Since the 1500-meter middle distance race is a race regardless of the track, there will be twelve contestants participating in each preliminary round, and the top five in each group and the other four with the best results will enter the semifinals.
In the first group of the first round of the 1500m preliminaries, Ramz from Bahrain, the biggest favorite to win the championship, ran a time of 3,32.89 and easily won the promotion.
During the game, Ramz almost led the way. His strength is the absolute advantage in this group. Even second place in the group, he was left behind by 2 seconds.
"Nice work! Ramz, the first qualifying group in the group, congratulations!" Ali, who is also a Bahraini player, came on stage to congratulate him.
"It's your turn to compete next, come on!" Ramz continued encouragingly, "Don't take it lightly for a while. South Africa's Devonte, Britain's Badley, and Morocco's Iguid are all here. In your group, they are all capable players who have reached the finals."
"And Zhang Guan." Ali continued.
"Don't worry about Zhang Guan. Didn't I tell you before? Zhang Guan didn't even reach the Olympic A standard. An Olympic B standard athlete, you just ignore him. He is no longer the one that opened the crown." Ramz said. Say.
"From this morning's 100m preliminaries, Zhang Guan seems to be in a good state. His results are the fastest among all the contestants." Ali said with some concern.
"Ali, you are too unreasonable. 100 meters and 1500 meters are completely different. If I were Zhang Guan, I would just abandon the 1500 meters project earlier and focus my energy on the sprint, at least to guarantee the gold medal in the sprint. Ramz said, patted Ali on the shoulder, and then said, "There are very few opportunities to participate in the Olympics in our life, and we in Bahrain have never won an Olympic gold medal. If we win a gold medal, we will become Bahrain's hero. Come on!"
...
The contestants in the second group are already on the starting line.
Zhang Guan faced the surrounding track and didn't know anyone except Ali from Bahrain. However, the players' sports vests are all printed with their national flags.
"South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States, Morocco, Brazil, Cartel, Ethiopia, Bahrain... This group of runners has enough nationalities. I heard that Kenya and Algeria have good middle-distance running skills, but this group does not. The Moroccan mid-runner seems to be very strong. I remember that Ramz was a Moroccan, and he was naturalized in Bahrain. If the Moroccan runs fast enough, I will follow." Zhang Guan looked at the person from Morocco.
At this time, several other contestants were also planning to defeat their opponents and qualify for qualifying.
Many people have already noticed Zhang Guan. After all, Zhang Guan's reputation is there. His appearance in any stadium will attract the attention of many people.
However, the vast majority of participants in the 1500-meter middle distance race did not regard Zhang Guan as a competitor. After all, he entered the Olympic Games with the B mark. Under normal circumstances, the Olympic B mark competitors are all round trips. The lucky ones may be able to enter the second round but miss the finals.
Another point is that China's middle-distance running strength has always been the end of the world. Everyone's attention is focused on a few middle-distance running countries, and few people pay attention to Zhang Guan's strength.
Zhang Guan has only participated in only one international competition in the Asian Games. Asian athletes may know that Zhang Guan once won the Asian Games, but if he is not a player from Asia, they will not care about the Asian Games so they wouldn't know that Zhang Guan had achieved good results in the middle distance race.
The audience at the scene has high hopes for Zhang Guan. In the eyes of the Chinese audience, Zhang Guan is the undefeated God of War. As long as he appears on the field, it represents the first and the victory.
...
"The game begins! The players begin to merge. Oh, the unfolding merge is a bit unsuccessful, and he is blocked by other players!" The commentator's tone clearly showed a sense of anger, as if the player blocking the unfolding of the king did an intolerable thing.
Zhang Guan did not start smoothly. Although his course was very good, Zhang Guan is not an athlete who specializes in middle-distance running after all, so this kind of rush is not what Zhang Guan is good at. In domestic competitions, Zhang Guan can also occasionally take advantage of some advantages, but in the Olympic Games, the strong are like clouds. Any contestant is stronger than the domestic athletes, and Zhang Guan naturally does not account for much. It's cheaper.
Although Zhang Guan did not fall behind at this time, he was caught in the middle, and there was a player on his right. It can be said that the current Zhang Guan cannot advance or retreat.
If it's other athletes, such a sandwich-like position must be very uncomfortable. Not only must you maintain a certain rhythm with the athletes in front, but also be careful to guard against the athletes next to you to prevent them from being stuffed in front of you. However, Zhang Guan has the help of the "follow-the-running" skill. There is no need to worry about this. He only needs to use his skills to follow the runners in front of him.
The preliminaries are of different levels. There are the world's top string players, and there are also weak chickens who barely reach the Olympic B mark. In the Olympics, how big is the gap between the strong and the weak? Ramz, who appeared in the first group of the group stage, has already answered. Ramz's final score was 3,32.89, while the last Australian player in the first group scored 3,53.95. There was a 21-second difference between the two.
The leader at this time was a Brazilian player from Sosa. The South American's natural enthusiasm and impulse made him rush forward after the gunshots. It's just that his lead speed can only be said to be quite satisfactory, neither fast nor slow.
For those capable players, it is more than enough to keep up with this speed, but those players who are not strong will have to work very hard to keep up with this speed.
According to the normal situation of the 1500 meters, this period should be for everyone to maintain a steady pace and follow the run. There will not be much change in the ranking. However, in the middle position, there is one person who does not want to run like this, that is, Bahraini Ali.
Ali has been paying attention to Zhang Guan. At this time, he found that Zhang Guan was not eager to slow down to follow behind, and the pace of running was very good, almost the same as the player in front. Ali instantly remembered the scene at the Asian Games two years ago.
"The same was true for the Asian Games two years ago. In the beginning, Zhang Guan was following along very honestly, but at the end of the sprint, he ran at an abnormal speed and directly left us behind. It seems that today, Zhang Guan wants to repeat the same trick. No, I have to mention the speed, so that even if he doesn't make the top five in the group, he will have an advantage if he is ranked according to the time."
Thinking of this, Ali turned out of the crowd and rushed directly to the lead. Then Ali started to speed up, obviously preparing to bring the rhythm faster.
"Ali ran to the front, he speeded up!" When the South African player Deventer saw this scene, he was very happy in his heart, and he also speeded up immediately.
"It's best to get rid of some weak players first, especially those athletes who are Olympic B-standard athletes. They are hopeless to advance, so don't make trouble, and honestly follow along!"
There was a sense of pride in Deventer's eyes, and he took a big step and followed.
"Ali leads the race very fast. If he leads at this speed, I guess only half of the people can keep up." When Deventer took advantage of the front corner, he turned his head and looked back, just as he said. It is expected that several players have indeed fallen behind.
"It seems that there are more people following than I thought. Huh? Why did Zhang Guan also follow!"