The iconic little yellow hat is about to haunt the world championships again Xu Jiayu, who has returned to world number one, is about to debut

The men's 100m backstroke heats at the World Championships are due this morning. Representing the Chinese team was Xu Jiayu. Xu Jiayu was in poor form at last year's World Championships and did not even make it to the final. After returning to China, there was another off-field incident, Xu Jiayu buried his head in training and disappeared for a while.

Xu Jiayu, who appeared in public again this year, we don't know if his resistance to pressure in the World Series has increased, which was once his soft point and can only be tested again at the World Championships. But estimating the seething events is also a good psychological grind for him.

And what we know better is that Xu Jiayu, who is not young, ushered in the second spring of his career with decisive value this year!

Throughout the epidemic, Xu Jiayu's competitive status has actually declined slowly. At that time, I thought that he would swim well for the rest of his life, and he could only guarantee a leading position at the Asian level.

But this year, after the spring blossoms returned. Xu Jiayu used a series of achievements to show that even those who are familiar with him may have underestimated the definition of what a true backstroke genius is.

Now Xu Jiayu has returned to his top state again. This year's ranking of the top seven in the world, Xu Jiayu alone accounted for three! No. 1 was also the world No. 1, with a time of 52.26 seconds in the national championship relay.

At last year's World Championships, Italy's Checon broke the world record by winning in 51.60 seconds, and became the former world record setter's Murphy of the United States, who finished second in 51.97 seconds, and Armstrong of the United States finished third in 51.98 seconds. In addition, Greece's Christo swam 52.09 seconds in the semifinals.

The current state of these players is seriously related to Xu Jiayu's performance at this year's World Championships. The data shows that Armstrong is second in the world in 52.33 seconds, Murphy is third in the world in 52.39 seconds, and Christo and Chehole are clearly in state adjustment, both outside 53 seconds.

Of course, pre-match data cannot be transferred to the World Championships. But there is no doubt that Xu Jiayu, who is at the same starting line, has more courage, fighting spirit and self-confidence to meet the breakthrough challenge of another World Championship.

Today's preliminary round and semi-finals are certainly not too difficult for Xu Jiayu today. That proud little yellow hat is going to haunt the storm of the World Championships, so let's show off the ability to chop melons and cut vegetables in the World Series!