After Leaving the Sports Circle, I Became a Cooking God (Completed BL)

Chapter 245-246

Translator: dapotaturs

Release Date: 10/11/2023

Chapter 245: China's Progress in the 400 Meters

For track and field athletes, or perhaps for all athletes, this year's winter training time passed by too quickly.

Almost in the blink of an eye, the three-month-long winter training came to an end. With the arrival of spring, indoor athletics competitions both domestically and internationally were once again in full swing.

In previous years, Chinese track and field athletes had to travel to Europe to participate in top indoor circuit events. However, this year was different. In March, the World Indoor Athletics Championships were held in the city of N in China. This three-day indoor championship event attracted the attention of track and field enthusiasts worldwide, despite the lingering chill of early March.

In the schedule of this World Indoor Athletics Championships, the qualified athletes for the 400 meters sprint event remained the same: Zhang Ziyi, Qiu Wen, and Li Junhao, along with Chen Yadan for the women's team.

As the first time China hosted a world-class indoor athletics competition, the media and audience in China had a high level of anticipation for this event. However, compared to outdoor events, the rules for the 400 meters in indoor competitions were somewhat different. Even though this was the biennial World Indoor Athletics Championships, most athletes still regarded it as a "warm-up" competition after winter training, and the overall competitive atmosphere was not particularly intense.

But for ordinary spectators, this World Indoor Athletics Championships was a rare opportunity to witness top-level events in China, whether indoor or outdoor. Being able to see elite athletes in action was what mattered!

The World Indoor Athletics Championships held in the city of N saw a frenzy of ticket sales from the start. Over the course of the three-day competition, all tickets were quickly sold out. The indoor sports arena specially built for this event in N was filled to capacity, with every seat occupied. Inside the arena, except for a small number of foreign spectators, the crowd was predominantly a sea of red.

For domestic track and field athletes, very few have experienced the exhilarating feeling of an entire arena cheering for them. Especially for the athletes in the 400-meter sprint, considering their ages, they were just ordinary sports school students 12 years ago during the Beijing Olympics in city B. Athletes like Qiu Wen and Li Junhao, who are even younger, didn't even have the concept of being professional athletes back then.

Five years ago, during the World Athletics Championships held in city B, neither Zhang Ziyi nor Chen Yadan had the qualifications to compete in the 400 meters sprint event.

Even though Zhang Ziyi had personally witnessed the excitement of the World Athletics Championships in city B and felt the enthusiasm of the Chinese audience, the experience of being a spectator couldn't compare to the passionate atmosphere of being present at the event.

Under the overwhelming cheers from the spectators in the arena, many athletes couldn't hold back and delivered remarkable performances.

In this indoor championship, Li Junhao, Qiu Wen, and Zhang Ziyi, who participated in the competition, each took turns breaking the national records in the 400 meters, revising the indoor national record from 45.87 seconds to 45.82 seconds, and ultimately, Zhang Ziyi set a new record at 45.76 seconds, surpassing his previous record of 45.89 seconds from 2019.

On the women's team, although Chen Yadan didn't break the national record, she achieved her personal best in nearly 20 years, which was quite exhilarating for all the spectators at the event.