(Sports Focus) Su Bingtian, a step-stone for China's brave sprinting cause

When Su Bingtian was first added to the track and field team of his junior high school, what he did most was not training or competing, but carrying bags for his senior teammates and watching them running.

Nobody, including Su himself, would believe the small boy could one day become the first Asian man to reach the 100m final at the World Championships, running side-to-side with the fastest sprinters in the world.

"When I stood at the starting line, watching the finishing line ahead of us while surrounded by thunderous cheers and applause from the stands, I knew I was not representing myself," Su told Xinhua on Monday, one day after the history-making 100m final at the 2015 IAAF World Championships in Beijing's famous "Birds' Nest".

"Reaching the 100m final at a global major event is a dream shared by not only myself, but also all the Chinese sprinters, generation after generation. Standing at that starting line, I knew it was a long-awaited moment."

Born in a rural area in China's southeastern province of Guangdong, Su started training in athletics in 2003. After 12 years of fast progress, Su emerged from a bag-carrier to the fastest man in the world most populous country, breaking the national record after he clocked 9.99 seconds at the IAAF Diamond League Eugene leg on May 30. He is the first and only Chinese that have ever dipped under the 10-second barrier.

During the semifinal round on Sunday night, the 25-year-old once again clocked 9.99s to reach the final, tying his own national record with a 0.4 meters-per-second upwind. And he could have improved the record in the heats when he visually slowed down in the last five meters and finished in 10.03s.

"I do not think I need to regret, because if I did not try to save as much energy as possible for the semifinal, I could have been ousted," he explained. "In fact I gave all myself in the semifinal, I was kind of out of energy during the last 50 meters. I am very satisfied with the 10.06 mark."

Su finished at bottom in Sunday's final. Apart from his poor physical conditions, the cautious, in some ways over-cautious, start also to drag him down.

"I just told myself I would never ever have another false start," said Su, referring to the rueful memory when he was disqualified for false start in the semifinal at the Moscow worlds two years ago.

"Yesterday in the final, my reaction time is 0.175s, while my average is around 0.150s. I just did not want to take any risk," he added.

Su has witnessed a successful season so far this year, trimming 0.04 seconds off his personal best, and he attributed such progress to a revolutionary technique change starting from last winter.

When Su first began to train in sprinting, he had been using his right foot to start off. But he always found his third step a little bit weak and unsteady which would affect his intermediate running and the whole rhythm. After consulting with his coach Yuan Guoqiang, China's first national record holder in digital-timing era with a PB of 10.52s, Su has changed his way to start with his left foot going forward first.

"It was like a desperate gamble, a brand new start for me. I knew if it works I would find some room to improve, otherwise it could lead to the end of my career," Su said.

Following the retirement of China's hurdling icon Liu Xiang in April, the country's track and field community is keen to find a new flag-bearer. But Su revealed he is not ready yet to stand up to face such honor as well as the pressure that combines with it.

"Yesterday in the 'Birds' Nest', the fervent atmosphere from the stands was really beyond my imagination. I think now I can better understand Liu Xiang. All these years he had been carrying such huge expectation and pressure," he said.

"To be honest, I am not fully prepared for such pressure and intensive media coverage. I will learn to deal with it as soon as possible. But I do not want to become a flag-bearer or what so ever, I just want to be myself. Training and competing will always be my priority," said a determined Su.

"If I did not train in athletics from the very start, I could be a married guy now, and a father perhaps, with an ordinary job and an ordinary life. Luckily, I made the right choice at the first place. I am really enjoying my life," he said.

"I hope my story can encourage those young people who have been training or are about to train in sprinting, encouraging them to believe that Chinese can also run fast and maybe even reach the podium at the World Championships or Olympic Games one day," Su said.

"I do not think I am a hero. I am just a step-stone, a step-stone like my coach Yuan and all the country's sprinting foregoers, a step-stone to pave the way for more youngsters to push the speed limit for China." Endi