Chapter 7: Outside the Optimal Height Range

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Xiangshan City Sports Arena.
This time was completely different from the last time when he came alone to compete.
Yang Yongqiang had arrived a day early to check out the venue with him.
Having someone accompany you feels entirely different; last time, he was so nervous before the competition he thought he might die.
It was mid-November—while the north was already bitterly cold, Guangdong Province still enjoyed warm weather. Yang Yongqiang had first arranged the hotel, then took Su Shen to inspect the competition site.
Many schools and coaches shared the same idea. Although entry was officially prohibited before the competition, everyone understood that in a society built on relationships, very few truly believed this rule. Those with connections found ways to gain access.
Just like you need to familiarize yourself with the testing site before getting a driver’s license, athletes’ mental states are affected by such preparations before a competition.
Yang Yongqiang had classmates here, so naturally they could use their connections to get in.
Stepping onto the rubber track of the city stadium, after running on a coal slag path for so long, the familiar sensation immediately lifted Su Shen’s spirits. He touched the surface, felt the hardness, then tapped it to gauge the thickness.
This professional approach left Yang Yongqiang puzzled about what Su Shen was doing. Su Shen smiled and explained he had never seen such a beautiful track before and couldn’t help but touch it. This made perfect sense—having grown up in a rural village, Su Shen hadn’t had many chances to see a synthetic track. Even in city schools back in 2004, very few had their own rubber tracks.
“Just like usual, don’t be nervous, Xiao Tian,” Yang Yongqiang comforted, assuming Su Shen would feel anxious.
But how could Su Shen be nervous? This was a habitual action.
After joining the national athletics team, he had slowly developed this habit. The hardness and thickness of a track have subtle differences that affect performance. Before every run, he would adapt to the track this way.
“Just get a feel for the track, Xiao Tian.” Since they had the rare chance to enter, it would be a waste not to. Su Shen hadn’t run on a rubber track for a long time and was almost excited enough to sprint at full speed. But without sufficient warm-up, suddenly accelerating could lead to injury; the faster you go, the more essential the warm-up.
Suppressing his excitement, Su Shen simply adapted for less than an hour. As they were about to leave, a middle-aged woman called out to Yang Yongqiang. Su Shen turned to see her—a woman with short hair, neither frail nor overweight, exuding a healthy, energetic aura.
This was Ning Debao from Xiangshan City Sports School.
“Yongqiang, you’ve brought your protégé early to check the venue?” Ning Debao was no stranger to such matters. Having just transferred here from Hunan Province this year, she had no roots locally. For a professional sports school coach like her, advancing in rank and salary came fastest by producing students who achieved good results.
That would be a mark of recognition for her coaching career.
“Yes, Sister Ning, I brought this kid to get a feel for the place, so he won’t be nervous at tomorrow’s official competition,” Yang Yongqiang smiled warmly upon seeing her, clearly indicating they had a decent rapport.
“So this is the genius student you mentioned on the phone?” Ning Debao glanced at Su Shen but immediately furrowed her brow.
Why? Because Su Shen’s height was not ideal for track events.
The optimal height range for sprinting is generally considered around 1.85 meters.
Many sprint champions fall near that height, such as the newest domestic sprint star “Spectacles” Hu Kai, who stands at 1.82 meters.
In the previous life, Su Shen almost missed selection for the provincial team due to his height—only Yuan Guoqiang’s strong support saved him. Otherwise, he might never have made the cut.
This shows how much so-called “optimal selection” can influence outcomes these days.
However…
The boy should still be in middle school and might grow taller.
After casually inquiring about Su Shen’s parents’ heights, Ning Debao involuntarily frowned again. Judging by the situation, unless nutrition was exceptional or there was a genetic mutation, significant height increase would not be easy. Even reaching 1.80 meters would be difficult, let alone 1.85 meters.
This posed an innate disadvantage for sprinting events.
Yang Yongqiang noticed Ning Debao’s expression and quickly spoke in Su Shen’s favor: “Though his parents aren’t tall, he should still grow a bit, and his talent is truly excellent—he’s already at the Level 2 athlete standard.”
“Level 2 athlete?” While Yang Yongqiang considered this impressive and decent among sports students, in a formal sports school this was quite ordinary. However, today’s competition was rather low-profile, and real sports school athletes wouldn’t attend; most participants were students preparing for the college entrance exam through sports programs.
“There might be some error in the records. Well, we’ll see how it goes tomorrow.” Ning Debao showed little interest, arranged to have dinner with Yang Yongqiang, and then left the track.
“It’s nothing, Xiao Tian. She’s just like that. As long as you deliver real results, she’ll take you seriously.” Yang Yongqiang didn’t need to say this for Su Shen to understand; having been under Coach Ning for several years, he was well aware of her temperament.
Despite being a female coach, she was extremely principled and never gave any leeway.
But such coaches were precisely the ones who could produce results. Relaxed coaches might be easier to get along with, but achieving results was harder.
“I know, Coach Yang,” Su Shen said, not dwelling on the matter. His focus was on running well tomorrow.
He had registered for two events: the men’s 100 meters and 200 meters.
These were also his future main events, the ones he had trained most in his previous life.
“Let’s go, Xiao Tian. I’ll treat you to a good meal tonight so you won’t be weak tomorrow.” Yang Yongqiang took Su Shen to dinner, then arranged for an early rest to build up energy for the next day.
Su Shen would have done this on his own; in his previous life, he was known for strict self-discipline.
He usually went to bed before 11 pm and never played on his phone once in bed.
This was something most athletes couldn’t manage.
Besides, now he barely had the chance to use a phone anyway.
The night passed quietly. Su Shen was accustomed to resting in various hotels and was not picky about beds. He slept soundly through the night and woke feeling refreshed.
After brushing his teeth and washing his face, he checked his current “Five-Dimensional Attributes”:
Strength: 27
Speed: 30
Endurance: 26
Reaction: 31
Flexibility: 31
Compared to the start of the semester, all had improved, indicating his hard training was effective. The greatest benefit of this “system” now was—
He could monitor his physical development in real time, unlike before when he had to estimate and often had discrepancies.
In the morning, he and Yang Yongqiang enjoyed an authentic Cantonese breakfast in Xiangshan City. After a satisfying meal, they prepared to warm up at the Xiangshan City Sports Arena.

