The appearance order of the fourth test jump has been sorted out. Zhang Guan's first three jumps have the first result, so the last one to debut was Saladino who is the penultimate athlete who took the test jump.
In the athlete's preparation zone, Saladino deliberately stood far away from Zhang Guan. He came for the gold medal. He originally felt that winning the championship should have been easy, but he did not expect Zhang Guan to score so high. The 8.58-second score also refreshed his current year's best result, so before the game began, Saladino showed a strong hostility towards Zhang Guan.
At this moment, a voice sounded from behind Saladino, "8.58 meters, it really is a good result. I think with this result he can already win the championship in advance!"
Saladino turned around and found that the person speaking was the American player Dwight Phelps.
Dwight Phelps is a famous American men's long jumper, and also the man who carried the American long jump flag after Mike Powell retired. He was originally a professional 400-meter player, who later improved his long jump, and won the "double champion" in the world track and field championships and the Olympic Games long jump. Before Saladino's rise, Dwight Phelps was the strongest long jumper in the world.
But in the past year, Dwight Phelps has been plagued by injuries, so no matter whether it is the IAAF Golden League or the Super Grand Prix, Phelps has not achieved any good results. The double champion of the World Championships and the Olympic Games seems to be sinking.
Seeing that it was Phelps, Saladino's eyes showed a sense of fear, he knew that Phelps was only temporarily troubled by injuries, and if Phelps was healthy, his strength would not be weaker than him.
Saladino said, "If I don't play, 8.58 meters may become a championship result. But for me, 8.58 meters is just a slightly difficult result, and there are three more test jumps. I think I can go beyond this distance!"
Phelps said with a smile on his face, "Don't forget, Zhang Guan's strength is still unknown. He only jumped once. We don't know where his limit is. What if 8.58 meters is not his limit, too?"
"I admit that Zhang Guan is a very talented athlete, but he is a sprinter after all. Perhaps it was just his luck that the jump was like that, it was just a coincidence!" Saladino said unconvincingly.
"Luck? Coincidence? Don't lie to yourself! Those who can jump above 8.50 are strong players!" Phelps continued, "I used to be a sprinter, but I practiced the long jump later, and when I practiced long jump, I was already 22 years old. However, Zhang Guan is only 20 years old this year. His achievements in sprinting are much higher than mine. Perhaps his achievements in the long jump will also surpass me! Don't forget, There are many examples of sprinters' achievements in long jump events."
Saladino frowned, although he didn't want to admit it, Phelps's remarks made sense.
Saladino did not continue to talk about this topic with Phelps. He nodded with his head, and then said, "Dwight, you should do a quick warm-up, your game will start."
...
At this time, Zhang Guan's most concerned competitor is also Saladino. This Panamanian almost won the six games in the previous Golden League, and Zhang Guan knew that 2006 to 2008 was the peak period for Saladino, the Golden League, Athletics World Cup, Athletics World Championships, Olympics... Saladino won the championships of all major events in the world.
"The score of 8.58 meters, Saladino should feel a lot of pressure right now! I don't know how Saladino is feeling today. If his condition is normal, then my 8.58 meters should be able to win the championship. But if Saladino is in good shape, this result is not enough!"
Zhang Guan thought while watching the performance of the players on the track.
"That player from the European team turned out to be a white man! White people are rare in international long jump events this year."
This European team player is the Spanish Melis, he is a very skilled player, but his physical quality is indeed not as good as the black player, this jump of 8.06 meters is already his limit.
"The next appearance is Dwight Phillips! I heard that he is in average condition this year."
Phelps is one of the few long jumpers Zhang Guan knows because, since the Athens Olympics, Phelps has also participated in many Golden League and IAAF Grand Prix, and Zhang Guan also bowed his head and saw it. Although they are not familiar, they will say hello to each other.
Phillips just jumped 8.10 meters in this jump, which also confirmed the rumor that he was plagued by injuries and his condition was very bad.
Among the next few players to play, South Africa's Mokena jumped the best after playing, leaping 8.30 meters, temporarily behind Zhang Guan and Saladino.
