Although in many of the same matches this year, Lashawn Merritt has defeated Killarney James in all of them. But in these victories, Merritt's advantage is not very clear.

In particular, at the Diamond League in Oslo, Norway on June 13, Merritt only won by a narrow margin of 0.01 seconds when the two crossed the line almost at the same time.

Due to the height difference, the technical characteristics of the two people are also different. Killarney James, who is 1.80 meters tall, is even better in terms of explosiveness and sheer speed; Merritt, who has an advantage in height, has a certain advantage in cornering technique and endurance.

Although the 400m event is included in the category of distance events, it is difficult for athletes to achieve much in this event if they do not have the stamina qualities to achieve much.

In a sense, in the 100m and 400m events, Feng Quan, who has world-class strength at the same time, is well deserved to be called "the world's strongest track and field athlete".

In a number of direct battles with Killarney James before the World Championships, Merritt would have been at a certain disadvantage in the starting stages. Then with his advantage in cornering technology, he gradually accumulated his advantage. In the end, he relied on his endurance advantage to establish his own victory.

While Merritt doesn't have the strength to dominate the 400m, he has been winning every direct battle with Killarney James by around 0.2 seconds before entering the 2013 season.

However, just after winning the London Olympics, Killarney James' head coach focused on cornering technique and running endurance in his training plan. Because of this, it will become more and more difficult for Merritt to gain an advantage in the direct competition between the two.

This time, Merritt was able to take the lead in the starting stage, in addition to his own excellent form at the World Championships (43.87 seconds in the preliminaries, the highest of all competitors), but also due to Killarney James' unstable mentality.

In fact, Killarney James's competitive form in this World Championship is still good. Although he did not break the 44-second mark in the preliminaries, as Merritt did. But with a time of 44.01 seconds, it was the second-best time among all athletes who advanced to the semifinals.

Although gaining an advantage in the starting stages does not mean that Merritt can definitely beat Killarney James, it greatly increases Merritt's chances of "winning".

After all, under the premise that the overall strength is already superior, if you can suppress the opponent's advantage point, it will still have a great help for the final victory. And as the game progresses, Merritt's advantages are gradually revealed.

Since the difference between each lane of the 400-meter course is about 8 meters at the start, Merritt is equivalent to about 8 meters behind Killarney James at the start.

However, with a slight start at the start, coupled with his advantage in cornering technology, Merritt narrowed the "gap" between himself and Killarney James to about 3 meters after the first corner stage.

Despite his absolute speed advantage, Killarney James has widened the gap between himself and Merritt to around 4 meters. But even so, Merritt's odds of winning have increased by a few points again.

In the past direct competition between the two, even if he enters the second corner, as long as Merritt can maintain the "gap" between the two at about 7 meters, then relying on his advantages in corner technology and endurance, he can basically establish his victory after the end of the second corner.

So, as soon as Merritt's right foot entered the second corner, a winner's smile appeared on his face. Even though the schedule is just over halfway through the game, he thinks it will only be a matter of time before he wins against Killarney James as long as he doesn't make a mistake.

Then, with about 10 meters to go until the final straight stage, Merritt, who had been in the "chaser" position, finally overtook Killarney James, who was "ahead" of him.

At this moment, Merritt was very sure that he had completely defeated Killarney James in the semi-finals and advanced to the final as the group leader.

However, just when Merritt thought he was the first to step into the final straight, he found that he was not the frontrunner in the group as he had hoped. Moreover, the guy who was ahead of him was not the strongest opponent in his pre-game plan.

"It's that guy! How is this possible? I'm about to do my best, and I can still fall behind? ”

Under normal circumstances, a top-level track and field athlete like Merritt will rarely give his best in the competition before the final, as long as he can ensure that he can make the cut. After all, this will cause some unnecessary physical exertion, which will affect your performance in the finals.

If it weren't for the bond with Killarney James, who wanted to take the opportunity to blow the opponent's confidence in the semifinals, so that he would have the idea of being timid before fighting in the final, Merritt would not have fought fiercely in the semifinals at all.

But even so, when Merritt entered the final straight stage, he was very surprised to find that he had done his best, but only came in second place. At the same time, the guy who is in the lead is at least 3 meters ahead of himself. And the gap between themselves and the other party is still widening.

Although her heart was full of surprise, Merritt, who has extremely rich experience in racing, scanned the track where the leader was with the corner of her eye, and stabilized her mentality for the first time. Then continue to run at your own pace and keep moving towards the finish line.

Merritt knew very well in his heart that even if he barely increased his running pace, he would not be able to catch up with the guy who was "the fastest on the planet". That's right, it was none other than Feng Quan who was ahead of Merritt.

So, after seeing that it was Feng Quan who was in the lead, Merritt decided to stabilize his current rhythm, as long as he was not overtaken by Killarney James, who was chasing after him. Then wait for the leading wind to make a mistake, or because of the continuous race, when the physical situation in the final stage is exhausted, and then complete the overtake of it in one fell swoop.

Taking a step back, even if he can't surpass Feng Quan in the end, Merritt doesn't really care, after all, the results of the semi-finals will not be carried into the final round. Moreover, his main purpose today is to beat Killarney James, not to compete for the top spot in the semi-finals.