With the first lap done and the second lap half-done, I was already a fully body's length ahead of the second place, Jae-ho. Owen, the previous second place, was overtaken.
It isn't surprising, but it seems that he did calm down...or he probably got too tired to continue going at that pace. Either way, he's probably fighting for third by now.
Jae-ho should be the only problem in my way. Another thing that has been a thorn in my side was Beom-sok. That's right.
He wasn't even here and I was worried about him. Well not so much worried, but confused. Why didn't he compete in the 200 meter?
Judging by his performance in the 100 meter, he could easily make it here and if he doesn't win a podium, he'll get more recognition.
Either way, it's a win-win for him. Maybe this is why I never remembered him from any big competitions. Did he get left in the dust somehow?
I doubt it, but I'd like to know his reasoning after this this race is over.
In the meantime, I needed to focus on getting the flip timing right. The flip is the essential part of turning 180° to continue on with the second-half of your lap, or to start the next lap.
If you are about to swim a 100 meter or 200 meter, much less 400 meter swimming race, they won't build a 400 meter swimming pool for that.
That's insane and stupid and insanely stupid. In short, it's dumb. So, they make it in 25 meters for our swimming pool and 50 meters for an Olympic sized swimming pool.
The RF one has a 50 meter competition swimming pool and that'll be used later.
In conclusion, flip is important.
Get the timing a bit early and your push off won't have the right amount of force.
Get it too late and have some trouble actually bending your knees and pushing forwards. You have a chance of pushing downwards too, which isn't good.
However, get it just right, even a bit late and you will fly. You can move up a couple meters with just that single push off. It isn't much, but continuously doing it adds up.
If you get 1.5 meters per push and there are 3 pushing moments when you change direction, you get an extra 4.5 meters throughout the race. A good, solid number.
So, I try being a little late with the tuck and when I felt my fingers touch the wall, I didn't immediately tuck in for the roll.
I waited until my fingers were forced into a fist, and that's when I finally tucked. I rolled and rolled until my feet were touching the wall instead of my hands and I was still tucked as far I could be.
This is the best possible tuck and roll you could do, but now I have to push straight forward.
Like a spring being unloaded, I pushed all of my strength into my legs while having my hands straight on top of each other, behind my head and making sure my fingers were tilted up a lot.
This is so I don't go too far underwater. The tilted fingers push me up and force water under me. This is the genius I am. I made this technique without it being taught to me.
I honestly believe that sometimes, my genius, it generates gravity.
My push gives me a tremendous advantage against my peers and now, I'm far ahead of second place. I don't doubt my skills enough to be worried.
And, I was correct. As 99% of the time.
By the third lap, I was nearly half a lap ahead of the competition and by then end of it, I was a bit more than a half lap ahead.
They weren't beaten, they were demolished. They were brutally mutilated into little bits of food for the sharks and for a little green man's burger.
Once the second place finished, I was waiting there for a while. I was just trying to entertain myself by fiddling with the dividers, floating and trying to hold my breath underwater.
Once I looked back up, everyone was finally finished and the score board was something out of a horror movie.
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200M FREE LAP TIMES A LEAGUE FINALS
🥇 1st: Kim Min-chul (RF 3RD YEAR) - 2:45.20
🥈 2nd: Seung Jae-ho (SST 2ND YEAR) - 3:02.48
🥉 3rd: Owen Yang (SM 2ND YEAR) - 3:03.12
Joshua Lim (TYM 2ND YEAR) - 3:08.59
Jeon Hyun-ki (SM 3RD YEAR) - 3:10.67
Joshua Lim (TYM 2ND YEAR) - 3:11.45
...
...
...
...
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When I stepped out of the pool, my face was plastered with a giant smile from ear to ear. Meanwhile, Owen was taken to the back with his coach, probably for an explanation.
It's very unfortunate that he doesn't know his coach personally since that would make them less likely to punish you when you screw up.
However, I think that even if you knew your coach well, you'd still get scolded if you pulled what Owen pulled today. I escaped a massive scolding and it was replaced with a light reminder.
The reason was simple: results. I got first while Owen threw away first for third. If I got third, I would take a loan on my house and everything I own, and bet on me being scolded.
This is the same with Owen. If he won this race, he'd celebrate and his coach would tell him not to push and hurt himself too much.
This is the sad part. Owen didn't mean anything by doing this, he was just emotional which is normal from a 15 year old boy. Sadly, this isn't the time and place for those kinds of shenanigans.
I stop worrying about Owen's fate and turn my attention to my adoring team and some fans.
"WOOOOHOOO!!! I DON'T BELIEVE IT! A SECOND TIME!!!"
"He did it again! Min-chul!!!"
"Woohooo! Min-chul oppa! You did it!"
While everyone was cheering for me, I saw in the distance was Ji-woo's sister smiling lightly at the scene.
'...what the hell? Why is she trying to act all cool and stuff?'
I furrow my brows, but don't let it mind me too much. I then focus on the two people behind her, who made me even happier than all this celebrating.
"Hey, uncle Seung-ri. Pssst, over there..."
"Huh?.....oh what the hell! Yes yes yes! That's good! It's looking good!"
I point my finger at the two people behind Ji-woo's sister and they are the two JW Sports people. Apparently, they seemed pleased with my performance.
They were smiling, chatting with each other, whispering and point at me and doing a bunch of phone calls. This is it! This is it! It's finally happening!
Seung-ri and I make eye contact and we smirk at each other. At this point, we know I made it. So-young and A-yeong have no idea why I'm smiling more than usual, but they don't care.
If I'm happy, they're happy.
I take a deep breath and wrap my arms around the two girls. Sometimes, you got to enjoy the moment.
"I DID IT!!!!"
""Wooohooooo!!!""
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(A.N) wassup! Another chappy for you beautiful and awesome readers and I hope you guys enjoyed it! I hope you had a terrific day and that tomorrow will be even more terrific-er!
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