by sportswriters Yue Wenwan and Wang Qin'ou

GUANGZHOU, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- When 20-year-old Li Zeyang crossed the finish line of China's National Games men's 100 meters in 10.11 seconds on Monday, he didn't roar, pound his chest, or fall to his knees.

Instead, he simply stared - first at the scoreboard, then at the stadium, and then at nothing at all.

It took him a moment to realize that the quiet number beside his name conveyed something loud: he was the new National Games champion.

In a country where Su Bingtian and Xie Zhenye have dominated sprinting for more than a decade, Li was the first athlete born after 2000 to win the men's 100 meters title at the National Games. The result surprised commentators, coaches, and even Li himself.

"I never imagined of this feat, not even in my dreams," he told Xinhua.

AN UNKNOWN CHAMPION

Running in lane seven, the athlete representing central China's Hubei Province appeared more like a bookish college student than a sprinter, wearing half-rim glasses.

As the gun fired, Li burst forward, but was initially boxed in by Deng Xinrui and Chen Guanfeng on either side.

However, past the halfway mark, his stride opened up, and in the final meters, the tall, wiry runner crossed the line to win by just 0.04 seconds.

Then he froze. "I honestly had no idea how to celebrate," he admitted. "I never dreamed I would win, so I just raised my hands and clapped toward the stands."

Reporters in the mixed zone also froze. Few had prepared his background information, not believing the gold would go to someone who had never previously represented China internationally.

"The National Games title had long belonged to the three giants - Su Bingtian, Xie Zhenye and Zhang Peimeng. Even in my dreams, I only dared to hope for the top three," he added.

Though winning felt like dreaming, Li found it hard to sleep that night. "I tried to be calm, but my brain refused to come down from the shock. I lay in bed wide awake until four or five a.m."

A LATE STARTER

Li's connection to sprinting started not with a race he ran, but with a race he watched. In 2015, the then-15-year-old persuaded his father to take him to the IAAF World Championships in Beijing.

Inside the arena, top sprinters like Usain Bolt, Justin Gatlin, Su Bingtian and Zhang Peimeng flashed past like lightening.

"It felt unreal," recalled Li, who was just a high school student running a bit faster than his classmates. "I didn't imagine that one day I'd be on the track like any of them."

A year later, seeking to improve his prospects for university, he picked up sprinting with guidance from his PE teacher. The training was neither systematic nor professional, but it was good enough for the gifted teenager to earn admission to Wuhan University, one of China's best, on athletic merit in 2018.

There, in Hubei's provincial capital, he was recruited to the provincial sprint team. Coaches noticed his long lower legs, natural coordination and great explosive power. "He was very gifted," said Pan Qi, former deputy director of Hubei's track program center.

Six months of professional training lowered his times from 10.9 to 10.7 seconds. And in 2019, he ran 10.40 to win the National Youth Games.

Then came the call from the national team. For a teenager who had watched Su from the stands of the Bird's Nest, it felt like stepping into his own dream. "It definitely was the highlight of my life. I was enrolled in the national team after only one year of professional training," said Li.

But the dream quickly turned sour.

THE YEARS WHEN EVERYTHING GOT SLOWER

In 2019, Li joined the national squad to train in the United States, where he faced an intense system designed for elite athletes. Two-hour sessions packed with high-load pushed his body to its limits.

But having only trained as a sprinter for one year, his body could not keep pace. Soon, injuries and self-doubt followed.

The national coaches' feedback was blunt: "Weak base, insufficient strength, unable to maintain the rhythm".

Li left the national team injured and discouraged. From 2020 to 2023, he failed to beat his 10.40 record, with times even slipping to 10.50 and beyond. "My peers who trained with me in the United States could run faster than 10.10, but I was stuck. I started thinking maybe this is all I'll ever be."

He even considered retiring. "Running slow felt like losing myself. I didn't care what to do if I could not sprint my way out." So he applied to leave the provincial team, and started preparing for graduate school exams, trying to let go of his sprint dream.

But something inside him refused to settle. "I don't want to stop there," Li said.

THE UNEXPECTED RETURN

Six months later, after receiving a disappointing exam result, Li made a bold decision. He would go back.

"Very few athletes return after leaving, even fewer come back stronger," said Pan. "But half a year off might be a good thing for Li, whose mental stress and physical injuries gradually recovered, and his mind mature."

Li did come back changed.

"I realized talent doesn't carry you. I had mistakenly thought that as long as I was gifted, and I kept training, I would be Su Bingtian some day," he said. "But then I realized that sprinting is a comprehensive and complicated science. Technique, force control, injury prevention all matter. Improvement isn't automatic."

With a new mindset and steady training, Li began to run faster. In September 2024, he hit 10.26 in the national championships, and a year later, he ran a new personal best of 10.16. Several days ago, he finished in 10.08. And eventually, in a heated final, he claimed the national title with 10.11.

Although far from a world-leading time, it marked a milestone for China's next generation.

Looking back, Li said his choice to return wasn't heroic, but honest. "I genuinely love sprinting. I wanted to see my limit. If I could not stick with this, then nothing else in life would matter much."

Asked what he would like to say to his struggling younger self, he said: "If you can keep going, just keep going. Time has the magic to change things and your mind. Let time wash away the confusion."

Despite his historic win, Li remains grounded.

"My generation, the 2000s and even the 2005s, is very strong. Even though I won the gold, my personal best is still behind He Jinxian, Deng Xinrui and Chen Guanfeng. I need to keep working with them to push Chinese sprinting forward."

"I hope to stay in good shape for the next two years," Li added. "I want to stand on the Asian Games track and I want to run at the World Championships in Beijing. I want the world to see the Chinese speed of our generation." Enditem