Orc Undead Sports Warrior

On the afternoon of the third day, the highly anticipated 400-meter race will begin. In world competitions, the 400-meter race has always been considered the event that best showcases an athlete's overall abilities.

This competition requires not only great speed, but also excellent anaerobic endurance, strong willpower, and physical condition... In short, only people with extremely abnormal physical condition can reach the top of the world.

China's 400-meter performance has been rather dismal. The national record of 45.25 seconds has remained unbroken for more than five years, and no one has even come close to it.

China's overall strength in the 400-meter event is not strong. In the last Asian Games, both of our athletes were eliminated in the semifinals. There's a long-held belief that the 400-meter dash is dominated by Black athletes, and no one has been able to refute this notion to this day.

In the recently concluded Ningcheng Track and Field Championships, the top three results were already quite good, especially Lu Wei and Hu Yuan who ran under 46 seconds, which is very competitive.

Before the afternoon preliminary rounds began, the athletes participating in the 400-meter preliminary rounds were warming up on the training field next to the main stadium. After Lu Wei finished his warm-up, Wang Qiao walked over to him and asked how he was doing: "How are you feeling? Are you a little nervous?"

"To be honest, I'm not nervous, just a little excited," Lu Wei replied calmly to Wang Qiao with an indifferent expression.

"...Okay, but let me remind you, the national competition can't be like the Ningcheng Championship, where you can just go all out from the start. In the national competition, everyone's level is basically the same, and the person who wins the championship usually has the best form and the best handling of the details of the game."

Wang Qiao was still a little worried and specifically reminded Lu Wei to pay attention to the pace of the match. The match in the Ningcheng Championship preliminaries, where Lu Wei had surged ahead too much and almost been overtaken by Tang Yang, was still fresh in Wang Qiao's mind.

"Yeah, if Tang Yang had overtaken me that time, I would have gone crazy..." Lu Wei hadn't forgotten the embarrassment that the last moment of that match brought him, and he was determined not to let the same thing happen again this time.

"In this competition, if you want to achieve good results, there are a few athletes you need to pay attention to. In particular, Zhang Huadong and Zhu Chenbin from Shanghai are currently among the best 400-meter athletes in China. Another one is Tan Tianhao from Guangdong, who is only 21 years old this year and made it to the semifinals of the World Junior Championships. There is also Hu Yuan from Ningcheng, who also has the strength to finish in the top 6."

The athletes were all warming up on the training field, and Wang Qiao pointed out the first three opponents to Lu Wei.

As Wang Qiao introduced the team, Lu Wei looked around and saw that Zhang Donghua was about the same height as him, Zhu Chenbin was about 1.85 meters tall, and Tan Tianhao was relatively short among the 400-meter team members, only about 1.75 meters tall.

These athletes don't seem to possess any particularly outstanding athletic talent. The 400-meter dash is a sport that relies heavily on natural talent, and Lu Wei feels that, in terms of physical attributes, he's no less capable than them. Their true abilities can only be observed during the competition.

After warming up, the athletes entered the competition venue.

Tang Yang is in Group 1, where his opponents include Zhang Donghua from Shanghai. Hu Yuan and Zhu Chenbin are in Group 4, while Lu Wei and Tan Tianhao from Guangdong are in Group 5.

There are 6 groups in the preliminary round. The top 3 teams in each group will directly enter the semifinals. In addition, the 6 best-performing players from the remaining teams will also be able to enter the semifinals.

With the starting gun fired by the referee, the race in Group 1 quickly entered into a fierce competition. Zhang Huadong in lane 4 was clearly stronger than the other team members, having already caught up with the team member in lane 5 by the time he entered the first straight. Tang Yang in lane 3 ran very steadily in the early stages; he is a team member with strong finishing speed, and being slightly behind the other team members in the early stages did not disrupt his rhythm.

As they entered the bend, Zhang Huadong's advantage became quite apparent. He used the bend to accelerate and continuously extend his lead. Tang Yang also began to accelerate at this point, gradually moving from the bottom of the rankings into the second group.

After entering the straightaway, Zhang Donghua was nearly 5 meters ahead of the team behind him, a clear advantage. The second group behind him consisted of four people, with Tang Yang in fifth place.

With Zhang Donghua holding a commanding lead, the other team members could only fight for a spot in the semifinals.

At this point, everyone's speed decreased, but Tang Yang appeared to be moving very fast in the second group. This wasn't because he was constantly accelerating, but because he was maintaining his previous speed as much as possible.

In the final 50 meters, everyone looked pained, but Tang Yang persevered, gritting his teeth to advance from his group. In the last 30 meters, he overtook two teammates, securing third place in his group and advancing to the semifinals.

Zhang Huadong, who was in first place in the group, saw that his lead was quite large in the last 10 meters, so he stopped pushing himself and relied on momentum to finish the last 10 meters. Even so, he still had a significant lead.

Zhang Huadong's time was 45.72 seconds, making him the only athlete in his group to break the 46-second barrier. Tang Yang finished third in his group with a time of 46.09 seconds, crossing the finish line at almost the same time as the second-place finisher. His time was an improvement over the Ningcheng Championships, but the improvement was not significant.

Subsequently, Hu Yuan and Zhu Chenbin also engaged in fierce competition in Group 4. Hu Yuan in lane 5 and Zhu Chenbin in lane 4 started competing against each other from the beginning of the race. When they reached the corner on the first straight, everyone realized that this group of races was just a duel between the two of them.

The other team members really couldn't keep up with their pace. Because of their different lanes, there was a gap at the start, and many spectators couldn't tell who was in the lead at this point, thinking the race was very intense.

After entering the last straight, the audience finally realized that Hu Yuan and Zhu Chenbin had established a lead of 10 meters, and the rest of the team members in this group were too weak.

Hu Yuan's coach, Zhou Hu, stood with his arms crossed, looking confident. Compared to Tang Yang, Hu Yuan's advancement was indeed much easier. After establishing a significant lead, Hu Yuan didn't need to exert himself fully in the final few dozen meters.

Sure enough, Hu Yuan and Zhu Chenbin seemed to have reached some kind of tacit understanding, and stopped pushing off when they were 15 meters from the finish line. They used their momentum to reach the finish line, and a full second after they crossed, the other team members began to cross.

朱晨斌的成绩是45秒84，胡远稍稍落后一点，最后的成绩是45秒92。在放了15米的情况下依然能够跑进46秒，这段时间的集训对他提升成绩的帮助还是很大的。

Next, it was Lu Wei's turn. As he prepared to step onto the track, he noticed that two of his opponents were around his age and seemed quite nervous. Compared to them, he was far too calm. In his eyes, these people were on a completely different level. Even now, in this not-so-outstanding body, he didn't take them seriously at all.