All-round Athlete

Chapter 758: True Strength

The 500-meter men's short track speed skating event is the event with the most participants in short track speed skating. It can be regarded as the "100-meter sprint" in short track speed skating, but this event is not the strong point of the national team. At this level of competition, only four players can enter a game, so the competition for the final place becomes more intense.

In the first group match, Zhang Guan made his debut in the fifth group. There was no strong player in the same group, so Zhang Guan advanced smoothly. Veteran Ma Yunfeng played in the sixth favorite group. In the same group, Italy's Confortella and Canadian star Trepre were also in the same group. Unfortunately, Ma Yunfeng failed to advance to the next round. As for Han Jialiang, who played in the eighth group, there was only one Japanese player in the same group with some strength. In the end, he also successfully advanced to the first place in the group.

The 500-meter final will be held on February 27, and that day is also the last day of short track speed skating.

"The 500m is so strong! I heard that the world record holder Sheng Xibei has given up the relay race in order to win gold in this event. However, the Korean team's plan cannot keep up with the changes. Lee Jung-soo has been suspended, and Sheng Xibei still has to participate in the relay race "Coach Li Bing continued: "In addition, the strength of the Canadian player Hamelin should not be underestimated! In terms of strength, he can definitely challenge Sheng Xibei."

"Hamelin, I have played against him in the 1000m final, but I don't think he is very good." Zhang Guan said.

"Hamelin is much stronger in the short distance than he is in the long distance. You still remember that in the 1,000-meter race, Hamelin even led the slide. His speed is not inferior to that of the Koreans, but the 1,000-meter skating 9 laps, his physical strength may not be able to support in the second half. But the 500 meters only needs to skate 4 and a half laps, which can just play Hamelin's strengths." Coach Li Bing continued: "So you have to be faster in the race For some, I even think that in the finals, achievements within 41 seconds may not be enough to win the championship."

"Isn't the 500-meter world record 41.051 seconds? Could it be that even a world record-breaking result can't win the championship?" Zhang Guan asked in surprise.

"Yes, according to the information we have, Sheng Xibei and Hamelin both have the ability to slide within 41 seconds. There is even news that their achievements can already enter within 41 seconds." Coach Li Bing continued.

"Really? That's great. It seems that in the 500-meter final, I finally don't need to reserve my strength!" Zhang Guan said excitedly.

"Reserve strength?" Coach Li Bing's eyes widened in surprise. If a world record-breaking result is to preserve strength, Li Bing would not believe it.

But these words came from Zhang Guan's mouth, but there was a strong sense of confidence and persuasion, which made coach Li Bing feel in his heart that Zhang Guan really retained his strength in the previous games .

...

On February 28th, the last competition day of short track speed skating, three short track speed skating gold medals will be determined in the Pacific Gymnasium on this day, namely women's 1000 meters, men's 500 meters and men's 5000 meters relay.

In this Winter Olympics, the women's short track speed skating team is exceptionally strong. They have already won three gold medals, including a gold medal in the relay race. If they can win another gold medal in the women's 1,000 meters, they will win this Winter Olympics All gold medals in women's short track speed skating.

But the most watched competition is undoubtedly the men's 500-meter final. After all, it is a racing sport. The shorter the distance and the faster the speed, the more intense the competition of the athletes, the more exciting the process of the competition, and the more interesting it is to watch. powerful.

The first to start is the men's 500m quarter-finals. Judging from the grouping situation, Zhang Guan's group is not bad. In the same group are the German student Tyson and the British player Ellie. The strength of the two can only be regarded as upper-middle, not the top in the world. And Zhang Guanhe was promoted relatively smoothly.

Another member of the national team, Han Jialiang, is in a very tough group. In the same group, there are Canada's Oliver and South Korea's Lee Ho-seok. Li Haoxi's strength is definitely the first in the group, while Oliver is very good at short distances, so Han Jialiang only ranked third in the group and missed the semi-finals.

The group of death is the first group. The two top players in the world, the Canadian Hamelin and the Korean player Sheng Xibei, met in advance.

"World record! Hamelin! 40 seconds 988, Hamelin entered the 41-second mark! Hamelin broke Sheng Xibei's men's 500-meter short track speed skating world record! And this result was set in the contest with Sheng Xibei !” The narrator shouted loudly, and the scene was completely boiling.

After all, this is Hamelin's home court. Although this is only the quarter-finals, the host player's breaking the world record is enough to make the audience cheer for several minutes.

In the quarter-finals, Hamelin successfully broke the world record of men's 500-meter short-track speed skating and qualified first in the group. Of course, Sheng Xibei has also qualified, but at the moment he is unhappy. The second place in the group is still second. The key is that the world record he holds has been broken, and it was broken in front of him. This is Sheng Xibei. Undoubtedly a provocation.

The three players of the South Korean team have successfully entered the semi-finals. In addition, Zhang Guan, Canada's Hamelin and Oliver, the British player Eli, and the American player Apollo entered the semi-finals.

There are two semi-finals. The top two teams in the group advance to the finals of Group A to compete for medals, and the bottom two enter the finals of Group B to compete for rankings.

