For me, what competitive coding, or practice of it, improves 2 skills: (1) solve an algorithmic problems and (2) translate ideas into code quickly and correctly

For me, what competitive coding, or practice of it, improves 2 skills: (1) solve an algorithmic problems and (2) translate ideas into code quickly and correctly. The number 1 is not that essential. But the number 2 is somewhat essential for day to day work. Being able to code faster for programmers is like being able to run faster for footballers. It's not everything obviously. But if you can code much faster, you will be a better programmer. Being obsessed with coding speed is also like being obsessed with running faster. After a certain threshold, it's probably not that helpful. Anyway, at first, I didn't believe that there would be anyone who could code like 5x-10x faster than me. From practicing a div-1 level-3 problem in topcoder.com, even if I read up the answer, it still takes me like 1-5 hours to implement a solution. A champion would take like 30 minutes including finding the solution. It was like WTF moment. How could people be that different? Be aware that somebody can code 10x much faster than you is probably what you might miss out. Once you are aware of that, you know you probably can practice, at least, to be 2x or 3x faster.