"That's the previous Asian record holder, Aluk Walid of Saudi Arabia!" Zhang Guan looked at a player in grey and white sportswear and immediately guessed the identity of the other party.
This time, the Asian team's uniforms are mainly gray and the shorts are black, so although Zhang Guan doesn't know Walid at all, he can judge the opponent's identity through the uniform.
"The current long jump coach of the Saudis is the world record holder Mike Powell, so Saudi Arabia's long jump level development can be described by leaps and bounds. Oh! He stepped on the line!"
The referee raised the red flag, Walid shook his head helplessly and walked out of the sand pool.
"In my memory, Walid was probably active only in the past two years, but Walid's performance has been maintained at a good level. If it is not for the appearance of Li Jinzhe, perhaps Walid can still dominate in Asia for several years! "
Zhang Guan watched Walid walk out of the sand pool, and he got up and walked to the running area. The next appearance was Saladino, and it was Saladino's fourth test jump.
Saladino slowly walked up to the starting point and moved his muscles again, and then the timer began to show the countdown. As a big-name star player, he is also the number one favorite to win the championship before the match, of course, there will be some special care, such as the preparation time can be so dozens of seconds more than other athletes.
Saladino started running. His running speed is not very extreme, but he is very rhythmic. This kind of running is also a development trend of long jump events in recent years. Especially those athletes in the long jump countries in Europe and America are increasingly paying attention to the sense of rhythm in running. The domestic training is still generally limited to the speed limit of running.
This time, Saladino chose a more aggressive jump method. He deliberately pursued the position of the jump, and the toes were closer to the marking line of the springboard. To better ensure the balance of the body in the air, he did not choose the squatting squat but chose the most commonly used stepping style for professional athletes.
"Shoot..." In Saladino's bunker, he quickly got up and walked out of the bunker, and then looked back at his achievement in the sand pool.
"It's over 8.5 meters! But it doesn't seem to have reached 8.58 meters. It's about 8.55 meters!" Saladino just glanced at it and determined his score.
Later, after the surveyor conducted the measurement, he also reported the final score of Saladino, 8.54 meters, slightly more than what Saladino predicted, but there was still a gap of four centimeters from the 8.58 meters of Zhang Guan.
"Oh..." The audience at the scene made a sound of loss, obviously felt sorry for Saladino. The gap of two centimeters is almost negligible from a distance. Even before the results were reported, many audiences thought Saladino's jump would have reached or surpassed Zhang Guan.
Immediately after that, Zhang Guan, the eighth appearance test jumper came on.
Zhang Guan dragging his pace to the head referee said a few words, and then the head referee announced that Zhang Guan gave up this test jump.
Under normal circumstances, when athletes give up the game, they often attract the boss of the audience. If someone reports it, they may also attract the investigation of the match, but today, when the referee announced that Zhang Guan gave up this test jump, instead of attracting boos from the audience, many people applauded Zhang Guan.
"Zhang Guan gave up this test jump! We can also understand Zhang Guan's choice. Within 20 minutes, he continuously played the 100-meter sprint and 400-meter sprint in two consecutive events, and then carried on for a test jump, I think that the 8.58-meter result made Zhang Guan's physical capacity overwhelmed! He needs more time to rest! And according to the current race situation, the 8.58 meter is still ranked first." The commentator took the initiative to defend Zhang Guan.
Indeed, for the audience, Zhang Guan has brought them two wonderful sprint races and a test jump for the best result of this year. Even the discerning audience can understand Zhang Guan giving up this test jump.
Next, the fifth test jump started immediately.
With Saladino jumping out of 8.54 meters, the other six players can be said to have dropped out of the championship and runner-up position. Most of them have the best scores of around 8.40 meters. Maybe some people can skip 8.50 meters, but no one can jump to more than 8.55 meters. Phelps, the only American with a strength of more than 8.55 meters, was also affected by injuries.
Therefore, the competition for the gold medal will start between Zhang Guan and Saladino. The other athletes can only fight for the bronze medal.
Six athletes completed the test jump one after another. Then it was Saladino's turn.
"This is Saladino's fifth test jump! He just jumped a good score of 8.54 meters, but it is still not as good as the 8.58 meters of Zhang Guan. I hope he can play better this time!"