Sprint: This champion is a bit weird

Chapter 194 Are you just calling me X-Men?

After coming to Eugene, Wen Hao saw a very interesting record that could even be called a "legendary" from the brochure of the Prefontaine Classic.

Mozambican middle-distance runner Maria Mutola has maintained an unbeaten record in the women's 1993-meter event at the Prefontaine Classic for 800 consecutive years since 14!

You must know that Maria Mutola was born in 1972. Judging from her age, she is already a proper older athlete.

The Prefontaine Classic is held once a year. Although it is much less competitive than the Olympic Games and World Championships, it is still comparable to the Golden League and Super Grand Prix.

Under normal circumstances, let alone 14 years, many sports athletes cannot even maintain their peak period for 4 years, but Maria Mutola can maintain such an excellent competitive state despite the constant emergence of newcomers, which is indeed commendable. .

除了在尤金普雷方丹经典赛保持14届不败之外，玛利亚·穆托拉还曾在2000年的悉尼加冕奥运桂冠，也曾在1993、2001、2003三届世锦赛中夺冠，职业生涯至今手握7枚世界大赛奖牌！

In terms of honor alone, Maria Mutola can compete with Justin Gatlin in the "Fab Five", and is even slightly better.

After learning about it, Wen Hao also became very interested in Maria Mutola's ability to defend the women's 800-meter championship at the Prefontaine Classic.

Or maybe, I can learn from this legend, participate in an international high-level track and field event every year, and then strive to continue to defend the title?

The idea is good, but it is not easy to implement. After all, the Jamaica Lightning will usher in the peak period of his career next year.

The schedule of the Prefontaine Classic is quite different from that of most international high-level track and field events.

Perhaps because the Hayward Track and Field is located at the University of Oregon, the Prefontaine Classic game time is from 3 pm to 5 pm, rather than after the evening as is generally the case internationally.

This time Wenhao came to Eugene to compete not in the 100-meter main event, but in the 200-meter event as a secondary event.

the reason is simple.

First, he needs to compete in one or two 200-meter races before the World Championships to test his training results.

Second, although this year's Prefontaine Classic has a men's 100-meter event, it is a "performance event" and only college students from the NCAA league are allowed to sign up.

The men's 200-meter event started relatively early.

On June 6, at 10:3 pm Western Time in the United States, Wen Hao was already in position with his seven opponents today in the 45-meter starting area.

Lane 1, Marvin Anderson, a Jamaican male sprinter with a personal best time of 20 seconds.

Lane 2, Rodney Martin, an American male sprinter, with a personal best time of 20 seconds.

Lane 3, Asafa Powell, a famous Jamaican male sprinter and the holder of the men's 100m world record, ran to Eugene to participate in the 200m race out of nowhere. His personal best time in the 200m was 19 seconds. 90.

Lane 4, Sean Crawford, a famous American men's sprinter, with a personal best time of 19 seconds, came here to play with Wen Hao.

Lane 5, Wallace Spearmon, a famous American men's sprinter. His personal best time is 200 seconds, currently ranked third in the history of the men's 19 meters.

Lane 6, Xavier Carter, a famous American men's sprinter. His personal best time is 200 seconds, currently ranked second in the history of the men's 19 meters.

Lane 7, Usain Bolt, a Jamaican male sprinter, with a personal best time of 19 seconds.

Wen Hao was placed in Lane 8 this time, which seemed to be a little slighted by the organizers. However, with his personal best time of 19 seconds, being placed in Lane 88 was completely blameless.

For now, among the eight players on the field, the one with the strongest personal strength must come from the competition between Xavier Carter and Wallace Spearmon.

With the second fastest time in history and the third fastest time in history, before the start of this game, most track and field fans speculated that the championship would be between the two of them.

But if we want to say who has attracted the most attention in this game, it is definitely Wen Hao.

Partly because eight days ago, he and Tyson Gay staged the "Sino-US battle" at the Reebok Grand Prix in New York. Since then, the super-wind-speed time of 9 seconds has spread throughout the track and field circle, and is considered to be the best time for Arab this year. Safa Powell’s “viable challenger.”

Part of it is naturally due to the popularity of his new song.

On June 6, combining six days of record sales + five days of radio plays, "Shape of You" officially topped the Billboard Hot 8 singles chart, making Wenhao the first person in history to achieve "nothing" on the B chart. Crown" singer.

When he came to the University of Oregon yesterday to adapt to the venue, he was caught by many college students and asked for autographs and photos. Today, at least half of the audience in the stands are his fans.

When the host was introducing the players, Wen Hao, a "foreigner" from China, became the most popular player. How can anyone explain this?

The moment he waved to the audience, Wen Hao felt a "murderous intention".

Bolt and Spearmon, who were a little closer, had a good relationship with him and would not look at him with "murderous" eyes.

So.Xavier Carter?

If it was him, it wouldn't be surprising.

Xavier Carter previously attended Louisiana State University, where he has been an All-American track and field and football star.

也正是在2006年，他成为继美国上世纪传奇名将杰西·欧文斯之后，又一位在全美大学联盟田径锦标赛中获得四枚金牌（100米、400米、4x100米接力和4x400接力）的大学生。

If Wen Hao had any grudges with him, that was not the case. After all, this was his first fight with Xavier Carter so far.

But not fighting doesn't mean you won't be jealous.

On July 2006, 7, Xavier Carter officially became a professional athlete signed by Nike, and the contract will last until the 28 London Olympics.