In the semi-finals, Zhang Guan encountered Hamelin, and the other two players in the same group were Korean players Li Haoxi and Guo Runqi. The other four were in another group.

When the competition reached the semi-final stage, the competition was already very fierce. For example, in Zhang Guan's group, all three opponents were strong, while the two Korean players were relatively weak. Hamelin, who had just broken the world record, probably wanted to maintain his physical strength, so he didn't go all out, and finally joined hands with Zhang Guan to advance to the Group A final.

Later, Sheng Xibei also appeared, and the three players in his group were all European and American players.

"40 seconds 950! Sheng Xibei! He successfully regained the world record! Unexpectedly, Hamelin's world record was only held for half an hour, and it was broken by Sheng Xibei here. It seems that the next final will be a needlepoint Top match against Maimang!"

Sheng Xibei, who appeared in the second group, showed absolute strength. He successfully responded to Hamelin's provocation with a new world record. This result seemed to tell Hamelin that he is still the strongest in the world!

The audience at the scene also gave warm applause to Sheng Xibei. Although they hoped that the national player Hamelin would win, they hoped to see a wonderful game, and breaking the world record twice within half an hour is obviously worth it. Today's ticket price, next, these two people will compete in the finals, this will definitely be the most exciting and exciting matchup in the Winter Olympics.

Another qualifying place was taken away by the American Apollo. Apollo has the nickname of "Prince of America", and he is also the defending champion of men's short track speed skating 500m event, that is to say, at the Torino Winter Olympics four years ago, he once defeated a Korean player and won To the gold medal of this project. And four years later, Apollo certainly hopes that he can successfully defend his title.

"It smells like gunpowder! If you don't try your best, you might really lose!" Zhang Guan took a deep breath, and there was a feeling of tension in his heart, and this kind of tension is pleasant and even more so. Exciting.

Zhang Guan vaguely remembered that it was Bolt who gave him this feeling last time. Facing Bolt who had the ability to break the world record, the desire to win in Zhang Guan's heart became stronger. But today, there were actually two people in front of him, both of whom had the ability to break the world record, which made Zhang Guan feel even more excited.

"Finally, I feel that this game is interesting!" Zhang Guan's eyes showed a look of excitement.

...

"The game has started! Hamelin has won the first place!"

There was a burst of cheers at the scene, and the audience was cheering for Hamelin, who was fighting at home.

Hamelin is really good at starting. In the previous 1000-meter final, he also grabbed the first place at the beginning, and today's 500-meter final, he also successfully grabbed the first position at the first corner.

But compared with 1000 meters, the first place in 500 meters is obviously more meaningful, and the advantage is relatively greater. It takes 9 laps to slide 1000 meters, and Hamelin is not physically strong enough to lead the slide to the finish line, but only half the distance of 500 meters, Hamelin is definitely capable of maintaining the first place and crossing the finish line.

Sheng Xibei successfully grabbed the second place, Zhang Guan followed closely behind Sheng Xibei, and "American Prince" Apollo fell to the fourth place.

Although there are positions between each other, in fact, this kind of priority is nothing in the game. It is impossible to open a large distance in a 500-meter race. Mistakes, even before the finish line, the gap between the first place and the fourth place will not exceed 0.3 seconds, which is very similar to the 100-meter sprint.

And just like the 100-meter sprint, in the 500-meter short-track speed skating, every 0.01-second improvement of the world's top athletes is extremely difficult. In 0.3 seconds, there is an insurmountable gap before the finish line.

The first lap of the race is coming to an end, and the speed of the athletes has been improved. Sheng Xibei, who is in second place, obviously does not want to fall behind Hamelin. He turned to the outside, ready to pass Hamelin.

Hamelin has been paying attention to Sheng Xibei's movements. When he realized that Sheng Xibei was going to overtake, he immediately moved his body and made defensive moves. However, what Hamelin didn't expect was that this was just a fake move by Sheng Xibei. The next moment, Sheng Xibei suddenly turned to the inside and passed Hamelin.

"Damn Asians, they are so thin, they can get through even a little space!" Hamelin couldn't help complaining in his heart.

Ordinarily, the inner space left by Hamelin is not large. If it is a tall European and American, it may not be possible to get through. But Sheng Xibei's figure is obviously slimmer than that of Europeans. Sheng Xibei, who is close to 1.8 meters tall, weighs only 60 kilograms, which looks very thin among ordinary Asian men, and athletes have more muscle density. Taller and therefore thinner. Therefore, in the same space, European and American athletes can't get through, but Korean athletes can get through.

Sheng Xibei has successfully obtained the leading position, and he also knows that if he wants to control the lead, it is not enough to rely on defense, and he needs to be faster. And Hamelin behind is also waiting for an opportunity to regain his position.

The competition has entered the second round of competition. If it is in other levels of competition, it should enter a short stalemate at this time, but in the 500-meter competition, the competition has become more intense.

Hamelin wants to overtake Sheng Xibei, and at the same time, Zhang Guan is also preparing to overtake the two in front.

