters. At this time, he has already consumed a lot of physical strength, but he is still forced to speed up again and carry out the final sprint.
Merritt followed, at this moment Merritt showed the potential of future sprint stars, his physical reserve is better than Campbell, the sprint speed is also very fast, he began to approach Campbell slowly.
"Come on, you will soon surpass Campbell!" Merritt secretly said. And at this moment, a red figure suddenly appeared beside him, and then quickly swept past him, heading straight to Campbell in front!
"It's Zhang Guan!" Merritt's eyes widened. Zhang Guan once again showed a speed that was not possible in a 400-meter sprint, and this time, his sprint was faster than the group stage!
Yesterday, Merritt once watched Zhang Guan's 400-meter sprint on the spot, but the feeling of watching and the actual competition was completely different. During the battle, Merritt just thought that Zhang Guan's sprint was incredible, but in the actual contest, when Zhang Guan surpassed himself at such a fast speed, Merritt suddenly felt a sense of despair.
"Zhang Guan runs so fast, how can I chase?"
The final sprint, for Zhang Guan, became a performance beyond his opponents. He surpassed Merritt, Campbell, and all the others in front of him, and then crossed the finish line. He reached the final with a score of 45.63 seconds.
...
Behind the hotel where the athletes are staying, there was a school with an open-air track and field.
Campbell, dressed in sportswear, trotted into the school and ran towards the track and field, and the school security only glared at him without stopping.
"How exactly did Zhang Guan do this? Isn't the 300-meter rhythm in front completely able to retain more physical strength, but it is impossible to have such a fast sprint! I always feel that something is wrong, I have to try it myself." Campbell ran to the track and field but saw a familiar figure galloping on the runway, it was LaShawn Merritt.
Merritt had already run into the second corner at this time. His rhythm was very smooth, but it seemed strange. Campbell could feel that Merritt's speed was slower than usual.
Next, Merritt didn't accelerate at the original acceleration point, nor did he accelerate in the corner, only to see that he ran into the last straight, and then suddenly started to speed up, rushing towards the end.
Merritt sprinted very fast, much faster than his usual final sprint, but as the distance got closer and closer, Merritt's speed slowed down. Campbell can see that Merritt is struggling, or at the last moment, Merritt has exhausted his physical strength.
Merritt crossed the finish line, then looked at the stopwatch in his hand and shook his head lost.
"No, I'm almost 50 seconds following Zhang Guan's running method! And if I run like this, the final sprint can't even reach Zhang Guan's speed, and the physical strength can't support me to the finish line! Did I do it?"
"LaShawn!" Campbell's voice sounded not far away, "Are you experimenting with Zhang Guan's running style?"
"Yes." Merri nodded characteristically and then said, "But I can't do it. I've experimented twice. I purposely slowed down a bit in the front and reserved more energy, but in the end, it was far slower than the speed of the sprint of Zhang Guan and the distribution of physical strength is a big problem. I can't keep sprinting to the end with that speed."
"You time me, I will try," Campbell said standing on the starting line.
A minute later, Campbell also reached the finish line, and he didn't even ask about his score at all, because he knew that his score was almost 50 seconds.
"How can there be such a strange running method in the world!" Campbell complained uncontrollably, "If I ran ahead in the 300 meters, even if I ran slowly, the rest of my physical strength would not be able to sprint at that speed! Is that Zhang Guan an alien?"
Merritt continued, "I think if I can double my physical strength now, I should be able to have that kind of sprint in the final stage."
"Double that? LaShawn, what jokes are you talking about! How could anyone in the world have such abnormal physical strength..." Campbell's words suddenly stopped, as an experienced professional athlete, he knew what Merritt said was right, if you have twice the physical strength than usual, you can do it like Zhang Guan.
"Does Zhang Guan have such abnormal physical strength?" Campbell took a breath. He suddenly realized that Zhang Guan, the world's first flying man, might not have the explosive force beyond ordinary people, but the physical strength beyond the normal human category.