New York, United States.
Adam Silver was troubled.
Judging by how much fun Wang Yi was having on the track, there was no way he would come out of retirement anytime soon.
At the earliest, he might return after this season was over.
And after a whole season, the impact of Wang Yi's retirement would become enormous.
By then, everything would be a complete mess.
Thinking of this, Silver let out another helpless sigh.
At the venue.
Park Bo-seong had just finished the 400-meter preliminaries, and he was completely dazed.
Wang Yi had beaten him by nearly 40 meters.
It felt like a bolt from the blue.
He had believed that Wang Yi was indeed incredibly strong in the 100 and 200 meters, but with his natural physical disadvantage in the 400 meters, he couldn't possibly compete with him. And yet Wang Yi had beaten him by 40 meters.
When he saw Wang Yi cross the finish line, his legs nearly gave out, and he almost fell to the ground.
He had no idea how he'd managed to run the final 40 meters. His mind had simply gone blank.
His coach and teammates were now crowding around him, asking him all sorts of questions, but he stared ahead vacantly.
He didn't answer them at all.
Their coach was Piao Yisheng.
Seeing Park Bo-seong's vacant stare, he thought to himself, Damn, it's over. It's over.
Park Bo-seong of South Korea wasn't the only one who'd taken a huge blow.
Takemura Goro of Japan had been hit just as hard.
He had been counting on Wang Yi failing to put up a particularly good time in the 400 meters, which would show that Wang Yi didn't have much stamina.
If that carried over to the 800 meters, Wang Yi's stamina would