Almighty Coach

Dai Li had suggested that Yue Zhao could be specialized in the 200m sprint. After hearing Dai Li’s suggestion, Li Xue fell silent immediately. Dai Li knew Li Xue was taking his suggestion seriously.

Sprinters who specialized in the 200m sprint were rare, both in the country and abroad. Most sprinters specialized in the 100m sprint, and considered the 200m sprint irrelevant.

Of course, the 200m sprint is far less influential than the 100m sprint. The world record holder in the 100m sprint was considered the "fastest person alive," but there was no such title for the champion of the 200m sprint.

The 200m sprint was also a lot less frequent in the Grand Prix, the Super Grand Prix, and the Diamond League held by the IAAF. According to the IAAF rules, among similar events, only one event could be held during the games.

For example, between the long jump and triple jump, the high jump and pole vault, the 800m and 1,500m run, as well as the 5,000m and 10,000m run, only one event between the two could take place in an IAAF Grand Prix.

Between the 100m sprint and the 200m sprint, the former was almost always selected, for the 100m sprint was indispensable in track and field competitions. Because of this, the 200m sprint could only take place in high level, large-scale events, like the World Track and Field Championship, the Track and Field World Cup, and the Olympic Games.

The low occurrence probability of the 200m sprint prevented the world’s best sprinters from specializing in it. Because there was a good chance the 100m sprint would actually take place during events, athletes could participate in more competitions if their performance in the 100m sprint was better. Even if sprinters were truly gifted in the 200m sprint, they would invest most of their time and energy into the 100m sprint.

Many people thought the 100m and the 200m sprint were same. Many assumed that an athlete who was good at the 100m sprint should always be good in the 200m sprint, and vice versa.

In reality, this view was only half-correct. The athletes who were good at the 200m sprint could be talented in the 100m sprint; however, sprinters who were good at the 100m sprint might not have the ability to excel in the 200m sprint.

Compared to the 100m sprint, the 200m sprint was obviously 100 meters longer; but this additional 100 meters were on the curve of the track, which was the difficult part of the 200m sprint.

Because of the curve, athletes had to master three more skills; the curve start technique, the curve running technique, and the transition technique between the curve and the straightaway.

The beginning of the curve was different than the beginning of the straightaway. Sprinters only needed to dash forward after the start in the straightaway; in contrast, sprinters had to control the turning of their body whilst in the curve. Sprinters also had to maintain a high speed, as well as control the angle of their bodies after the beginning of the curve; the combination of these two factors made the beginning of the curve a quite complicated technique to master.

The width of a lane is around 1.22-1.25 meters. If the athletes failed to control their body, their explosive force could easily push them to the lane beside theirs; however, if athletes slowed down to maintain a good angle, they would be left behind once they entered the curve.

Sprinting was a sport where winning or losing could be determined by 0.01 seconds. If an athlete was slower than another athlete for even a fraction of a second when they began the curve, they would probably lose the race.

A good curve start would ideally be composed of a fast starting speed, a good body angle, and good control once inside the curve. Even professional sprinters needed at least a year to master the technique.

Running the curve was also a very complicated technique. The obstacle in high speed turning was overcoming centripetal force; therefore, running the curve should be a process that involved the athlete controlling their body to fight against the centripetal force.

Beyond this, athletes had to master the technique of running along the inside edge of the lane whilst in the curve.

The curve was 100 meters long, which made the running distance along the inside edge of the lane 3.7 meters shorter than the running distance along the outside edge of the lane. If athletes could finish the 200m sprint in under 20 seconds, 3.7 meters would mean 0.037 seconds. Because of this, we always see athletes trying to run along the left side of the lane during the curve in an effort to save as much of those 0.03 seconds as possible.

According to the rules of sprinting, stepping on the line was considered a foul, and the athlete would be disqualified from the match. The athletes could not always look down at the lines outlining the lane during running, so athletes needed extensive training in order to run within the lines of the lane whilst maintaining an optimal stride length and pace for professional athletes without stepping on the line. Normally, athletes needed at least six months to master the technique.

Besides this, the transition between the curve and the straightaway was another difficult aspect of the 200m sprint. After 100 meters of running the curve, the athletes’ bodies had all their momentum going towards one direction. Once they entered the straightaway, the first thing they had to do was alter their momentum so they could run straight. At the same time, athletes also had to keep their speed during the transition. It was even possible for excellent athletes to speed up during this period.

The transition between the curve and the straightaway could cause a gap of 0.1 seconds. Because of this, the athletes would spend several months training to optimize their technique and cover this gap.

Because of all these factors, the 200m sprint had very few competitions and many complicated techniques; its influence was also far lower than that of the 100m sprint. The cost/reward ratio for the 200m sprint was too low for most athletes.

However, Dai Li thought Yue Zhao was well-suited to specialize in the 200m sprint in his current condition. When Yue Zhao was in the national team, he was specialized in the 100m sprint, and took 200m sprint as his minor; so he had some technique reserve in the 200m sprint, and didn’t need a lot of time to practice the curve techniques.

At Yue Zhao’s age, if he had continued training for the 100m sprint, he wouldn’t have had any opportunity to get better; there were too many young. talented athletes. Compared to prodigies like Sijie Yang, Yue Zhao did not stand a chance.

But the 200m sprint was completely different. Young athletes needed at least two to three years of training to master curve techniques. As an older athlete, Yue Zhao already had the techniques in his arsenal; he would only need to train for a short period of time to become a competitor in the 200m sprint.

More importantly, Dai Li had discovered that Yue Zhao’s ability in the 200m sprint was better than his ability in the 100m sprint using his detector. Yue Zhao’s ability in the 100m sprint was a B, but his ability in the 200m sprint was a B+. This meant that Yue Zhao was good at controlling his body, and that he should be good at running the curve. Dai Li hadn’t found an athlete on the national team whose ability in the 200m sprint was a B+.

Because of this, Dai Li had suggested Li Xue let Yue Zhao start training for the 200m sprint. Dai Li believed that if Yue Zhao could take advantage of this opportunity, he would definitely be recruited to the national team again.

But Li Xue was not optimistic about Yue Zhao. Yue Zhao was already twenty-six, which made Li Xue doubt Yue Zhao.

After several minutes of consideration, Li Xue said, "In two months, the training camp for the Asian Games will begin. Many athletes will be recruited to attend the training camp. There will only be approximately five or six athletes that can attend the Asian Games representing our country in the end. Whether Yue Zhao can seize this opportunity and stand out in the trials is up to him."

Dai Li breathed a sigh of relief immediately. He was very happy that he would be able to help Yue Zhaoget an opportunity to return to the national team.

Li Xue continued, "During the training camp for the Asian Games, the athletes will not be the people enrolled; the coaches will also be enrolled. You should also attend this training camp. You haven’t been home in a long time, right? In a few days I will give you some time off, that way you can go back to your home. Once you return, you should follow me and prepare for the Asian Games. We are the host country for this year’s Asian Games, so we should win at least one medal in the sprinting events."