I, Yan Jiefang, will live to 2025 in this courtyard house.

The 100-meter sprint only lasts two days, which is quite tight.

The preliminary rounds will be held in the morning of Sunday the 2nd, and the semi-finals will be held in the afternoon.

There were too many participants in the preliminary rounds, so I won't go into details here.

The top three from each of the four afternoon semi-final groups, plus the four fastest remaining contestants, will advance to the competition the following morning.

The semi-finals were on the morning of the 13th, and Yan Jiefang was in the second group.

Although the other athletes in the same group didn't show much expression, they were all under immense pressure.

After all, the strength of this guy in front of us is just too terrifying!

It goes without saying that he crushed the world record with a time of 9.6 seconds in the new energy vehicle race two years ago.

In the past two years, there has been virtually no news of him participating in any track and field events. Instead, his novels and songs have become bestsellers across the country, making him a household name.

Everyone originally thought he had retired from the competition.

Unexpectedly, two years later, his strength has actually increased!

Yesterday, both the preliminary and semi-final rounds had a time of 9.5 seconds!

The athletes in his group didn't get a whiff of anything new...

Participating in the 100-meter sprint in the same era as Yan Jiefang was both an honor and a tragedy.

We feel honored because we are all Chinese, yet saddened because we were crushed on the spot.

No one knew whether to cry or laugh.

Yan Jiefang didn't care what others thought.

He vaguely remembered that after this National Games, there would be a long break, and the next one would probably be in 75!

He's 20 years old this year, and next time he'll be 30!

That gap was a full ten years!

To describe it using a line from a song lyric:

How many more decades are there?

Can one bravely be a passionate young person?

For ordinary track and field athletes, 30 years old may already be past their peak performance.

In the semi-finals, he once again crossed the finish line first, leading the second-place finisher by a full second!

One second is very short, it passes in the blink of an eye, but in the 1-meter race, it is a distance of more than ten meters!

In the 100-meter race, half a meter is already a huge difference, and more than ten meters is an unimaginable chasm!

To the audience, this was simply from a completely different world!

The impact on them was enormous.

After the match, Yan Jiefang returned to the rest room.

He received a new system notification:

[Ding! Through long-term training, your physical fitness has improved, currently at 15 points.]

As the notification ended, Yan Jiefang could clearly feel a cool sensation spreading throughout his body as his blood flowed.

I clenched my fist, and a feeling of power welled up inside me.

It took two and a half years to improve even a little!

He also ate a super pill to replenish his innate essence.

Sure enough, once your physical fitness improves, it becomes increasingly difficult.

Every step requires countless efforts and sweat!

Before the afternoon final, countless people used all sorts of connections to try and get a ticket to watch the 100-meter final live.

Even the cheerleading squad members organized by the 774 Factory's labor union were all replaced by factory leaders at all levels!

Many lower- and middle-level cadres who are not of a high enough rank do not have the opportunity to enter.

Their first words upon meeting were exactly the same:

"Old Li, didn't you have a meeting this afternoon? Why are you here with the cheerleading squad?"

"Old Zhang, weren't you supposed to be visiting the subsidiary factory this afternoon? Why are you here cheering too?"

In the end, everyone exchanged knowing smiles.

"hey-hey!"

...

As the 100-meter final was about to begin, countless spectators held their breath.

Everyone wanted to witness the birth of a legend.

It might be because good things often come with difficulties.

When the starting gun fired for the first time, one athlete false-started and had to start over.

Another athlete false-started the second time.

Until the third starting gun fired, everyone sprinted forward.

Everyone wants to unleash their full potential.

Some athletes even want to take this opportunity to perform exceptionally well and push their limits.

In just two seconds, after running only a dozen meters, Yan Jiefang began to pull ahead of the others.

As time passed quickly, the gap widened, from half a meter to one meter, two meters, ... ten meters, ... thirteen meters, ...

The audience in the stands, watching the scene unfold, couldn't help but erupt in a thunderous roar.

As expected, Yan Jiefang was the first to cross the finish line.

The three referees pressed the stopwatch almost simultaneously.

The photographer, standing not far from the track, nervously rotated his camera lens, trying to capture this exciting moment in its entirety.

Photographers from other newspapers quickly pressed their shutters, capturing the scene from various angles.

In many photos, the second and third place winners are not even visible.

When the referee tallied Yan Jiefang's time as 9.4 seconds and announced it over the loudspeaker, the entire stadium erupted in deafening gasps and cheers.

He easily broke the National Games record by a large margin.

If he doesn't break this record himself, it might be a hundred years or even longer before anyone can break it.

After waving his arms around a few times, Yan Jiefang returned to the track and field team's rest area.

Although they already knew he was going to be the champion, several coaches and many athletes from the team still went to his side to congratulate him:

"Congratulations, Yan Jiefang! You ran incredibly fast!"

"Well done! You've brought honor to our Beijing team!"

"You flatter me."

"Jiefang, the 4x100 relay preliminaries and the finals tomorrow all depend on you. With you on the team, our Beijing team is sure to win first place!"

Upon hearing this, Yan Jiefang, who had been making polite remarks, immediately glanced at the young coach who had spoken and casually replied:

"Relay races are team events, and they require the collective effort of everyone. I'm just a small cog in the machine."

It's true what they say: in a big forest, you'll find all sorts of birds.

Just like various ball sports in later generations, they were originally world number one, among the world's best, but in the end, they were ruined by these people.

The other coaches also heard the inappropriateness of those words and criticized the guy.

"Coach Yang, the qualifiers are just around the corner. Aren't you discouraging all the sprinters with your words?"

"That's how young people are; they speak without thinking! They blurt out whatever comes to mind."

"Coach Yang is still young? He's almost 30 years old this year! He's still like a young boy."

...

"Xiao Yang, how could you speak like that? I'll only give you one minor demerit for today. Remember to write a 1,000-word self-criticism and hand it in first thing tomorrow morning!"

These are the head coach's exact words.

Yan Jiefang watched the many indignant coaches and athletes from the sidelines, and felt a pang of emotion:

It has to be this era, when many people haven't been corrupted by money and interests.

They still hold firm beliefs in their hearts and are willing to fight for their ultimate goal.

...

The other sprinters on the Beijing team are not bad either; although they are not top athletes, they can all run under 11 seconds.

The afternoon's preliminary round went smoothly, and I easily won, qualifying for tomorrow's final.