Orc Undead Sports Warrior

Chapter 183 National Record for the 100 Meters

After the fifth group of preliminary rounds concluded, the first-place finisher still did not surpass the results of these national team members.

"It seems that these are the only ones who can fight this year. Everyone who could come to this competition has come."

After saying this, Yu Wei looked completely at ease. The selection of several young team members three years ago was finally showing its effects at this moment.

At the time, many people advised Yu Wei to take things one step at a time and leave one or two veteran players to mentor the newcomers. When these players were completely dominated by the Japanese team in the first year of the Asian competition, there were many rumors and strange comments. Now, the results shown by the young team have silenced those who were waiting to see them fail.

It wasn't that Yu Wei was reckless in using new players; it was simply that the team's performance at the time was mediocre at best. At that time, only Hu Ge and Huo Jianhua were capable of representing the national team in major international competitions.

Under these circumstances, what use would these athletes be? Their technical abilities were already set, and continuing to train them wouldn't lead to much improvement. Most importantly, many sprinters in China at the time had a complacent mentality; once they won a championship in a major event like the National Games and received hundreds of thousands in prize money, they lost the motivation to train hard.

Rather than letting them stay on the team and instill this mentality in the younger players, it would be better to start over and give the young people more room to grow and develop healthily.

Those who can achieve success are people who are truly dedicated to the industry. If there were such athletes back then, no one would have removed them, even if they were older, as long as their competitive state was guaranteed.

"Let's go, it's our turn to make our appearance!"

After being signaled by the staff, Lu Wei smiled at Wen Ningyi and then walked onto the track as if no one else was there.

These words seemed to give Wen Ningyi a lot of comfort. He followed Lu Wei's example, straightened his chest, and walked towards the track with his head held high.

"Hey, hey, hey! Our little chick is walking with his head held high, looking a bit like a man now. Are you an adult yet?"

The speaker was a burly man from Northeast China, who looked to be over 1.85 meters tall.

"Brother Zhao Gang, it's been a long time."

Wen Ningyi answered somewhat earnestly, and Lu Wei realized that the two knew each other before. However, he had seen too many people like this; they seemed only capable of making a fuss and saying a few words, but he couldn't be bothered to pay them any attention.

Young team members always have to go through this process. As long as they don't suffer any losses, they can treat this as a practical lesson in life.

"Look, if we let someone like this stay in the national team, it's no wonder he'll corrupt our young men. This guy was a national team member a few years ago, and after winning the National Games, he thought he was someone special. He acted like nobody else in the country, and after losing in the Asian competition, he blamed our training and complained that our techniques were outdated, but he never mentioned his drinking and lack of training!"

"Why would I keep a player like that around? He was definitely saying something sarcastic to Wen Ningyi just now."

After saying this, Yu Wei had a disdainful expression: "Before winning the championship, he was a down-to-earth young man. But one championship changed him completely. I think he is better suited to be an ordinary person for the rest of his life."

Lu Wei was in lane 4, Wen Ningyi was in lane 6, and Zhao Gang was in lane 5, between them. He always looked at Wen Ningyi with a sidelong glance, and when the referee announced everyone to their positions, he even wagged his finger at Wen Ningyi.

"preparation!"

As soon as the referee finished speaking, Zhao Gang suddenly straightened up, looking like he was about to take off to anyone who didn't know better. Anyone who has trained in sprinting knows that this can easily affect the body at the start.

If you stand up abruptly, the starting gun might fire before your body is properly adjusted, which could disrupt your rhythm after the start.

To master this move, Zhao Gang practiced it repeatedly during training and could now handle such situations with ease. When the skill levels are even, simply causing the opponent to lose focus for a moment is enough.

However, Lu Wei wasn't fooled at all. His eyes were fixed straight ahead, and he didn't pay any attention to Zhao Gang. Wen Ningyi had trained with him before and knew he had this trick up his sleeve, so he also maintained his focus.

As soon as the starting gun fired, Lu Wei immediately took a step forward, half a beat faster than his teammates. This was the result of winter training; his excellent reaction time now compensated for his slow pace.

In international competitions, this half-step advantage doesn't give him a head start over other players, but in domestic competitions, his opponents are simply unable to counter his abnormal reactions.

"That reaction, haha!"

At the very moment of starting, Yu Wei shouted it out.

Zhao Gang could barely keep up with Lu Wei in the first half of the race, but after 50 meters, he felt that Lu Wei was widening the gap with every step he took.

At the 70-meter mark, Lu Wei had left Zhao Gang almost 5 meters behind, and Wen Ningyi was also catching up. Zhao Gang could only grit his teeth and desperately try to maintain his speed.

Although he was guaranteed to advance to the semi-finals as long as he made it into the top three in the preliminary rounds, losing to Wen Ningyi, whom he had previously considered to be on a completely different level, was hard for him to accept.

In the final 15 meters, Lu Wei began to increase his speed, using his body's momentum to propel himself toward the finish line.

Zhao Gang was in a very awkward situation at this moment. He knew very well that he had no chance of winning the championship this time. Judging from the gap in strength, it was not something he could catch up with just by trying hard.

Even the second-place finisher in the group seemed to be struggling; he really hadn't expected Wen Ningyi to have grown so much.

One ran at a relaxed pace, while the other gave it their all. When they reached the finish line, the gap between them was still more than 2 meters.

Fortunately, Zhao Gang finished the match in second place in his group, barely managing to suppress Wen Ningyi.

"That's impressive, young man! Your performance improved dramatically once you joined the national team. It's true that playing for the national team makes it easier to grow taller!"

Zhao Gang spoke casually, not taking it seriously as it was just the preliminary round. However, Lu Wei's speed had left a deep impression on him. After the first few group matches, he felt that everyone's strength was evenly matched, and that they could still compete in the final.

After Lu Wei came on stage, he completely gave up on that idea and just hoped that he wouldn't embarrass himself in the final.

"Lu Wei's shot must have taken around 10.20 seconds! He fired so many shots and still has such a huge advantage. I think the national record is his for the future... Beautiful, a national record!"

At this moment, Yu Wei didn't care that his words were contradicting himself. Looking at the 10.15-second result on the big screen, he appeared very emotional.

Since Zhou Wei set the national record of 10.17 seconds in 1998, no one has broken the record for this event for nearly 10 years.

For many years, Japanese athletes had been running in under 10 seconds, a record that had already caused some embarrassment for Chinese track and field athletes. Now, that record has finally been broken, even if it's still not quite 10 seconds.

Seeing this record keep moving forward made Yu Wei very happy.