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

Chapter 11 - 400-Meter Tragedy, Training Space, & Su Bai's Preparation

Translator: dapotaturs
Release Date: 08/27/2023

Qiu Wen's best potential project and value completely shocked Su Bai.

It's important to note that the 400-meter event, being the longest distance in the short-distance sprint category, is also the least noticed event among the public in China.

The reason is simple: there's a lack of talent in this event within the country.

The 100-meter event attracts widespread attention because it's the easiest event for the average person to comprehend. The pursuit of extreme speed is also a basic human nature. Simultaneously, there have been numerous dominant top talents emerging on the international stage, representing humanity's continuous breakthroughs in speed. This has left a deep impression on countless people.

The 200-meter event, relatively speaking, used to have limited attention in the country as well. However, in the past two years, alongside 100-meter sprinter Fang Yu, a 200-meter prodigy named Wu Yi emerged. He consistently clocked times of under 20.80 seconds in two consecutive competitions.

It's worth noting that, at that time and even now, in the national athletics championship's 200-meter event, as long as Wu Yi wasn't participating, the times to win were around 21.20 seconds. Even more remarkably, in a race without Wu Yi last year, a time of 21.30 seconds was enough to secure first place in that particular championship segment.

It should be known that, in 2017, the best time in the 200-meter event was 19.77 seconds. That year, a total of six athletes broke the 20-second barrier. Up until that time, no East Asian athlete had managed to break or come close to the 20-second barrier.

With the sudden appearance of the 200-meter prodigy Wu Yi, new hopes were born and his talent effect drove increased attention. Consequently, the 200-meter event received greater support and promotion over these two years.

In the world of sprinting, specifically in the 100-meter, 200-meter, and 400-meter categories, although the 100-meter and 200-meter haven't yet dominated the international stage, the 100-meter barrier of 10 seconds was broken, and Wu Yi in the 200-meter is continually aiming for the 20-second barrier.

In actuality, the quietest of them all is the 400-meter event.

On the international stage, elite athletes can run the 400 meters in under 43 seconds. Globally, even the top 30 annual times in the 400-meter event are under 44 seconds. Within China, athletes achieving a time of 45 seconds in the 400 meters are few and far between.

Comparing with the 2017 championship times in various track and field events, Chinese athletes were in an era where 46.70 seconds could win championships. Even within national youth competitions, any athlete breaking the 46.30-second barrier was hailed as a new hope in the 400-meter event.

Even among Chinese track and field enthusiasts, when the 400-meter event is mentioned, they often express frustration and disappointment. Most of the time, after a few harsh words, they feel an urgent desire for improvement. They hope to find someone among the existing 400-meter athletes who can frequently achieve a time of 45 seconds in national competitions.

At the very least... they hope to not encounter a scenario where there are no athletes even meeting the qualifying standards in world-class events like the World Championships.

Unfortunately, even these small expectations are difficult for track and field enthusiasts to meet. Taking the example of the 2017 National Track and Field Championships, in the men's 400-meter event, China failed to secure a spot.

Various pieces of information about the 400-meter event flooded Su Bai's mind. After numerous contemplations, these fragments coalesced into Qiu Wen's outstanding 7.6 potential value for the 400-meter event.