"Hi Sue, I'm glad to hear that you're coming to Europe for the competition. But I'm sorry, but I'm also very busy with training and I may not be able to watch your game. You know, I just joined our country's women's hockey team, and the coach said that I was doing well and that I had the opportunity to move up from reserve to full-time membership. I love hockey and I'm very eager to win a gold medal at the Olympics in Athens in the summer. I wish you the best of luck in the indoor competition. - Alan"

……

There was a banging knock on the door.

When Su Zu finished reading the email, Li Zhizhong pulled a suitcase and pushed the door and walked in.

"Are you packing up?" After entering the door, Li Zhizhong glanced at the furnishings in Su Zu's room and asked.

"Almost." Su Zu turned off the computer, got up and cleaned up the desktop, and pulled out the power socket cord. 、

"Well, let's go, we'll be gathered in a moment." Li Zhizhong nodded, and pointed to Su Zu's clothes and shoes, "Bring a thicker coat, and then spiked shoes, the two pairs you are used to, don't forget." When you go abroad, you may not be able to buy a suitable one. ”

Nowadays, the spikes in the track and field team are basically sponsored by a sporting goods manufacturer, and the significance of good spikes for sprinters is self-evident, it is one of the only pieces of equipment. The two pairs of spikes that Su Zu is wearing now are also carefully selected, although they have not yet reached the point of letting sponsors customize them according to their personal foot shapes, but they are already very accustomed to wearing them.

"Got it." Su Zu sorted out some of the sundries that should be cleaned up, and he gradually got used to Li Zhizhong's tireless instructions. And also benefited from Lao Li's seriousness and meticulousness, which made him benefit a lot in life and training.

Su Zu packed up the things he was going to bring, glanced back at the dormitory, recalled that there should be nothing missing, locked the door and went downstairs to gather.

On February 26, the Chinese delegation arrived in Paris, France, and after a hasty meal at the airport, they took a bus arranged by the foreign affairs staff to Levin.

Although the place in Levin is not well-known, the IAAF Golden League and various large and small track and field events are held here, and it is an important venue for many track and field events.

Under the arrangement of the organizers, the male and female athletes and coaches of the track and field team of the Chinese delegation, as well as a group of staff, checked into the hotel smoothly, and then reversed the jet lag and resumed some adaptive training.

On February 28, the IAAF Indoor Licensing Tournament (Invitational Tournament) began, as the last important event before the start of this World Indoor Championships, attracting many world experts to participate. Sweden's Karolina Krufert and Russia's Elena Isinbayeva are undoubtedly the two brightest stars of all the contestants.

"There are powerful masters in this indoor invitational tournament, you guys will pay attention later."

In the athletes' lounge of the Chinese delegation at the Levin Indoor Gymnasium, Li Zhizhong handed the list of men's 60m participants to Su Zu and Shen Yunbao, and pointed to several names on the list.

"Ge...... Rimes? Su Zu looked at the English form in his hand and spelled out the name that Li Zhizhong was referring to.

"This Grimes is 27 years old and was the men's 100m champion at the 2003 Pan American Games, and he is very strong." Li Zhizhong introduced, and then pointed to another name for the competition, "There is also this Francis Obikwiru, who is relatively unfamiliar to us in China, he was originally Nigerian, and later became a Portuguese citizen, and was the double champion of the men's 100m and 200m at the World Youth Championships in 96." ”

"This time there are a lot more masters than last year's Vienna." Shen Yunbao on the side looked at the list and said, "And this Italian Clio is also a very powerful sprinter." ”

Compared with Su Zu and Li Zhizhong, Shen Yunbao has been in the national team for a long time, has participated in more competitions, and knows more.

For these European and American track and field sprinters, if they are not athletes who shine at the Olympic and World Championships, most people have not heard of it. Just like Su Zu is the holder of the 60m and 100m records in China, but he is still a nobody in the international athletics world, except for someone in Asia who may know about him, European and American athletes basically know nothing about him.

"Because this year is the Athens Olympics, so the previous international events have attracted a lot of outstanding athletes to participate, this invitational tournament has come to a few heavyweights, it is estimated that next month's World Indoor Track and Field Championships, there will be more outstanding athletes."

Because of the large number of athletes participating, this year's International Indoor Invitational Tournament is a two-day competition, with a total of 24 events for men and women. The men's 60m race is scheduled on the first day of the competition, with the morning heats and the afternoon finals.

At 10:10 a.m. local time, the men's 60m runners began to check in according to international competition standards, which is still an inherent process, check-in, roll call, inspection of items, second check-in, storage of urine test samples, warm-up, etc.