In the nearly one week since arriving in the United States, Wenhao not only participated in competitions, training, and held fan meetings, but also attended a commercial event with Nike.

Xavier Carter was there at that event.

Jealousy probably arose during that event.

The influence of men's 200 meters in the field of track and field is not very high. Anyway, there is a big gap between it and the 100 meters in sprinting, and it is also inferior to the 400 meters.

So despite the fact that Xavier Carter ran the second fastest time in history last year, the contract he signed with Nike only had a one-year endorsement fee of US$25.

As for Wen Hao, after winning 2 gold medals and 1 silver medal at the Doha Asian Games, his endorsement fee has reached 950 million RMB/year, which is equivalent to 125 million USD/year!

If you look at it this way, the problem is very clear. If anyone were in this situation, not to mention jealousy, they would have to be jealous no matter what, right?

"On Your Marks!"

The starter's command instantly woke up Wen Hao, who was distracted by his thoughts. He patted his cheek to bring himself back to a sober state, and then stepped onto the starting line.

Today in Eugene was just like New York eight days ago, cloudy and windy.

The difference is that the wind was from the northwest in New York that day, while the wind in Eugene today was from the southwest.

This is very bad news for short track projects of 100 to 200 meters.

Because in standard track and field fields in the northern hemisphere, the starting point and end point of the 100-meter straight run in a north-south direction.

against the wind!

"Set——"

"Snapped--!"

The starting gun sounds and the game begins!

When the eight runners on the track started to accelerate in response to the sound of gunfire, the audience in Hayward Stadium immediately cheered and shouted, and the sound quickly swept through the University of Oregon.

As the only 100-meter main event athlete present, Wen Hao's starting reaction was undoubtedly the fastest in this shot. Coupled with his superb starting skills, he was well ahead of other players in the starting process.

This naturally includes Bolt.

Usain Bolt is a very weird sprinter.

As a big man with a height of over 1 meters, his stride is indeed very wide, but for someone of his height, his stride index is not actually very outstanding.

On the contrary, compared to those big sprinters who are also over 1 meters like him, his cadence is very outstanding.

Of course, this is about him who entered his peak period in 08. At least for now, Usain Bolt's abilities in all aspects are not outstanding enough among the world's first-class and even top sprinters.

Wen Hao's 200-meter running method is exactly the same as that of the 100-meter run. He first uses quick starting reactions and superb starting skills to gain a certain first-mover advantage in the starting process.

Then he will carry out continuous and stable long-distance acceleration. During this process, he will control the energy supply output of his body as much as possible. Under the premise of ensuring that his acceleration is sufficient, he will save a certain amount of physical strength for the second half of the "refueling".

Only in this way can he maximize his superior speed endurance ability compared to his extreme speed ability.

Among the seven opponents in this game, except for Marvin Anderson in lane 1 and Rodney Martin in lane 2, he was not very familiar with them and did not know their running methods.

Except for Bolt, the other four players all use the same late-range running style as Wen Hao, especially Spearmon and Xavier Carter.

If you look down at the field from the air at this time, you will find that Bolt, who is on the inside track, has been catching up with Wen Hao on the outside track from 30 meters away, but the extent of the pursuit is very small.

This shows that even if he adopts a forward-looking running method, Bolt's strength at this period is difficult to take advantage of Wen Hao in corners.

60 meters, 70 meters, 80 meters.

In the curve stage of the 200-meter event, due to the existence of the reach number, it is a very normal phenomenon that the runners in the inner lane are constantly approaching the runners in the outer lane.

Therefore, unless the inside track players completely tie or surpass the outside track players, it is temporarily difficult to determine who is leading and who is lagging behind.

But this does not include Marvin Anderson in lane 1 and Rodney Martin in lane 2.

As the only two players in this game whose PB did not break 20 seconds, Anderson and Martin's strength was already far behind the masters present. In addition, it was the most difficult inner track to run on, so they gradually Just got thrown away.

The outsiders beat the insides, which shows that there is an absolute gap in strength.

As for lanes 3~8, from the current point of view, it seems that the situation is still evenly matched.

90 meters, 100 meters, 110 meters.

Curve into the straight!

The visual difference brought about by the forward reach at the start has gradually been smoothed out with the end of the corner stage. At the same time, it can also be better judged whether the players are leading or lagging behind.

There are three people in the first echelon on the field at this time, Wen Hao in lane 8, Bolt in lane 7, and Carter in lane 6.

The second echelon is Spearmon in lane 5 and Crawford in lane 4. Asafa Powell in lane 3 is alone in the third echelon, with Anderson and Martin far behind.

The race is over halfway, with only the last 90 meters left!

Next, it’s time to compete in speed and endurance!

The moment he entered the straight road, Wen Hao glanced to the left with an extremely abnormal profile.

Overlooking Bolt's tall figure, Xavier Carter, wearing sunglasses, was already gritting his teeth and running hard.

As a man who ran the second fastest time in history during his career, he actually had a more famous nickname in later generations-"Bolt Killer" because he never lost to Bolt.

In addition, he also likes to make an "X" gesture on his chest after winning.

In addition, his initials are also "X", so he also has the nicknames "X-Men" and "X Carter".

Be it jealousy or jealousy.

Xavier Carter, X-Men, let me respond to you with my strength!

Why the hell do you call them X-Men? !

(End of this chapter)