King of Sports Chapter 154 World Aquatic Championships 1

Take the World Championships this time, the Shanghai Oriental Sports Center was specially constructed for the Shanghai World Aquatics Championships, the Shanghai municipality had invested nearly 2 billion yuan on the stadium, it could accommodate up to 15,000 spectators.

A lot of attention was paid to the World Championships. The amount of volunteers recruited alone was nearly 5,000 people and they also set up several hotlines in upwards of 16 languages. A strong WIFI connection was also set up in the venue to fully meet the audience's needs during the competition.

Including the accommodation for athletes, everything was done in accordance with the standards of the Beijing Olympics. In addition to showing the government's emphasis on this World Championships, it also showed the wealth of Shanghai.

Tang Yan hadn't been able to experience the Beijing Olympics so he was inexplicably excited to compete in the new sports center.

Compared with the 3,000-scale pavilion for the National Championships, this time there would be more than 10,000 people watching his race. Such a thought was enough to make him excited.

In addition to the main hall, there were several training halls nearby. After the national swimming team arrived, they quickly began to adapt to the stadium under the leadership of Song Xiaocheng.

Having met all the requirements for the freestyle events, Tang Yan had gained the unprecedented achievement of being registered for all the freestyle events, including the 4x100m relay race but unfortunately he had to abandon the 4x200m relay race due to a schedule clash. 

But in total he would be participating in a total of eight events exactly the same as that of Phelps at the Beijing Olympics.

Of these eight events, the 400m and 4x100m freestyle relay were on the first day and the champion would be decided that day. This was definitely a challenge for Tang Yan.

After all, in the international arena, his opponent's strength would be absolutely superior to those he faced nationally.

Take the first event, the 400m freestyle that he was going to participate in. In his previous life, Sun Yang's enemy, Park Tae-hyun, had been the dominant force in this event. As a gold medalist in the 400-meter event at the Beijing Olympics, he was in excellent form and maintained his title as champion three years later.

In addition to Park Tae Hyun, there was the German swimmer Paul Biedermann, who was also an elite freestyle swimmer. At the Rome World Championships 2 years ago, he broke the world record to win the event and officially established his position in the middle distance freestyle events. 

In addition, the American swimmer Pete Van der Kay and Tunisia's Kosia Meroli were strong swimmers, who had already proven themselves in past competitions.

It wouldn't be easy to stand out from so many star athletes.

After attending the opening ceremony, Song Xiaocheng found Tang Yan and Sun Yang and had a discussion with them.

When the two were training, they had already made psychological preparations. At this time, they mainly adjusted their mentality, just like the night before the college entrance exams.

Nearly 5,000 athletes from more than 180 countries had come to participate in the Shanghai World Aquatic Championships.

On the first day, more than 2,000 journalists from around the world conducted follow-up interviews in the venues. The venues were filled in no time, highlighting the popularity of the World Championships.

The 400m were divided into the morning preliminary and evening finals. Sun Yang was in the first group and Tang Yan was in the fourth group.

Coincidentally, Sun Yang and Park Tae Hyun, two lifelong enemies, met directly in the group stages.

Naturally Tang Yan didn't miss such a good opportunity to scout out the competition.

In the end, the preliminaries of the first group of the 400m ended with the cheers of the audience. Sun Yang won first place in the group with a time of 3 minutes 44 seconds 07, while his old opponent Park Tae-hyun only swam 3 minutes 46 seconds 21, ranking second in the group.

This result greatly increased the confidence of the audience and the expectations on Sun Yang skyrocketed.

However, Tang Yan who was eating melon-seeds in the crowd, saw through it. Park Tae-hwan had clearly retained his strength in the first 200 meters of the preliminary round. Although this result was unexpected, this definitely wasn't his all.

Compared to the race itself, what really caught his attention was the enthusiasm of the audience. The cheers of more than 10,000 people was deafening, it was goosebumps inducing.

There were no major surprises in the second and third groups. Van der Kaye and Bidelman both won their respective groups.

What was exciting was that, Sun Yang's time still ranked first among all the swimmers so far. This meant that in the evening finals he would be in an excellent position in the fourth lane. Their chance of winning gold soared.

....

Tang Yan appeared in the final group.

At this time, most of the favourites had already competed. Tang Yan's group was the least star studded and because it was the last race before noon, many people left early to eat.

Most of those who remained at this time were either Tang Yan's fans or those who had already eaten their fill.

Although Tang Yan beat Sun Yang for the 400-meter gold medal in the national championships, in terms of overall strength, Tang Yan wasn't so impressive in the middle distance event.

In fact, some of the international swimmers who had originally stayed to observe their opponents had already left. They left after the end of the third group. But Sun Yang was still by the sidelines, waiting for him, so they could return together.

The sudden drop in attention made Tang Yan a little unhappy, but it also calmed his racing  thoughts.

The swimmers stepped onto the take-off platform as instructed by the referee.

After taking office, Tang Yan turned to look at Meroli, who was in the lane beside his. The Tunisian would be his main opponent in this group.

Looking at the pool of water in front of him, he was actually looking forward to it, looking forward to what kind of results he would have in the competition.

"On your marks!"

"Get Set!"

Buzz!

With the buzzer, the swimmers were off, diving into the pool at about the same time.

Tunisia's Meroli showed a strong start and grabbed the top spot directly.

Tang Yan ranked fourth among all the swimmers after entering the water.

Chapter end