"It's Zhang Guan!" Sheng Xibei and Hamelin became vigilant at the same time.

Apollo, who was fourth, was also unwilling to be lonely, but the short-track speed skating track was not wide enough to accommodate Apollo, so in the second lap, he just made a try, and then retreated.

At the same time, Zhang Guan has been neck and neck with Hamelin.

"Zhang Guan is really fast!" Hamelin felt the heavy pressure. At this moment, he already felt that Zhang Guan was indeed better than himself in terms of the fastest speed.

"If you want to defend Zhang Guan, you must take advantage of the curve ahead!" Hamelin decided to stick to the line until the curve.

The two entered the corner at the same time, but the difference was that Hamelin was on the inside and Zhang Guan was on the outside, which meant that Zhang Guan had to travel a longer distance. But the two are still neck and neck.

Zhang Guan's speed is faster than Hamelin's. Even if he walks outside in the corner, he can still keep parallel with Hamelin.

Hamelin persisted until the end of the curve. After entering the straight again, he still failed to hold his position and was overtaken by Zhang Guan.

"I didn't hold it, it was all based on speed, without any tricks, and it was different from Sheng Xibei's kind of exploiting loopholes. Could it be the difference in strength?" Hamelin thought to himself.

The race has come to the third lap, and Zhang Guan has come to the second position. However, because Hamelin firmly guarded the inner line and followed closely behind Sheng Xibei, leaving no room to enter, Zhang Guan couldn't turn to the inner side.

But Zhang Guan didn't care that he would slide a little longer. He was not in a hurry to enter the inside, but prepared to continue to surpass Sheng Xibei.

"Zhang Guan is catching up!" Sheng Xibei could sense a red figure behind him.

"He probably won't overtake at this time period. Now he has entered the third lap, and the final sprint will start in the third and a half laps. At this time, adjustments should be made to prepare for the final sprint. If you forcibly overtake with physical strength, Ken will affect the sprint of the last lap!"

Sheng Xibei was thinking, but Zhang Guan was already ahead of him.

"What? Zhang Guan really dares to surpass at this time! Is he confident in himself? Or has no competition experience at all?"

In three and a half laps, Zhang Guan successfully came to the first position, and there was still one lap left before the finish line, and the final decisive battle was coming soon.

Apollo, the last one, was the first to move. Of course, he would not stay in the fourth place all the time, so he overtook Hamelin in front of him.

Almost at the same time, Hamelin also started to speed up, and his goal was Sheng Xibei.

"Just now Zhang Guan forcibly overtook me. He must have not adjusted yet. His sprint will be a little slower. Take advantage of this and pass me instead!" Thinking of this, Sheng Xibei immediately started to overtake Zhang Guan.

However, Zhang Guan did not adjust as Sheng Xibei imagined. Instead, he turned into a wild horse and rushed forward.

"Zhang Guan sprinted! So strong! Could this be Zhang Guan's real strength!" Sheng Xibei sighed in his heart.

The shouts of the audience at the scene have reached the extreme. At this time, the situation on the scene may change every second.

There was still the last corner left before the end of the game. Apollo wanted to replicate Sheng Xibei’s overtaking of Hamelin at the beginning of the game. He also chose the inside, but he underestimated his body and Hamelin’s strength. be on guard. Hamelin suffered a loss from Sheng Xibei once, so naturally he won't suffer a second time in a row. As a result, Apollo accidentally pressed the line when passing. This is a foul in the game and will inevitably be cancelled.

And Hamelin also lost the chance to surpass Sheng Xibei because of defending Apollo. If Zhang Guan and Sheng Xibei in front did not make mistakes, he could only accept the result of the bronze medal.

Sheng Xibei also knew that this corner might be his last chance, so he tried his best.

"I don't believe I will lose to you!" Sheng Xibei accelerated with all his strength.

"I will definitely win!" Zhang Guan has the same belief in his heart, the difference is that the word "lose" does not exist in Zhang Guan's dictionary.

This is a competition of real speed and a competition of strength. Sheng Xibei showed the toughness of a world champion. He did not play dirty tricks like other Korean players, but challenged Zhang Guan with his own strength.

Zhang Guan completely ignored Sheng Xibei's challenge, because he only had one thing in his eyes, and that was the end. He has only one goal, rushing to it at the fastest speed!

...

"1500 meters, 1000 meters, now 500 meters, is Zhang Guan going to win again?" Coach Li Bing's hands began to tremble uncontrollably. The closer he was to the finish line, the more nervous he was, but time seemed to It's getting longer and longer, and Coach Li Bing even feels like his days are like years.

"Time is so slow, time goes by so slowly!" Coach Li Bing's breath froze suddenly, his eyes were wide open, not daring to miss every subtle movement of Zhang Guan.

The finish line was just around the corner, and Coach Li Bing was already blushing. At this moment, he seemed like a volcano about to erupt.

"Ahhhhh!" Coach Li Bing raised his hands and shouted: "Cross the line! It's Zhang Guan! We won, we won!"

The volcano in Coach Li Bing's heart finally erupted completely at this moment...