Chapter 346 Busy Holiday 10 (1/2)
On August 1, 1997, the 6th World Championships in Athletics officially started, Jake was not as excited here as he was at the Olympics, it was a great and incredible event, but something the Olympics lacked.
Jake wasn't as nervous as he was in the Olympics anymore because he knew he was the favorite to win the marathon, Jake just wanted to follow the finals that he knew the United States would win a gold medal and also the 10,000 meters and the 5,000-meter test.
He would like to see the events that the United States would win and also the events he would play after a few years, as soon as the World Championships in Athletics began the days passed quickly.
Zhang Yi can accompany the United States by winning some gold medals, he followed the proof that Maurice Greene won his first gold medal in international competitions in the 100 meters and also saw the 400 meters proof that Michael Johnson won the gold medal.
He also saw the women's 100-meter event that Marion Jones won the gold medal, after which he saw no further evidence that the United States won and only waited until it was his turn.
Of course, he also saw the 10,000-meter race that Haile Gebrselassie from Ethiopia easily wins and saw the 5,000-meter race that Daniel Komen from Kenya won, these were the most important events Jake saw because it could be him winning at future.
Since Jake already knew his current time was enough to win the seventh place in this 10,000-meter race, of course, he wouldn't want to run just to finish seventh, but that already showed how he had a great time already proof.
If Jake did as Coach Davis wanted he could have some training time to easily win this race in the future, but Jake wanted time to break the world record and be one of the best athletes in the world.
After all, he could relax in the marathons he was running at the Olympics and in the worlds because he could break the world record where he wanted in official marathons around the world, but in the 10,000 meters and 5,000 meters he could not do that because he would only run in World Cups and Olympics.
The days passed and soon came the day of the last day of the 1997 World Championships in Athletics, this time just as Jake knew it would be the United States was not as well as in other worlds, so the excitement of the American team athletes was no longer so big.
But this day was different and everyone was excited because they knew it was marathon day and Jake was the favorite to win this marathon, as Jake had won this year two marathons a few months ago was almost certain that he was in great shape to win today too.
So in the morning before the marathon began when athletes were warming up for the marathon Jake was the center of attention, Martín Fiz who was the current champion of this world championship having won in 1995.
But even the best time of Martin Fiz's career was not close to the time Jake ran this year, everyone knew that Jake had not missed a marathon that had competed since New York a few years ago.
And he had won several since then, which gave more pressure to the other marathoners who were competing in this marathon when the marathon started everyone rushed to try to win and maybe only Jake was calmer.
”We are now starting to follow this marathon in this World Championships in Athletics here in Greece, in a little over two hours we will see who will win and win another medal in this event.”
”There are many who can win this marathon like the Spanish athletes who are doing very well in the last world championships, we have Abel Antón and the champion in 1995 Martín Fiz, but the biggest favorite for sure is Jake Smith who is the current Olympic champion and who has the world record in marathons.”
”Sure enough, Jake Smith is the favorite in this marathon today, he's doing very well this year beating the Boston and London marathons even competing in both marathons in the same month and right after leaving a tiring college basketball season.”
”After more than three months of rest I think he's in great shape for today's marathon, and the two marathons he won were under 2 hours and 8 minutes, a really amazing result.”
”He is certainly one of the best athletes in the world today and only 18, he is also the hope of the American people to win another medal in this World Championships in Athletics that has been having one of the worst performances of the American team.”
As Jake had always started at the same pace that he ran in training, this steady pace was the key to winning marathons without wasting much energy, in the first few km he still encountered other athletes running at a pace more similar to his.