16 May 2011, Manchester, UK.

From early in the morning, Portland Street in the heart of Manchester is crowded with local athletics enthusiasts and visitors from all over the world.

Today is the day of the Manchester Street City Games, which has been the largest in Europe since 2003 with the street half marathon and 10km run.

In 2009, the 2009 Manchester City Games street race was added to the IAAF Gold Medal Road Race, which attracted a lot of attention, with 33,000 meters of registration for the 10km race. Almost all the world's best professional and non-professional long-distance runners come to participate in track and field competitions.

At 2:30 p.m., half an hour before the 10-kilometer run.

In the middle of the straight Portland Street, on a runway that was about less than two hundred meters, when Ye Qin appeared on Portland Street in a sprint suit, almost the entire street instantly boiled.

Behind the baffles on both sides of the track, there was almost a dense crowd of people who came to watch the race up close, and even on the balconies and windows of many shops above both sides of the street, there were many heads poking out, looking at Ye Qin and the other three runners next to him expectantly.

Jamaica's Steve Mullins, USA's Roy Williams and Great Britain's Marlon Devonish.

The trio don't have a lot of influence in sprinting, but they are all top athletes who have competed in the finals of major competitions such as the Olympic World Championships.

The crowd on the streets knew that this year's Manchester City Games were about to start with an exhibition race ahead of the 10km race.

The 150m sprint, a fixture of the Manchester City Games, is a race that invites top male and female sprinters to compete in the race before the start of the race every year. It is used to enliven the atmosphere of the event and attract attention.

The men's 150m is a very controversial non-major athletics event that is not recognized by the IAAF.

Taking into account the ratio of standard tracks, it is generally done in the corners and straights of the track and field field, or in some specially built special tracks for full straights.

The first global high point in the men's 150m was at Rogers Centre Stadium in Toronto, Canada, in May 1997.

The race brought together two Olympic champions, Michael Johnson and Donovan Bailey, to determine who was the fastest man in the world.

At that time, Donovan Bailey held the men's 100m world record with a time of 9.84 seconds, while Michael Johnson held the men's 200m world record of 19.32 seconds.

And Michael Johnson also set the world record of 14.83 seconds in the men's 150m in 1996.

The men's 150m race was arguably the first time the men's 150m race was brought to the attention of the world, and although it was not an IAAF sport, it attracted attention by taking a middle distance between the two world record holders.

In the end, Donovan Bailey won the race with a time of 14.99 seconds, and Michael Johnson withdrew from the race midway through the race due to injury.

This match also became one of the few games in Michael Johnson's career that made people feel that he did not dare to face the challenge head-on.

"Hi Yechin, I want to know, are you here for the world record in the 150m race this time?"

Shortly after Yechin appeared on Portland Street, two BBC reporters at the starting line surrounded him with microphones and cameras for a pre-race interview on the streets.

"I've never competed in the 150m and I wish I could give it a try. As for the world record......"

Ye Qin shrugged his shoulders at the camera and made a helpless expression, "I go all out, hoping to run a good result." ”

Naturally, the reporter interview was arranged by the organizer early in the morning, and the main purpose was to use the fame of top athletes to promote the influence of this event.

Ye Qin was also accustomed to interviews in public, and he was not at all timid, but showed a few Westerners in front of the camera that could understand.

As he grows older and more experienced, he has become more and more comfortable with such scenes, and he is proficient in English communication, which also makes him not look restrained in the face of foreign media like many domestic players.

"Oh, then I think if you give it your all, Yusse Bot is expected to be with you at this year's World Championships, and you will take another world record from him."

The British journalist was also apparently funny, linking Yechin's race directly to the men's 150m world record set by Yusse Both.

The first world record in the men's 150m was set by Michael Johnson in 1996 with 14.83 seconds.

This record stood for more than a decade from 1996 until the 2009 Manchester City Games, when it was broken by Yusse Bot on the straight, setting a new world record in 14.35 seconds.

In 2010, Jason Gaby was in impressive form, also coming to Manchester in May to take part in the men's 150m, finishing second all-time with a time of 14.41 seconds.

After inviting the world's last two men's sprinters, this year's Manchester City Games finally began to invite Ye Qin to participate in the men's 150m exhibition race.

Yechin was initially uninterested in the event, when he received an invitation to compete in the men's 300m at the Ostrava Super Grand Prix last year.

Like the men's 150m, the men's 300m is an unofficial ban event designed to help improve the speed and endurance of the men's 200m and the running speed of the men's 400m.

The men's 300m world record was also set by Michael Johnson in 2000 with a time of 30.85 seconds, and in Ostrava in 2010, Yusse Bot competed in the men's 300m with a final time of 30.97 seconds, failing to break Michael Johnson's world record.

This time, Ye Qin came to Manchester to participate in the men's 150m race, which was promoted by many parties. Among them, his economic team wants him to be able to participate in order to prove his absolute historical place in the sprint event. Another factor is that the appearance fee offered by the organizing committee is high enough to impress people.

After a brief interview with a BBC reporter on the sidelines, Yechin returned to the starting line and said hello to Steve Mullins, Marlon Devonish and Roy Williams.

Although they don't have any deep friendships with each other, they have basically met many times in the arena, and they are familiar with each other.

Similarly, several people came to participate in this competition, and they also knew that they would be Ye Chin's foil, but the opportunity to compete with multiple world record holders is still worth cherishing.

In case in this men's 150-meter race, if you accidentally can beat Ye Qin, this is a proud record that can be blown for a lifetime.

Like Asafavil, who used to be the first person in the men's 100 meters, in many competitions he participated, he lost to some cutting-edge sprinters, and the media was almost overwhelming.

