King of Sports 173 Choices & Sacrifices To Be Made 1

A heavy frown set across his face and nervously he changed from 8 drafts to 7 and the feeling gradually faded.

By the time he entered the third turn, Lochte was ahead by a metre.

Although Tang Yan lowered his kick frequency, his kick distance was much higher than that of other players. At this time, he had risen to the second place.

In the final 50 meters, Lochte was still a metre ahead of Tang Yan. In the end, his time was 1 minute 45 seconds 31 and he easily won the group.

Tang Yan troubled was restricted, only being able to use 80% of his strength with a time of 1 minute 47 seconds 21, ranking second in the group.

By the end of the race, Lochte's gaze towards at Tang Yan had changed. Although he didn't speak, it was clear to see that he felt disappointed with Tang Yan performance.

At the end of the group match, Weibo was also in uproar about Tang Yan's lackluster performance today compared to usual.

A Weibo user named "The First Tear Tears My Heart" received support from many fans.

"Tang Yan won consecutively 400 metres and 100 metres. In theory, his freestyle ability has covered short and middle distances. 200 metres shouldn't be a problem for him but in fact isn't so, 200 meters requires a swimmer with continuous explosive power. This is where western swimmers are better Asian swimmers. I've seen Tang Yan's performance at the national championship, no one's perfect at everything and I think 200 meters is a weakness of his."

After this comment came out, it quickly received support from the majority of netizens, even some fans who followed Tang Yan's Weibo reposted this post.

Even some swimming experts endorsed this view.

Even by the afternoon semi-finals, Tang Yan still hadn't fully recovered, despite receiving a round of leg massages.

He didn't dare take the risk to forcibly use his 8 kick frequency. The end result was that his semi-final time wasn't particularly outstanding. In the end, he "just" won third place in the group. Ranking 7th among all the swimmers and advanced to the evening finals.

This result further confirmed people's thoughts that 200 meters was Tang Yan's weak point and many adjusted their predictions.

And with Sun Yang failing to enter the finals after unexpectedly losing in the semi-finals. The audience's expectations for the evening finals plummeted.

In addition, Zhao Jing of the women's team had great hope of winning gold in the 100m backstroke. For the first time since the World Championships began, the audience 's expectations of the women's team exceeded the men's.

It was against this background that the 200m freestyle ushered in its final.

Lochte, Phelps, Biedermann, and Park Tae-hyun, the appearance of these stars attracted cheers from the audience. Tang Yan's debut still ignited the scene, but compared with the previous 100 meters, the momentum was a long way off.

After the swimmers entered the arena, the final preparations before the race began and the side commentator also started to follow up.

"The 200m freestyle is arguably the most dazzling star since the start of the World Championships. Lochte and Phelps, a pair of world-class swimmers, will compete in the pool. This is the first head-to-head confrontation of the two teammates. "The commentators began to focus on the American swimmers.

"Another to watch is the current world record holder Paul Biedermann who bluntly stated in the pre-match interview that he wanted to rectify his name in this race, I believe he will surely have an eye-catching performance in the race." The commentator nodded.

"Ahh Biedermann, it's natural that he wants to go home without just the Tang Yan escapade to his name. With Tang Yan having broken his 400-meter world record. I believe he must be impressed now!"

"Haha, definitely, Tang Yan is very interesting swimmer. His performance was one to look forward to but he hasn't looked as sharp this 200 meters. Plus with Biedermann and Park Tae-hyun, it will be a tough battle to get a medal. "

"I believe he will surprise us again. It looks like the swimmers are ready now." The commentator said, looking at the pool.

At this time the swimmers had all took their place on the take-off platform under the referee's instructions.

Tang Yan ranked 7th so he was in the first lane on the far right. Next to him, having restrained his strength in the preliminary rounds was "Flying Fish" Phelps.

In lane 3 was Lochte, who ranked third in the preliminary rounds. Biedermann had the best time in the preliminary rounds, so he was in the fourth lane with the best position and Park Tae-hwan was in the fifth lane.

Before they started, Phelps greeted Tang Yan with a smile, despite his poor performance in the preliminaries, Phelps recognized his strength.

On the contrary, Lochte scoffed at this practice of his compatriot. 

After the swimmers were on stage, an electronic prompt sounded soon.

"On your marks."

The swimmers all bowed and bent down to make the final preparations before entering the water.

"Get set!"

Buzz!

With the buzzer, the swimmers all dove into the water.

As soon as the swimmers entered the water, a tsunami of cheering sounded.

Phelps was the champion of the 200-meter freestyle in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He quickly grabbed the top spot after entering the water. Although not the butterfly stroke, his movement and kick frequency was superb.

Phelps so far had won 14 Olympic medals and 21 World Championship gold medals. He was the undisputed king of swimming. After taking the lead, he was immediately greeted by the audience with cheers.

Immediately following Phelps was his national teammate Lochte, who was less than a hands distance away from Biedermann.

Behind Lochte, Biedermann and Park Tae Hyun were in third or fourth place.

Tang Yan was in seventh place at this time. His own physical talent was worse than these top swimmers and his kick frequency of seven was not dominant.

The first 50 meters passed without change in the pool, Phelps continued to lead.

At 100 meters this hadn't changed, Phelps was looking likely to win gold.

Gritting his teeth and muling his choices, Tang Yan made up his mind.

"Tang Yan has started to accelerate! He's surpassed Chad Bobrosky of Canada and risen to sixth!" The narrator caught the scene and immediately shouted out.

Chapter end