After signing with AC Milan, I will be the king of football!

After thirty meters, Naoki Tsukahara fell slightly behind Huang Kaiwen and Powell. His strength lies in his explosive start and excellent initial phase.

But today, he was competing against Huang Kaiwen.

Even if the team leader asked him to ignore outside information,

he couldn’t help but compare himself to Huang Kaiwen, who was also Asian.

He lagged a step behind Huang Kaiwen in both starts, and his mentality began to falter.

After more than twenty meters, seeing Huang Kaiwen seemingly reserve his strength, he felt a bit discouraged.

This moment of mental slackness brought about frightening consequences.

Not only did he fall behind the leading group, but the competitors behind him caught up.

Richard Thompson and Francis Obikwelu overtook Naoki Tsukahara one after another.

The commentators at Tokyo TV Station, seeing Tsukahara fall behind, had already given up on him, shouting quickly: ”Yes! As expected of Kevin...”

Huang Kaiwen did not relax for a moment; instead, he began to accelerate.

Each opponent in the semifinals was formidable.

Huang Kaiwen couldn’t ensure he would be faster in the last thirty meters, so he needed to take a more significant lead upfront.

Back when he competed against Bolt at the training base, he had the mind to observe the gap between himself and Bolt,

but today, Huang Kaiwen had no such thought.

His eyes, his mind, didn’t look or think, as if he were just running in training.

Noticing he was being slowly left behind, Powell widened his eyes.

Because Huang Kaiwen was already quite famous, he had specifically watched Huang Kaiwen’s preliminary race footage.

At that time, he felt that Huang Kaiwen had reserved his strength, but he didn’t expect him to hide it so well!

Powell also began to exert his strength.

His long legs were moving rapidly, his hips and arms continuously pumping.

But Powell found that the gap between him and Huang Kaiwen did not decrease at all; it remained a body’s length!

Halfway through the race, Richard Thompson and Churandy Martina had caught up to Powell.

Although in a race one should maintain focus, no one can completely avoid being influenced by other athletes.

Even the out-of-form Gay caught up with Tsukahara, who was still paying the heavy price for his moment of laxity a few seconds earlier.

After sixty meters, the situation on the field became momentarily clear.

Huang Kaiwen was leading, with Powell closely following, and next was Richard Thompson.

Churandy Martina, Darvis Patton, Francis Obikwelu, Tyson Gay, and Naoki Tsukahara were all very close.

Being athletes who all advanced from two preliminary rounds, none were lacking in ability.

This order was only temporary; the coming developments were unpredictable.

Huang Kaiwen could clearly hear the footsteps behind him.

Even if he wanted to concentrate, he couldn’t be as focused and confident as on a court where a trick shot could solve things.

The urgency of this moment left no room for any slack.

Seventy meters, with his peripheral vision, he could still see the determined figures of his competitors running.

Dammit!

At this moment, Huang Kaiwen couldn’t seriously observe whether he was leading.

He could only assume he was behind.

Huang Kaiwen gritted his teeth.

His arm swings were more forceful than before, his feet pushed harder against the track, maintaining his rhythm while trying to accelerate.

Eighty meters, ninety meters...

Churandy Martina had already caught up with Richard Thompson, the two of them trailing Powell, who was running in second place, by one body’s length.

This phase was the most critical, with gaps of half a body length or a full body length.

A slight misstep could lead to being overtaken by the competitors behind.

Powell, however, knew he had no chance to surpass Huang Kaiwen.

The gap between him and Huang Kaiwen had expanded from one body length to almost a meter, which, barring any mistakes from his opponent, was impossible to overcome.

Huang Kaiwen noticed Powell’s pace slowing, but he had no time to ponder its significance.

He would give his all in every match at the Olympic Games.

...

The Beijing National Stadium fell silent.

The audience in front of their televisions held their breath.

The entire land of China seemed to be on mute.

A few short meters felt like an eternity at this moment.

The final three meters,

The final meter,

Huang Kaiwen crossed the finish line first!

Roar—

The Beijing National Stadium erupted in cheers.

Yanjing erupted in cheers.

All of China erupted in cheers.

”Huang Kaiwen!!!”

”Huang Kaiwen takes first place in the second group!”

”The result is out, 9.82 seconds, 9.82 seconds, 9.82 seconds, 9.82 seconds!!!”

”Huang Kaiwen surpassed Bolt to take first place overall in the semifinals of both groups, breaking the previous Olympic record of 9.84 seconds. This is a new Olympic and Asian record, Huang Kaiwen has made history!!!!!!!”

Yang Jian’s voice began to choke.

Heavens know what psychological changes he went through.

From his initial disdain when he knew Huang Kaiwen would compete in the 100 meters,

to mere astonishment after the end of the first round of preliminaries,

but after Huang Kaiwen’s 10.02-second result in the second round, Yang Jian began to have many hopeful thoughts.

After all, it appeared that Huang Kaiwen did not run at full strength.

Sub-10 seconds was already Yang Jian’s highest expectation, but what he didn’t anticipate was Huang Kaiwen not only achieving sub-10 but also recording the fastest time among all sixteen semifinalists, breaking the Olympic 100 meters record!

The joy hit him like a tsunami, enveloping his entire body with immense happiness.

Yang Jian was afraid it might be a beautiful dream.

If it was a dream, he wished never to wake up.

The commentators at Tokyo TV Station had long forgotten about their own country’s runner.