Beep—
The preparatory tone sounded, followed by the “drip” of the starting signal.
Splash!
Chen Shu and Zhang Zhan Shuo jumped into the water almost simultaneously.
"This kid Chen has improved his reaction time a lot! I remember he used to be the worst, taking at least a second to react!"
Zheng Kun Liang’s face broke into a smile as he saw Chen Shu’s 0.61 reaction time.
Zhang Zhan Shuo was slightly slower at 0.63!
They were both young, so their reaction times weren't that fast.
"He's improved by 0.2 seconds!"
"And he's become more stable… I don't know how he did it, but it’s pure talent!"
Zhu Zhi Gen was also paying close attention to Chen Shu.
But he could sense Cui Deng Rong's favoritism towards this young swimmer.
Even though he also wanted to lure him to the Zhejiang Provincial team.
He was already one step behind!
He’d heard from Huang Wei about Chen Shu being chosen for the 4x100m freestyle relay.
Cui Deng Rong had stood his ground and made this decision, essentially gambling his position as head coach and his future.
If Chen Shu had failed yesterday, the next head coach of the swimming team wouldn’t have been him.
It was like what happened to Sun Yang, he lost his head coach position after a blunder.
It was a game of strategy among the coaching staff.
Chen Shu would definitely find out about this later.
Considering his background in Suzhou, there was a 90% chance he would go to the Shanghai team for training.
Zhu Zhi Gen could only chat with Chen Shu privately to see what his own thoughts were.
Publicly… he couldn’t appear too eager.
"Chen Shu is swimming steadily!"
"He was at this speed in the 100m freestyle earlier. It seems he’s picked up his pace and that’s why his scores have improved so much!"
"He's copying the rhythm of the 100m now, which is a good idea!"
Zheng Kun Liang had observed Chen Shu's swimming style.
He was lagging behind Zhang Zhan Shuo by a bit but was still trying to catch up.
Cui Deng Rong remained silent, his eyes fixed intently on Chen Shu in the water.
He felt an uncanny familiarity with this stroke.
When he first saw Chen Shu, he had him jump into the water, and it was like this, and he had clocked a time of 48.80 seconds.
The last 30 meters of his sprint had shocked Cui Deng Rong.
That speed he had generated, even today, remained vivid in Cui Deng Rong's memory.
He had the most powerful final burst in the team, bar none.
Even Pan Zhan Le couldn’t match him in that regard.
The speed and force of those two legs, they were simply superhuman.
Not just 13 years old… even at 18, Cui Deng Rong had never seen anyone so fast and powerful.
This was absolute swimming talent, something others could only envy!
Because it was impossible to replicate!!
Now, Cui Deng Rong felt like he was witnessing that day again.
At 50 meters, Chen Shu was half a body length behind Zhang Zhan Shuo.
At 75 meters, it was almost a full body length!
And as he was about to turn underwater for the second time, at just under 100 meters, 90 meters to be exact!
Cui Deng Rong’s eyes were like measuring instruments, being a swimming coach for so many years wouldn’t be for nothing.
At 90 meters, Chen Shu started to accelerate.
"This is it!"
"He accelerated after the 50-meter turn in the 100m freestyle, and then it became before the turn!"
"He’s doing the same thing now!"
Splash, splash, splash—
Chen Shu could feel the spray from Zhang Zhan Shuo’s strokes as he was ahead of him by almost a body length.
But Chen Shu was slowly closing the gap.
100 meters… 110 meters…
"Damn!"
"No way?"
"Is Zhan Shuo about to get overtaken?"
"Holy crap, is he that strong?"
"Didn’t Shu ge ever practice the 200m?"
The group of swimmers on the sidelines were clearly stunned.
They knew Zhang Zhan Shuo had been practicing the 200m freestyle for years.
And he was in the top three in the team!
And he was about to be overtaken by Chen Shu who was trying it for the first time?
Although there wasn’t much difference between the 100m freestyle and the 200m freestyle, just a few more underwater turns.
But the explosiveness and the finishing kick… those were entirely different.
The rhythm of swimming the 100m freestyle and the 200m freestyle was also entirely different.
This required multiple practice sessions to grasp the differences and the nuances.
But now, Chen Shu seemed to have… mastered the differences between the 100m freestyle and the 200m freestyle?!
"He's overtaken him!"
At 140 meters, after the third turn, Chen Shu had successfully overtaken Zhang Zhan Shuo.
Feeling the forceful waves from beside him, Zhang Zhan Shuo was a little panicked.
I knew it!
This guy is a genius!
Zhang Zhan Shuo thought in utter despair.
Then in the final 50 meters, he mustered all his strength and prepared to sprint.
But he felt a sense of helplessness.
A complete sense of powerlessness in his sprint!
He was sprinting, but the distance between him and Chen Shu… was slowly widening.
"Shu ge’s sprint is insane!"
"His explosiveness and final kick are out of this world!"
"Is this even human, 13 years old and this awesome…"
Many people around them were speechless, including the three coaches, Zhu Zhi Gen and the others.
Even though they knew that Chen Shu had a fast finishing speed and incredible explosiveness, they hadn’t expected!
His 200m freestyle finishing kick seemed… just as powerful as his 100m freestyle kick.
They knew this was impossible!!
The final burst of the 100m freestyle would definitely be stronger than the 200m freestyle.
After all, the 200m freestyle was 100 meters longer than the 100m freestyle, and there was a physical toll.
But Chen Shu didn’t seem to have lost much speed.
On the other hand, Zhang Zhan Shuo, whose strength lay in the 200m, had a significantly weaker final sprint.
One body length!
In the last 20 meters, Chen Shu had pulled ahead of Zhang Zhan Shuo by a full body length.
In just 50 meters!
From the last turn, he had created an absolute difference in their positions.
This meant!
Chen Shu was about a second faster than him.
One body length accounted for that much time difference.
Splash!
A few seconds later, Chen Shu touched the wall with a powerful stroke, reaching the finish line like a rocket.
Then, a shocking time jumped out at everyone.
It also reflected in the eyes of Zhang Zhan Shuo, who had just reached the shore.
1 minute 45.93 seconds!
Whoa—
The entire training ground erupted.