19-year-old Jian Zijie advances to the finals in the Asian Games men's 1500m preliminaries

Jian Zijie. (Reuters)

[Special Correspondent Wu Mengru/Nagoya Report] 19-year-old Japanese teenager Jian Zijie accelerated in the last lap of the men's 1500m preliminaries at the Nagoya Asian Games today. He smiled and looked at his opponents before entering the finish line. He finally crossed the line in 3 minutes, 45 seconds and 82 seconds, ranking fourth in his group and advancing to the finals the day after tomorrow.

In the men's 1,500 meters at the 326th Japan Sports University Long Distance Games in Japan in March this year, Jian Zijie clocked 3 minutes, 41 seconds and 88 seconds, not only once again breaking the national record set by himself, but also achieving the goal of the Nagoya Asian Games.

The 1,500-meter event of this Asian Games divided 22 people into two groups. Jian Zijie entered the second group in tonight's preliminaries. He remained in the top six in the early stages, but entered the final lap with full firepower and directly became the leader. This also gave him enough time to slow down slightly before the finish line, smile at the opponents beside him, and finally entered the finish line fourth in the group, successfully advancing.

Talking about his good condition in the last lap, Chien Zijie said: "I don't think it's that the condition is particularly good. I just let nature take its course and follow my own condition. Because my ability in the later stages is not bad, I just calculated it (ranking) and took a relatively relaxed state to see what everyone's condition is like later. Then there are people I know next to me, and I am very happy to enter the finish line together."

Jian Zijie said that today’s primary goal is to enjoy the game happily. After advancing to the finals, he hopes to further improve his goal of being in the top 8 and let the relatives and friends present watch a good-looking game. “I don’t want them to go back as if they haven’t seen anything, but to see an exciting content and a good-looking show.”