An athlete's status in athletics is based on the accumulation of race by race, but it is still something to be very excited about to be able to win the top players in some small competitions once in a while.

For Ye Qin, this men's 150-meter race is also mostly a performance, but as long as he appears on the field, whether it is a competition with the same group of competitors, or a competition with the good results created by Euse Bot the year before and Jason Gaby last year, it is a potential duel.

At the top level, the eyes of the whole world will be on you.

Don't say words and deeds, but the ups and downs of the results of each game and the challenges of various events, there are always people who will pick thorns with a magnifying glass.

As the time approached, the number of spectators gathered on the sidelines increased, and the atmosphere became more and more enthusiastic.

In addition to a large number of spectators on both sides of the track, there are many athletes and amateurs who are about to participate in the 10-kilometer challenge, and it is very effective to invite the world's first sprinter to warm up for such a grand race, whether it is to add luster to the face of the event organizers or to the fierceness of the upcoming race.

Ye Qin stood before the start, his eyes swept over the dense crowd of spectators next to him, and although there were very many people on both sides of the street, he quickly saw a familiar figure on the second floor of a café.

Chen Zixi stood at the window of a café on the second floor of the street, and when he saw Ye Qin looking over, he raised his right hand high and made a cheering gesture towards Ye Qin.

After graduating last year, Chen Zixi has been helping Ye Qin take care of some of his original economic work and some financial investments, and this year he accompanied Ye Qin to attend some European competitions, and the two of them can also do a trip by the way.

Ye Qin stood in front of the starting line, waved back a gesture that only the two of them could understand, and then looked at the finish line in the distance. There were already banners for crossing the line, waiting for the first runners to cross the finish line to cheer.

The whole street is more noisy than in the stadium because it is an open-air game.

Looking at the crowd of people on both sides of the surroundings, there were bursts of cheers and discussions, and there was a feeling that Ye Qin had returned to his youth when he participated in the school sports meeting at school.

Everyone is watching your every move up close, and their eyes won't take their eyes off you.

It was also a rare experience for the many onlookers present, how fast the athletes are on the field, many times they can only see it from a high platform in the distance, or on TV.

It is only at such a close distance that you can really feel the speed of the top sprinters.

Following the command of the starter on the sidelines, he began to lean down and bow his head, stepped on the running aid, and prepared for the start.

There were only four lanes of the runway, and Ye Qin was in the middle of the second, and after he leaned over, he could hear the sound of drones buzzing behind him.

In order to be able to take a more comprehensive panoramic view of the four competitors in the 150-meter event, the event organizer specially used aerial photography.

After a prep command, the gunshots of the game suddenly rang out.

The first four runners at the starting line rushed out of the track in an instant!

After Ye Qin started from the runner, he felt that his start was not bad, not particularly fast, but basically he felt that there was no obvious lag.

The entire Portland Avenue was in a frenzy after the gunshots rang out, and the shouts and cheers of the spectators on both sides of the street shook into the air.

10 meters, 20 meters, 30 meters......

In the acceleration stage, Yechin did not have a clear advantage in the first ten meters, and Steve Mullins and Roy Williams were both at the peak of their careers, with great strength and explosiveness, and they were not inferior to Yechin at this stage.

The only British runner Marlon Devonish is over 30 years old, and his peak speed is not there, and he is obviously a little slower after the start.

Twenty meters later, Ye Qin gradually ran out between Steve Malins and Roy Williams, and began to lead the distance of the two by half a body to a body, and by thirty meters, Ye Qin had a clear advantage, and the spectators on both sides of the street could already see that Ye Qin was running in front.

Forty meters, fifty meters, sixty meters......

Ye Chin's speed had completely added up, and he was running faster and faster.

The other three players around him all began to be left behind by him at this time, and it was as if Ye Qin was the only one running in the entire arena.

Ye Qin listened to the deep shouts in his ears, looked straight at the finish line, and ran with all his strength without distraction.

Seventy meters, eighty meters, ninety meters......

Ye Qin looked at the finish line in front of him, feeling that he could run at high speed without any scruples

He has run many times on the 100-meter straight, and when he runs the 100-meter track at full strength, he almost starts to slow down behind him.

The 200 meters start from the corner to accelerate, and at the time of starting, to a certain extent, you have to pay attention to your centrifugal force, you need to stabilize the center of gravity, and the acceleration is not enough.

But now, when he was about to reach 100 meters, there was still a fifty-meter straight track in front of him, which made Ye Qin feel an indescribable pleasure when he ran.

110 meters, 120 meters, 130 meters......

The commentator in charge of commenting the game has been exclaiming one after another.

Steve Mullins, Roy Williams and Marlon Devonish are not far behind each other, but Yeqin in front of him has already pulled away from him by more than ten or twenty meters.

Rush the line!

"Unbelievable! Unbelievable ......"

The commentator in charge of the game shouted one after another.

"14.29!!"

"Yechin has set a new world record again! Men's 150m World Record!! I don't know if Yusse Bot is watching this match at this moment, if so, I hope he doesn't shed tears, another of his world records was snatched away by Yechin!! ”

Before the finish line, Ye Qin slowly slowed down and stopped, waving to the spectators on both sides of the runway.

He has already seen his final time in this race, 14.29 seconds,

Even though it was a commercial competition, it was still a wonderful feeling to be able to break the world record in one event again.

He will also meet the likes of Yusse Both, Jason Gaby and Asafavir at this year's World Championships, and he doesn't know how his opponents are preparing yet.

However, he has heard that Jason Gaby and Asafaville are not in great form this year, and Jax Thelin has just returned to athletics and is improving his results step by step.

Come to think of it, maybe everyone at the World Championships may not be so concerned.

Everyone's focus should probably be on the London Olympics next year.