At 10:30 a.m., the men's 60m heats began. There are 62 players from various delegations participating in this preliminary round, and a total of 8 preliminary groups are divided. Su Zu is the second lane in the third group of the preliminaries, and Shen Yunbao is in the seventh group.

Similar to the National Indoor Championships, the men's 60m heats were held at a very fast pace, with groups of runners taking turns to take the field.

As soon as he entered the arena, Suzu heard all kinds of "Allez!" Bon courage！ The cheering sound is very different from the cheers and cheers in China, and it makes people feel different in a foreign country when they hear it.

The group preliminaries went well, and Su Zu ran 6.55 seconds to advance and ranked first in the preliminaries group. Shen Yunbao ran a time of 6.62 seconds this time, but only ranked tenth in the group preliminaries and failed to enter the final.

Before the 60m final in the afternoon, the waiting area of the runners in the check-in room.

"Hi buddy, are you Japanese?"

Su Zu was sorting out his spikes when he suddenly saw a black contestant running up to him and greeting him.

"No, I'm Chinese." Su Zu pointed to the national flag on the chest of the competition uniform and showed him it, and said solemnly.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I looked at you all the same. You know last year at the World Championships, there was a Japanese guy who won the bronze medal, and that was the first time I saw a yellow man in the final. The black athlete was very familiar, grinning and showing a mouthful of large white teeth. Su Zu listened to the other party's English with a strong accent, if it weren't for the fact that he had come over this year, listened to tapes from time to time, and occasionally flipped through the dictionary to write emails in English, he really might not be able to understand it.

"You've just run well, 0.01 seconds faster than me, and we're rivals."

"You're Grimes?" Su Zu looked at the black man in front of him, and when he heard him say his achievements, he finally matched the person with the name. Suzu was the first in the group with a time of 6.55 seconds, and the second runner-up in the group was the black American Grimes in 6.56 seconds.

"Yes, it's me." Grimes learned to point to the flag on his chest, "From the United States." ”

The two smiled, and wanted to chat a few words, when they heard the prosecutorial staff next to the check-in room remind: "Please keep quiet!" ”

Suddenly, Su Zu and Grimes stopped talking, and the IAAF still has high requirements for the discipline of athletes before and after the competition, and if there are uncivilized behaviors and phenomena between each other, it is easy to receive punishment.

Although the two had a brief conversation, they could not be sure that they would not be misunderstood.

Trying to provoke opponents with swear words, like basketball and football, is completely unworkable, at least on the court. This is one of the reasons why for many years it has been rare to see athletes competing in athletics directly involved in verbal altercations.

After waiting in the check-in room for a while, the eight athletes in the final followed the staff who led the way into the track of the indoor venue.

“Set.”

A familiar preparatory voice sounded.

With a "snap", the starting gun sounded, and the final of the men's 60m IAAF indoor competition began.

In this kind of large-scale field, Su Zu also adopted the most familiar 60-meter running method, without any reservations, and went all out as soon as he ran.

In the domestic arena, Su Zu now almost has an absolute advantage, but in the international arena, running together, I found that all the players are strong. Both the starting reaction and the acceleration of the start greatly exceeded his expectations.

On his left and right tracks, the American runner Grimes and the Portuguese player Obi Keviru are on the same level with him almost from beginning to end, and every athlete here is basically the top sprinter in the country and the champion of all events. It's just a thin line away from the world's top players.

It was not until the last 50 meters or so that Su Zu was able to open a slight gap by a slight advantage.

"6.53 seconds!"

On the sidelines, Li Zhizhong jumped up with joy the moment he saw the results come out. The accompanying athletes also cheered and applauded.

Another champion.

Although it is not heavy, it is a big international event anyway.

On the radio of the conference venue, the French host was full of surprise and passion at the same time.

"The winner of the men's 60m final is Su from China!"

In the Levin Gymnasium, spectators and athletes of all colors also applauded at this time.

On the other side, a very strong black man also showed a smile of interest after watching the final of the 60-meter final.

"Crawford, what are you looking at?" Behind the stout black man, a white man in a suit and leather shoes was rushing over from the long jump area.

"Mr. Horner, Grimes didn't win the championship at this level and was taken away by a Chinese player."

"Oh?" The white man in the suit named Horner was slightly surprised, "China's track and field level has improved rapidly in the past two years, there is already a Liu in the sprint event, and now there is another one in the sprint?" ”

"In today's competition, I found that Russian athletes are also very strong, and track and field events are still too unpopular in the United States, and they are still not attractive enough for elite athletes. Crawford, next month's World Indoor Championships, I hope you can win gold, and after this competition, you will soon have to go back home to prepare for the Olympic trials in the United States. ”