Su: The end is near

Still, to try to make his home relay team at the 2025 National Games, which will be in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in November, remains a strong enough push for Su to keep training.

"To come back again, I mainly want to contribute to the Guangdong team in the relay. I will see if I can still bring some edge to the relay team in the race," said Su, who was born in Zhongshan and began athletics training at junior high school.

Standing 1.72 meters tall, Su was never considered a born talent in the brutally physical sprint discipline, where length of stride matters, with his early years in the national program overshadowed by another young prospect Zhang Peimeng, who became the first Chinese to reach 10.00 sec in an official meet at the 2013 worlds in Moscow.

Su's own strength lay in his starting technique and stride frequency, significantly enhanced by renowned American coach Randy Huntington. It soon helped his career take off, as he became the first Asian-born man to crack the 10-sec barrier after clocking 9.99s at an IAAF grand prix event in Eugene in June 2015.

In 2018, Su twice equaled the previous Asian record of 9.91s, and clocked 9.92s to take that year's Asian Games 100m title in Jakarta coached by Huntington, former mentor of men's long jump world record holder Mike Powell of the United States.

Despite a one-year delay due to the pandemic, the Tokyo Games presented the red-hot Su a perfect stage to shine, with his breakthrough final appearance etched in history as one of the all-time greatest athletic feats in China, equaling legendary 110m hurdler Liu Xiang's groundbreaking gold medal at the 2004 Athens Games.