Orc Undead Sports Warrior

I thought that the days without competitions would be quite leisurely. I could maintain my physical strength through light training, and then I could lazily watch the games at the stadium after training.

Unexpectedly, Lu Wei felt that these past two days had been particularly long and unpleasant, as he had to read Japanese articles criticizing him in the newspapers to others every day.

Finally, the fourth day of the competition has arrived. This morning there was a 400-meter preliminary round, which finally gave me a chance to stretch my muscles.

The men's 400-meter preliminary round was the first track and field event of the day, taking place at 9:10 a.m.

The men's 400m preliminary round has a total of 7 groups. The top 3 in each group directly advance to the semifinals, and the top 3 in the remaining teams also qualify for the semifinals.

American team member Angelo Taylor was placed in Group 1, Lu Wei in Group 4, Wariner in Group 5, and Merritt in Group 7.

400米比赛的世界记录是美国天王迈克尔.约翰逊1999年在塞维利亚创造的43秒18，亚洲记录则是44秒56，由阿曼选手马勒基1988年创造。

The timing of these two records shows that the 400-meter dash is a sport for geniuses; only the emergence of a genius can drive the sport forward.

After Michael Johnson, Wariner can be considered the leader in the 400-meter event. Since winning the gold medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics, he has never lost in a major competition.

He is only 23 years old this year, but he has already been constantly breaking his own best records.

In the competitions he participated in this year, except for the Shanghai leg of the Golden League where his time did not break 44 seconds, all his other times were under 45 seconds. In a competition after the Golden League, he even improved his best time to 43.5 seconds.

This result makes him the third fastest in the 400-meter event, and other team members always find it difficult to beat him in competitions. In addition to his good performance in the 400 meters, he also achieved a time of 20.35 seconds in the 200 meters, demonstrating his exceptional speed.

The first group of races started quickly. Angelo Taylor was clearly a veteran from the start. At 29 years old, he was at the peak of his athletic performance, and his technique was very stable.

"This guy is quite capable, with good results in both the 400-meter hurdles and the 400-meter dash, making him a true all-rounder," Coach Jiang muttered to himself. He was the encyclopedia of the track and field team. He could name athletes, their events, and their techniques even if you couldn't find their information on the website.

Angelo Taylor didn't encounter any challenges in this group. As the race entered the second straight, the situation was basically decided after 20 meters. He ran very easily and relaxed in the last 10 meters.

After the results were announced, Angelo Taylor's preliminary time was 45.13 seconds, which is a good time to qualify and will definitely place him in the upper half of the qualifying team.

There was a Japanese athlete in the second group, but he had a tough time and finished 6th in the group with a time of 46.28 seconds. The Polish athlete in the same group ran 45.83 seconds, which wasn't much better. The advantage of Black people in the 400-meter race is indeed significant.

People of white or yellow races are rarely seen in the competition, and their results are generally not very good.

Soon it was Lu Wei's turn to appear, and the team members in his fourth group looked quite intimidating.

The player in lane 2 is López from Nicaragua. He is not very tall, looking to be at most 1.8 meters tall, but he is very muscular.

The team member in lane 3 is Martin Rooney, a white British athlete. According to official information, he is 1.97 meters tall, a true giant.

Lane 4 is occupied by Leslie Dejen of France, Lane 5 by Johan Wiesman of Sweden, and Lane 6 by Andrea Barberi of Italy.

When the commentator introduced Lu Wei, who was standing in lane 7, the entire Japanese audience immediately booed, though there was some applause mixed in, but the boos still prevailed.

Jamaican athlete Blackwood took lane 8, while Sudanese athlete in lane 9 withdrew from the race.

Most of the 400-meter competitors are over 1.8 meters tall. If you are shorter than that, you can basically say you have no chance.

The referee gave the starting signal, and Lu Wei's 400-meter race in Osaka finally began.

The starting gun fired, and the seven team members on the track each displayed their unique skills, sprinting off from the starting line.

In his first official race, Lu Wei ran in lane 7. He lowered his center of gravity and took only a few steps before heading onto the straight. Accelerating on the straight was easier than accelerating on the curve, and Lu Wei quickly got into training mode.

Lu Wei, in lane 7, was only ahead of a Jamaican runner and had no way of seeing the other runners behind him. However, Lu Wei casually glanced at the preliminary results of recent major competitions and realized that as long as he could run under 45.3 seconds, he was basically guaranteed to advance.

This is no joke. With that thought, Lu Wei relaxed his body movements, as if he were completing a training session.

"Lu Wei's rhythm is very good. The training over this period of time has stabilized his technical movements. This preliminary round is a training session to let him adapt to the competition environment."

The race proceeded smoothly, with Lu Wei overtaking Blackwood in lane 8 as he entered the second corner. Entering the straight, Sweden's Johan Wiesmann was in first place, Lu Wei in second, and France's Leslie Dezhen was less than a meter behind Lu Wei. The other competitors were generally more than two meters behind the top three.

"This is the most comfortable rhythm of the preliminary rounds of the competition. By the time you're in the final sprint, you've already established an absolute advantage for advancing, so you don't have to expend any more energy to advance." Wang Qiao took a sip of mineral water with a sense of contentment.

Lu Wei was clearly annoyed that someone was ahead of him, so in the last 80 meters, he increased his stride and went head-to-head with Weissman. Leslie Dezhen, who was in third place, saw that the two of them were still accelerating even though they were sure to advance, so he did not continue to exert himself and maintained his own speed.

"Is this kid crazy? He's giving it his all in the preliminaries, and there are still three more matches to go. He's still so young!" Wang Qiao, who had been leaning back, suddenly sat up straight and slapped his thigh with his right hand.

"If he knew there was a problem with doing this, he could have avoided it. He wouldn't be a young man. That's how young people act when their blood boils. Weren't you the same way back then? During the City Games, there were two matches a day. You knew there was a final in the afternoon, but the preliminary rounds in the morning were still the same. It's hard to avoid these kinds of things, haha!"

26-year-old Wiesmann, having competed in track and field for many years, saw that Lu Wei's momentum was not diminishing after running for several dozen meters. So he simply stopped accelerating and slowed down, letting inertia push him toward the finish line, leaving Lu Wei to cross the finish line alone.

男子400米预赛第4组的成绩过了不到1分钟就显示在大屏幕上：陆威以44秒8的成绩获得了小组第1，成绩的旁边还有“PB”字样，这是个人最好成绩的意思。

Swedish athlete Wiesmann's time was 44.94 seconds. He was spurred on by Lu Wei and his time was also fast. French athlete Leslie Dejin finished third in the group with a time of 45.17 seconds.

"It's such a luxury to run the preliminaries with a personal best! Look, the third place in this group would have been first in the previous group. Lu Wei has set the pace for this group."