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At exactly 8 a.m., after lengthy speeches from several officials, the Xiangshan City Middle School Athletics Competition officially began.
The men’s 100-meter preliminary heats were scheduled for 10:30 a.m.
Su Shen observed the competitors’ levels—they were truly unimpressive.
No real sports school elites had come, likely because they were preparing for the provincial games and had no time for a city-level competition. That explained how last time he had won so easily, a bit of luck was involved.
“Xiao Tian, remember not to sprint all out in the preliminaries, or it might affect your performance in the afternoon,” Yang Yongqiang cautioned before the race. This was seasoned advice, especially for young athletes at their first official competition who often overexert themselves out of excitement, leading to exhaustion and poor final results.
The human body has limits—if you push too hard, recovery may be impossible within the day.
The simplest rule: if you hit your personal best at full limit now, you might not even perform at 90% later. Of course, some exceptional “monsters” can keep breaking records repeatedly, though they often rely on chemical aids to do so.
“Got it, Coach Yang. I’ll be careful,” Su Shen nodded, knowing Yang was concerned for him.
As the classic music of domestic sports meets played, the competition began.
“Watch how others perform; this is the gathering of all middle school athletes in Xiangshan City,” Yang Yongqiang said beside him. But Su Shen found little interest in this level.
He was originally looking for his cousin Su Yun, who had said he would come, but he hadn’t spotted him yet.
He recalled he hadn’t seen Su Yun at the last competition either—was something wrong?
Without mobile phones in this era, it was hard to get any news about relatives at boarding schools.
Finally, Su Shen’s turn was approaching.
Yang Yongqiang loosened his shoulder gently and said, “Relax, don’t be nervous, Xiao Tian. Just run as you do in training.”
“Remember, this is only the preliminaries; don’t go all out.”
“Don’t pay attention to the cameras or photographers—just run.”
…
In truth, Yang Yongqiang rarely brought teams to such official city-level competitions, so he couldn’t quite gauge Su Shen’s state. But there was not a trace of nervousness in Su Shen’s demeanor.
He was calculating whether he could break the middle school record for Xiangshan City this time.
Yang Yongqiang was also filled with anticipation for his protégé’s first official competition in this life.

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