Chapter 346 Busy Holiday 10
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.
But after the 4km incredibly, the athletes began to slow down since the start of the marathon and Jake took the lead by running alone, with no athletes to run along Jake knew he would spend a lot more energy.
Still keeping the same pace was the most important thing for Jake and he was used to running much faster in training for 50 km and alone, after the 10 km race, Jake had already opened a big advantage of the second group and kept running.
"Jake is already well ahead in the lead running at the pace he normally runs in other marathons, the other athletes seem much slower than usual and so Jake had to run alone from the first few km, which could hurt him at the end of this marathon and lack of energy."
"He probably knows that well and yet decided to run at the same pace he's used to, we all know that pace is much more important in a long-distance race even to conserve energy."
"That's right, winning a lot of marathons Jake has already proven he has a lot of stamina and that he can beat this marathon even running alone from the start.
Jake didn't really care about that, all the elite athletes had their own race pace and the final time of the race winner for what Jake remembered wasn't that bad, but he would run at the pace he knew was the way to go that he always trained.
In the last km, Jake could preserve his stamina by running more slowly, but in the first km it was important for him to maintain a strong running pace, after the 20 km marathon Jake was 58 minutes long and was very much in the lead.
The runner-up was over 5 minutes behind him which was well over 1km, the other athletes who knew Jake was already getting anxious because they knew that Jake should be far ahead in the race.
Normally Jake only slowed down the last few km of the marathon, by then the other athletes would be many km behind him and even Jake's slower pace was the normal pace of the other athletes.
They could only hope that Jake would run out of energy for the last few km so that he could lose the first place, but that was hard to come by, Eva who was watching the race at home and Coach Davis were already quiet waiting for Jake to win in that race marathon.
After the 30 km, Jake had run in 1 hour and 27 minutes, the runner-up was 9 minutes behind which was almost 3 km away, realizing this and having expended a lot of energy in this marathon Jake began to slow his running pace slowly.
"Jake now, as in other marathons is already slowing down to manage the lead until he wins, he is almost 3 km ahead of second place, with an incredible advantage he can slow the pace at ease."
"Jake really is the best marathoner in the world today, it's amazing what he can do at just 18 years old, he wins the marathon at the last Olympics and is winning this marathon at the World Championships in Athletics, are the two main competitions for athletes and Jake is winning."
"He is also the current world record holder and has won 4 of the world's top marathons, and he has won in Chicago twice, no one can doubt that he is the best marathon player today."
"In this marathon, the other elite athletes from other countries have run at a very slow pace and so since the start of this race Jake has been leading the lead on his own from the start."
"This is something that does not happen in the marathons he competes in America, where athletes who know they have no chance of winning know that Jake has a very strong excellent pace and so they run with him for more than half of the marathon."
"It started a few marathons ago and in the last marathons that happened in New York and Boston the athletes who ran in Jake's group got great finishes at the end of the marathon."
"This could have happened in today's marathon, all athletes running today are the elites of the countries and can run up to 50 km at a fast pace with the right control, so athletes who know they had no chance of winning could try to keep up Jake's pace and maybe in the top 3."
"It's true, I don't know if anyone thinks about it, but if I was an athlete who didn't think about winning I would definitely run with Jake, everyone knows that running with him is to guarantee a stable race."
Jake didn't know what the commentators were saying and just kept running slowing down he enjoyed running in groups because it could save a lot of energy and stamina, and also because he had confidence that even running with a great athlete could win over the last few km by increasing the pace of racing.