The most shocked person at this time was Lu Zhibin.He won the men"s 50m freestyle and came runner-up in the 100m freestyle in the Asian Games, he knew how physically demanding it was to achieve high level results in both events.
The other swimmers began to chatter.
When Tang Yan really got on the platform, the chatter became even louder.
"This is he really doing 100 meters as well, I thought he joined the team for 50m?"
"I thought so too but I guess he wants to try for 100m as well."
"Does he still have the stamina to do it though, he just completed 50m."
"Well he did get a few minutes rest plus since he"s gone up he must have some confidence"
"True, look how comfortably he won the 50m event."
"Are you stupid, he only got like 5 minutes to rest, everyone else is fresh, he"s gonna get demolished."
"Nah you never know"
"I don"t think he"ll win but I still want to see his time."
...
Tang Yan shook his arm and slapped his chest to get his blood flowing.
The referee signaled him and he moved himself to the front of the platform.
Zhang Shun could stay in the water for 7 days and 7 nights. For him 50 meters wasn"t even enough to warm up. Whilst Tang Yan hadn"t reached that level his stamina was still impressive.
But this 100 meters would be a challenge to him. Not so much because of the distance, but because the pool was only 50 meters long, he would have to do a tumble turn.
Buzz!
With the start buzzer, Tang Yan and the others dove into the pool and began.
Although 100 meters was also a short-distance event, the speed used was obviously slower than that of the 50 meters event. After all, it was necessary to go back and forth in the pool, so their stamina had to be retained.
This was the general consensus.
But just after the race began, the crowd on the sidelines watched with their eyes wide open and their faces were incredible to observe.
Tang Yan maintained the same speed as that of his 50 meters, rus.h.i.+ng forward and opening up a gap.
"This...?"
"He"s got the lead but will he be able to maintain it, at such a tempo."
"I knew it, he was hiding his skill. I heard from others that the reason why coach invited Tang Yan was because he beat Tian Yang in the city team."
"Do you think he"ll actually win."
"Tian Yang is garbage, his era is over. He"s already been eliminated from the provincial team."
"Woah! That"s a bit unfair Tian Yang used to be first pick before he got injured. If he hadn"t got injured, he would probably....."
"But he did get injured, then he ran off just because they had to replace him. Like seriously did he expect us to give up the Eastern Provincial Tournament and wait."
"Yeah but....."
...
Shen Qing was taken aback.
He hurried to the side of the referee to see the time on the stopwatch.
21 seconds 75!
He couldn"t help but suck in a breath, he looked up at Tang Yan who was fast approaching the 50m wall.
He would have to turn soon.
What Shen Qing saw next caused him to choke on his breath.
Tang Yan, who was nearing the pool wall, seemed to be unsure of the distance.
He instinctively couldn"t help but keep looking up to check the distance but tumble turns were meant to be done blind, you were meant to keep your head in line with your body. If done wrong you could straight up run into the wall.
Tang Yan overrode his body"s instinctive hesitance, tucked in his chin, kicked one last hard kick and pulled with his hands at his sides.
He tucked his knees and chin into his chest as tight as possible and pull his feet towards his b.u.t.t.
He rolled over, somersaulted and began to straighten up.
He began to launch himself off the wall by straightening his legs but due to his hesitation he had turned too late. When he went to kick off, he carried too much momentum and the soles of his feet slipped and he almost swam into the next lane.
...
Tang Yan"s blood turned cold and he fell into a cold sweat.
Though he had practised turning multiple times, it was on his own and he had never done so at such a fast speed.
His rhythm and speed weren"t right and he almost slipped out into the next lane.
Fervently kicking, he twisted and slanting his body, he was able to complete the turn and then resurface.
This scene astounded the crowd by the side.
"Brother Tang!"
With this mistake, the two swimmers in the lanes beside him were catching up and surging forward to close up the gap.
When Tang Yan saw this and heard the laughter from the sh.o.r.e and he saw both sides closing in on him, he intently rushed forward.
Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Tang Yan moved like he was on stimulants and instantly opened up a gap.
Under their gaze, the distance opened up little by little.
Tang Yan quickly swam across and directly touched the wall with one hand.
After touching the wall, he turned and looked at the two players who were still struggling to catch up. He took a deep breath.
That was way too risky!
On the electronic display, Tang Yan"s time was...49 seconds 32...
"What is the A grade criteria?" Shen Qing turned to ask the referee.
"51 seconds..." The referee mechanically replied still slightly dazed.Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.
"No, I mean for the World Champions.h.i.+ps." Shen Qing swallowed.
"49 seconds 23." The referee followed up.
"..."
The crowd on the sidelines finally recovered.
"This....did he just meet the A grade criteria for the World Champions.h.i.+ps?"
"I think.... he did, yeah."
"No....the requirement is 49.23 he just missed out by 9 milliseconds.
"Wow, if he hadn"t slipped up turning he would have made it."
"Nah, this isn"t an event recognized by FINA, it"s just a test match it wouldn"t have counted....."