Xu Jiayu was 3 years younger than Tang Yan, he represented the new generation of backstroke swimmers in China.In the previous 100m backstroke, he won the bronze medal but he successfully won gold in the 50m. It could be seen that he was in good shape this season.
Backstroke was the only one of the four strokes to begin in the water.
The swimmers grabbed the fence of the pool wall and kicked off.
Buzz!
With the sound of the buzzer, the swimmers kicked off the wall one after another, Xu Jia shot forward and grabbed first place.
In swimming compet.i.tions of more than 50 meters, swimmers could pace themselves slightly and chase in the second half. Or charge straight away and preemptively gain the advantage in the early stages and psychologically suppress their opponents, Xu Jiayu belonged to the latter.
Xu Jiayu was very fierce and he kept the lead going into the 50m turn.
But on the turn, the veteran Chen Cheng from the Shanghai team had overtaken him and grabbed first place.
After being overtaken, it became difficult for Xu Jiayu to chase again. He maintained second place and touched the wall.
Because there was no baton transfer like in track and field, the swimmers needed to stay on the take-off platform for at least 0.03 seconds after the previous swimmer touched the wall before taking off.
Too early and it was a direct disqualification and too late you would fall behind, so it was important to grasp the timing.
This was the first medley relay for Tang Yan, he lacked experience and his take-off was slightly slow. As a result, he was overtaken by the swimmer from the Hubei Team in the next lane.
Entering the water he fell from second to third.
"... He took to long diving in there, Tang Yan"s fallen into third"
"Maybe he was nervous, after all it"s his first time swimming the b.r.e.a.s.t.stroke!"
...
Tang Yan was now undoubtedly the focus of the sidelines, every move affected the hearts of the audience.
After Tang Yan entered the water, he kicked his legs and started to move forward with a swipe of his hands.
His speed for 50 meters was less than 20 seconds. However, the b.r.e.a.s.t.stroke was different from freestyle and such speed was impossible.
But he wasn"t slow either. His kicking strength and stroke rhythm was higher than others. His kicking distance was dozens of centimeters more than others.
b.r.e.a.s.t.stroke was more technique intensive.
He had the same number of kicks as the Hubei swimmer, but just 10 meters later, he had successfully pa.s.sed his opponent and grabbed second place.
" Tang Yan"s kick distance is so far?"
"The way he wades through the water is particularly smooth!"
...
Swimming enthusiasts watched the race and Tang Yan"s amazing gliding distance soon attracted their opinions.
The head coaches for the other provinces were also surprised, and even Shen Qing was slightly surprised.
Although he knew that Tang Yan had once beat Tian Yang with the b.r.e.a.s.t.stroke, Tang Yan didn"t usually display his b.r.e.a.s.t.stroke, he had only put him in this time to try his luck.
After 20 meters, Tang Yan was completely stunning him.
After watching for a while, he lost his thoughts and tried to see how Tang Yan"s gliding distance was being achieved, but he couldn"t comprehend it.
In fact, it wasn"t just him, the head coaches of various provinces were a.n.a.lyzing and coming up empty.
And at this time, some smart reporters had already picked up their cameras and started filming this amazing scene. Already thoughts of tomorrow"s headlines flickered in their minds: King of the Pool, Forget Phelps Remember Tang Yan.
At this time in the pool, Tang Yan successfully grabbed first place after overtaking Chen Cheng of the Shanghai team.
At this time, swimmers of the other provinces could only stare.
They wanted to chase, but what could they do ...
Tang Yan reached the pool wall, then touched the wall with both hands, followed by kicking the wall with both legs. After turning, he had already pulled ahead by nearly a metre.
Shen Qing was uncontrollably excited at this time. He remembered the words Tang Yan said before, "In fact, what I am best at is the b.r.e.a.s.t.stroke." At the time, he felt that Tang Yan was bragging, but now it seemed he was the real thing.
He suddenly felt extremely guilty. Before Tang Yan said that he could swim freestyle, he didn"t believe it. Tang Yan said that he was good at b.r.e.a.s.t.stroke, and he didn"t believe it.
Tang Yan treated him frankly, but he doubted him again and again!
At this time, the distance between Tang Yan and the other swimmers was completely widened. By 60 meters, he was already 1 and a half metres ahead of the second place!
Compared to freestyle, the effects of his upgrade were more obvious!
With the audience"s amazement, Tang Yan opened up the gap and finally touched the wall with a 2 metre advantage over others.
As Li Zhuhao entered the water, he even pa.s.sed by swimmers from the other provinces as he started his lap.
This was a rare scene in a relay race.
At this time, some sharp-eyed audience members noticed the time before and after Tang Yan. Although there was no accurate timing, his speed was definitely within 1 minute, or even about 59 seconds, which was very close to the world record!
"Wait what the h.e.l.l! Why didn"t Tang Yan swim in the 100-meter b.r.e.a.s.t.stroke event?"
Li Zhuhao didn"t squander much of the lead and Lu Zhibin finished it off easily on his go, to create a new national record.
Hearing that they broke the record, all of them were lost in excitement.
"I can"t wait till the Olympics, I want to see Tang Yan vs. Kyosuke Kitajima!" Some audience members said expectantly.
Speaking of b.r.e.a.s.t.stroke, j.a.pan had absolute dominance in Asia. Kitajima Koji was one of the best. He won the 100-meter and 200-meter b.r.e.a.s.t.stroke gold medal in the Beijing Olympics. Tang Yan"s performance today directly made the audience "s expectations soar.
"I would like to see what kind of scene Tang Yan would cause at the Olympics"