Chapter 22: The 100-meter record has been shattered, so the 200-meter shouldn't be left behind (Bonus chapter added~ Please vote~)

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Gou Lao-zhi felt utterly humiliated.

Unfortunately, this batch of athletes was made up of newcomers as well. They had not trained for long, and their results were nothing special. If my ace, Zhou Tao, were not on the provincial team, why would I have anything to fear from this so-called Su God?

When Gou Lao-zhi’s athletes had finished testing, not one of them had managed to get close to 11.10 seconds. Even Ning Debao could not help laughing. She gently consoled him, “It’s all right, it’s all right. After all, there aren’t many promising youngsters. I understand. Really, I do.”

Understand my ass.

Gou Lao-zhi cursed inwardly. But they were colleagues, and he could hardly make too much of a scene. Besides... hadn’t he been needling Ning Debao, both openly and covertly, simply because she had not agreed with him in the first place?

“I don’t think there’s any need to test the 200 meters. With his height and his front-half running style, he’s fine in the 100, but the 200 is probably out of the question. I suggest you give him a secondary event. Long jump, high jump, triple jump—any of them would do.”

Gou Lao-zhi was feeling rather frustrated. All he could do was search for Su Shen’s shortcomings as much as possible. Ning Debao, however, had already seen Su Shen run the 200 meters. She did not believe the event was unsuitable as a secondary discipline. It was merely not as shocking as his smashing of the city’s middle-school record in the 100 meters on his very first attempt.

This boy’s 200 meters—especially his work on the bend—could bring people a very pleasant surprise.

“Don’t be like that. We’re already here, so wait a little longer, all right? There’s only one athlete, and it won’t delay you for long.”

After speaking, Ning Debao sent Su Shen, who had rested for a while, over to the starting line to prepare. This time, she did not ask him to show everything he had. Making this “dog coach” swallow his words after the 100 meters was enough.

She did not have that much time to waste.

Once the test was over and the data recorded, she would take Su Shen on to other training.

Besides, judging from Su Shen’s improvement, the “six-second rule” did seem to have some validity and could actually be put into practice.

That allowed half of the worry weighing on her heart to ease.

Otherwise, if she really delayed Su Shen’s development, she would feel guilty about it herself.

Su Shen stood at the starting line, waiting for the sound of the starting pistol.

His thought was simple:

Since he had set a new personal best in the 100 meters, he could not afford to fall behind in the 200 either, right?

Not a single event could be neglected.

Bang!

The gun went off, and he shot forward at once.

He had to seize the first half of the race.

This once again ran sharply counter to the prevailing training philosophy for the 200 meters.

The moment Gou Lao-zhi saw it, he pointed out the “problem.”

“Coach Ning, why is your athlete attacking the first half so aggressively in the 200 meters as well? At that speed, won’t it make entering the bend more difficult later? Children don’t understand these things, but as coaches, we have to guide them properly. We can’t let him train himself into the wrong habits.”

“You don’t understand. This boy has an instinctive feel for the bend. Just watch carefully.”

Ning Debao watched Su Shen prepare to accelerate into the curve and spoke with complete confidence.

“This boy has a natural gift for it.”

Gou Lao-zhi pursed his lips. He felt Ning Debao was getting a little too conceited. So what if she was a university athlete? What was there to be so proud of?

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So he had risen through the ranks quickly. Big deal.

He was only on the same level as Ning Debao himself, and the imbalance in his heart was difficult to suppress.

But Su Shen’s entry into the bend instantly seized his attention.

Gou Lao-zhi was, after all, a professional track-and-field coach from a sports school. He could still recognize the crucial details clearly: the speed and smoothness of the entry, as well as the degree to which Su Shen controlled the centripetal force. These things were gifts.

Training could improve them considerably, but no matter how hard one trained, it was difficult to match the ceiling of someone who possessed such a gift naturally.

“He entered the bend without slowing much. It’s a middle lane, but that’s still impressive. There’s something to this boy.”

At that point, Ning Debao interrupted him.

“You think he couldn’t do it from an outside lane?”

“I’m telling you, even from the innermost lane, he could pull this off.”

What?

Gou Lao-zhi was genuinely shaken this time. The innermost lane was universally recognized as having the greatest centripetal force. The farther inward one ran, the greater the inward lean required, and the more difficult it became for the body to withstand and control the force.

Doing this in a middle lane without much reduction in speed was already impressive.

To do the same in the first lane—what could that be if not extraordinary talent?

From Ning Debao’s expression and gaze, he could tell that she was not exaggerating.

It was just a pity...

He was too short.

He would not be able to maintain his speed through the latter half of the race. And in the 200 meters, what mattered most was still the finishing stretch. No matter how good a front-half runner was, no matter how excellent his technique on the bend, he could not completely offset that disadvantage.

Yes. In his previous life, Su Shen had fallen at precisely this hurdle. After running in the low 21-second range at sixteen, his performance gradually stagnated. Eventually, he embarked on the path of changing events.

Only later did he realize that he had not been incapable. His technical concepts had simply been inadequate.

But by the time he understood that, it was already too late. He could only devote all his concentration to the 100 meters.

What about now?

He was only fifteen. He still had plenty of time to adjust and improve.

So the 200 meters was no longer an event he intended to abandon.

“He’ll have to slow down after coming off the bend. What a pity. If he were taller and could become a strong finisher, I’d definitely fight you for him.”

Even Gou Lao-zhi felt regret over Su Shen’s exceptional talent. As a coach, he could not help fantasizing whenever he encountered a promising youngster.

“Don’t rush. Keep watching,” Ning Debao said.

After all, that was exactly what he himself had thought while watching from the stands that day.

And then—

Slap, slap, slap, slap.

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He had been thoroughly proven wrong.

At present, the concepts of inertia running and relaxed running were still new schools of thought overseas. They simply did not exist domestically. No one had imagined that such techniques could be used in an actual race.

But Su Shen knew this approach inside and out. Naturally, he could let his body recover to a certain degree while maintaining almost all of his speed. Then, at the end...

He launched into a second burst down the straight.

That was generally the exclusive weapon of strong finishers. No one had expected that a front-half runner like Su Shen could do it too.

“This is impossible.”

Gou Lao-zhi was completely dumbfounded by Su Shen’s unorthodox maneuver. It ran entirely counter to everything his years of coaching experience in China had taught him. How could he not be shocked?

“There’s nothing impossible about it. First, talent. Second, science. Coach Gou, you should spend more of your free time reading. Keeping your coaching knowledge up to date is very beneficial.”

Gou Lao-zhi had lectured and shown off in front of her every time. Now that she had turned the tables on him, the sheer satisfaction was indescribable.

After his recent gains in strength, Su Shen’s ability to maintain his speed through the latter half had clearly risen to another level.

This time, unlike in the 100 meters, he did not simply charge through the finish. Instead, he held back just enough to improve his time.

The final ten meters.

Five meters.

He dipped across the line.

Whoosh—

Su Shen swept past them, stirring up a rush of wind. But Gou Lao-zhi only wanted to see the result.

How fast had he run?

When the time appeared, Ning Debao’s smile grew even brighter.

Since arriving at Xiangshan City Sports School, she had never smiled so radiantly.

23.55 seconds.

Compared with his previous 23.80, he had improved by a full 0.25 seconds.