"It seems that yesterday's 1500 meters took a toll on Tang Yan's physical strength."
"Yeah, but Sun Yang still looks to be in top form, like he didn't just have a race yesterday. It's looking like he'll go on to win this gold medal."
"And Lei Jianyu, this veteran is looking extremely good today. Not only has he surpassed Tang Yan, who has been eye-catching the past few days, but it seems that there is a glimpse of him challenging Sun Yang!"
"Haha, yeah, the veteran is looking rejuvenated this season, with his origin from the Hebei Province, it seems he's come to reclaim his previous throne. His resurgence this season is somewhat of a surprise but a welcomed one especially for us older fans who remember him from his younger days!"
...
The race passed the 100m mark and the rankings between the swimmers didn't change much. The on-site commentator had to calm some of his energy and conversation trailed.
Sun Yang also noticed Lei Jianyu. He made an effort to advance in the first half of the race. He wanted to open up a gap from Tang Yan in the early stages, what he didn't expect was that Lei Jianyu would sneak out of nowhere and slip into second ahead of Tang Yan, this surprised him.
As a last resort, he had to speed up again.
As he accelerated, Lei Jianyu continued to accelerate and Tang Yan also accelerated. This left Zhang Lin bitter, watching the three slowly pull away from him.
Passing the halfway mark of the race, the distance between the three still didn't change much but Zhang Lin had fallen behind them by more than a metre.
At this point of the race, Tang Yan was slightly surprised. This Lei Jianyu was so old but was still so long-lasting. This veteran had come completely out of left field.
Thinking over it, he also began to speed up the frequency of his kicks.
Originally he wanted to save as much energy as possible for the 200-meter final but the emergence of Lei Jianyu made him have to change his plan.
The effects of him shifting up a gear was quite obvious.
He surpassed Sun Yang and Lei Jianyu in an instant.
The suddenness of this change caused the audience to be stunned.
Even the commentator was shocked. They were still discussing the reason for Tang Yan's placid performance today compared to his usually dominating attitude. Then in the blink of an eye he directly rushed into first place.
After Tang Yan grabbed first, he quickly began to accelerate further to widen the gap between him and the other two.
This made Sun Sun and Lei Jianyu anxious. The two men also began to accelerate hectically.
All three suddenly picked up the speed, which caused the audience to cheer.
Passing the 300m mark, Tang Yan maintained his first place position and he was already pressing the national record line.
Sun Yang and Lei Jianyu behind him were also chasing. The three of them were preparing to break records and make a big commotion today.
"Wonderful, absolutely wonderful. Tang Yan and Sun Yang the Zhejiang Province are set to guarantee they win this gold medal!" The live commentator looked down at the fierce competition in the pool and commented.
"Look, Lei Jianyu has begun to speed up!"
With the voice of the commentator, Lei Jianyu's face was flushed and he began to speed up again. He sped up and surpassed Sun Yang in an instant and then chased straight after Tang Yan.
At the start of the last 100 meters, Lei Jianyu and Tang Yan had shown a situation of keeping pace with each other.
And Sun Yang who was among the favourites to win this event, because of being the advance force, didn't have much physical strength left for the second half and was slowly left behind by the two.
And to the wide eyed gazes of the audience, Lei Jianyu crept up and surpassed Tang Yan and grabbed first.
The audience was completely stunned and even the coaches of the other provinces couldn't help but leap to their feet.
Sun Yang was leading then Tang Yan and now Lei Jianyu was leading and the three alternately made a great show.
Lei Jianyu held the lead into the last turn and the race entered the final 50-meter sprint.
Lei Jianyu was more than half a meter ahead of the national record line and there was even hope to hit the Asian record.
The audience all stood up from their seats, Lei Jianyu, the newest black horse, truly surprised everyone.
At this time, Tang Yan felt the pressure. This Lei Jianyu was too much, he couldn't catch up at this rate.
Seeing that he was getting closer and closer to the finish line, he grit his teeth and he shoved all thoughts of the 200m final to come and began to accelerate.
Left leg kick, right arm over, right leg kick, left arm over....
The effects were remarkable and he closed the gap between him and Lei Jianyu little by little.
With only 20 meters left, the two were almost on the same page.
Sun Yang tried his best to maintain the gap he had between the leading two and the other swimmers.
The finish line was fast approaching. Tang Yan had no reservations at this time and the frequency of his kicks had even reached 8 times beyond the limits of ordinary people.
Although he had only gained 60% of Zhang Shun's abilities, Tang Yan's strength was beyond the scope of the average person.
With only 20 meters left, Tang Yan accelerated kicking with inhuman frequency, at a speed visible to the naked eye, he pulled ahead of Lei Jianyu.
Lei Jianyu's face was red and you could see that he was doing his best but he couldn't stop what was happening.
The last 50 meters of this 400-meter race were even more exciting than the 50m event.
5 meters.
4 meters.
3 meters.
2 meters.
Tang Yan continued to pull away, when he was only one meter away from the pool wall his right hand shot out first and touched the wall.
He won the 400m freestyle!
Lei Jianyu finished immediately the next instant, followed by Sun Yang, the three of them led the other swimmers to complete the race.
Their times came up on the Jumbotron.
Sun Yang, 3 minutes 47 seconds 23, this time exceeded the World Championship A grade criteria by 2 seconds.
Lei Jianyu, 3 minutes 44 seconds 13, only 3 seconds away from the Asian record!
Tang Yan, 3 minutes and 43 seconds 12! ! Only 3 seconds away from the world record!
All three had exceeded the national record!
The audience saw the results and launched into thunderous applause.
After Zhang Lin, finished he gasped for a few mouthfuls. Then he rushed to Tang Yan and Sun Yang and shouted: "You two just couldn't hold back a bit and wait for me, huh."
Tang Yan gasped at this time and then burst into laughter whilst looking over at Lei Jianyu.
If he wasn't so fierce, he wouldn't have been forced to use his full strength.
However, at this time, he found that something was wrong. Lei Jianyu's face was completely pale and he had a ghastly look on his face.