Anita Wlodarcyzk provided the highlight of the fourth day of the Francophone Games when she decimated the championship record with a throw 75.62m in Nice on Friday (13).The Pole consigned to history France’s Manuela Montebrun’s mark of 70.26m, set four years ago at the last edition of the games in Beirut, with her first toss of 71.25m before improving further in the second round with 73.24m.The former World record-holder and 2013 World silver medallist then sent her implement out to 75.62m before finishing with three fouls in an effort to put a really big distance on the scoreboard.Romania’s former World youth and junior champion Bianca Perie was a distant second with 70.41m, which was also farther than the old record.Burundi’s US-based Diane Nukuri-Johnson took the women’s 10,000m title in a championship record 32:29.14, taking more than a minute off the old mark of Morocco’s Zhor El Kamch, which had stood at 33:41.28 since 2005.In fact, the first four runners home in the sparse six-woman field were inside the old record, with the silver medal going to Morocco’s Khadiha Sammah with 32:38.42.Valentin Lavillenie adds to the family gold reserves France’s Valentin Lavillenie got his first major championship gold medal, although he has quite a few to make up on his older brother and Olympic champion Renaud, when he was the only man over 5.50m before unsuccessfully trying to equal his outdoor best and meeting record of 5.65m.Another victory in the men’s field events went to France in the Triple Jump thanks to Yoann Rapinier bounding out to 17.11m with his last effort, just four centimetres short of the meeting record.Rapinier jumped 16.85m with his second effort, which gave him a healthy lead after two rounds, but then he saw his compatriot Gaetan Saku Bafuanga then reach 16.90m in the third round.After a pass and a foul, Rapinier got back in front with his 16.96m leap in the fifth round. Saku Bafuanga couldn’t top that with his fifth-round jump of 16.33m. Rapinier then uncorked his 17.11m with the penultimate attempt and although his domestic rival improved to 16.93m with the very last jump of the entertaining competition, the gold medal went to the 2013 IAAF World Championships finallist.Belgium’s Anne Zagre, the 2009 European junior champion who holds her 100m Hurdles national record with 12.79, was able to coast to a comfortable win in 13.41.Auzeil dominates the DecathlonFrance’s Bastien Auzeil held the Decathlon joint lead overnight with Montenegro’s Darko Pesic, the pair tied on 4019 points, but the former soon stamped his authority on the event on the second day.Auzeil, the only man in the competition to have a season's best of more than 8000 points, sped to victory in the 110m Hurdles in 14.66 to take the overall lead and he never relinquished pole position after that.He also came out on top in the Discus with 42.04m and then equalled his outdoor best of 5.10m in the Pole Vault, 40cm higher than anyone else could manage.A more modest Javelin effort of 54.04m didn’t derail his gold medal-winning effort and he had a lead of 278 points over Pesic going into the final event, giving him the luxury of being able to ease round the 1500m in 4:55.94 and, despite bringing up the rear by more than 10 seconds in the final event, he finished with a total of 7789 points.Pesic took the silver medal with 7636 points, improving on his own national record.Canada’s Oluwasegun Wasinde was the fastest man of the three 200m heats in 20.90, with all the races being run into a stiff breeze. His compatriot Crystal Emmanuel, with the women facing similar conditions in their two 200m semi-finals run just a few minutes before, was the quickest in 23.55.France’s Yoann Decimus took the honours of being the fastest man in the 400m Hurdles semi-finals in 50.07, but with only three men eliminated ahead of Saturday’s final, most of the top runners didn’t need to hit top gear.In similar fashion, the top men’s 1500m runners were able to hold something back for the final with the fastest man Tunisia’s Ben Othmen Zied with 3:46.03; although favourites Morocco’s Mohamed Moustaoui and Djibouti’s Ayanleh Souleiman looked as though they were barely out of breath as they also qualified with ease.Morocco’s Malika Akkaoui was the fastest woman in the 800m heats in 2:04.65.The final day on Saturday sees no less than 15 gold medals being decided. Phil Minshull for the IAAF

Wlodarczyk and Nukuri-Johnson rewrite the record books at the Francophone Games

Anita Wlodarcyzk provided the highlight of the fourth day of the Francophone Games when she decimated the championship record with a throw 75.62m in Nice on Friday (13).

The Borlee brothers are perhaps the most famous twins in athletics at the moment, and the 400m runners are set to make history at the IAAF World Championships in Moscow.When Jonathan and Kevin Borlee line up for the 4x400m relay alongside younger sibling Dylan, it will be the first time in the history of the World Championships that three siblings have all competed together in the same race. While Dylan will be making his World Championships debut, Moscow will be Kevin’s third World Championships and Jonathan’s second. Kevin took bronze in Daegu two years ago as Jonathan finished fifth.And although Jonathan broke his brother’s national record in the heats of last year’s Olympic Games with 44.43, it was Kevin who once again finished higher in the final as he placed fifth, one place ahead of Jonathan.The Belgian twins – whose older sister Olivia won Olympic silver in 2008 and World bronze in 2007 in the 4x100m Relay – are expected to be among the medal challengers again; not only in the individual event, but in the 4x400m Relay too.Belgium finished fourth at the 2009 World Championships and fifth two years ago in Daegu, just 0.31 away from a medal. Their chances will have been strengthened by the presence of Dylan, who recently took more than a second off his PB when finishing second at the National Championships with 45.80.But the Borlees aren’t the only set of twins in Moscow; in fact, in the race-walking events along there are three sets!Joao and Sergio Vieira will represent Portugal in the men’s 20km walk, Chile’s Edward and Yerko Araya will contest the 50km and 20km walks respectively, and Kazakh twins Ayman and Sholpan Kozhakhmetova will both compete in the women’s 20km walk.Other twins in Moscow include Slovak jumpers Jana and Dana Veldakova; Jake and Zane Robertson, distance runners from New Zealand, and Algerian middle-distance runners Imed and Abdelmedjed Touil, who will compete in the 1500m and 3000m Steeplechase respectively.Aside from twins, there are many other sets of siblings set to compete at the World Championships. Three reigning Olympic champions will be joined on their national teams by their younger siblings.Olympic Pole Vault champion Renaud Lavillenie is on the French team alongside younger brother Valentin. Three-time Olympic gold medallist Tirunesh Dibaba will be cheering on younger sister Genzebe Dibaba in the 1500m, while World and Olympic Discus champion Robert Harting will have his younger brother Christoph for company on the German team.Kenya’s Bethwell Birgen will be a medal contender in the men’s 1500m, while his brother Bernard Koech will have ambitions of a podium finish in the Marathon.Luis Rivera, the current world leader in the Long Jump, will be one of Mexico’s best chances of a medal. He will be making his World Championships debut, but it will be the second World Championships appearance for his brother Edgar, who hopes to improve on his performance from two years ago in Daegu where he finished 26th in High Jump qualifying.Unusually, sisters Mimi and Almensh Belete will both be in Moscow but representing different countries. The former Ethiopians have switched allegiance with Mimi now representing Bahrain and Belete running for Belgium.There are also sprint hurdlers Shermaine and Danielle Williams from Jamaica and Thomas and Pascal Martinot-Lagarde from France. Meanwhile Olympic 400m silver medallist Christine Ohuruogu was named in the British 4x400m squad alongside younger sister Victoria.Leif and Niklas Arrhenius will represent Sweden in the Shot and Discus respectively, while Eritrea’s Goitom and Yonas Kifle will feature in the 10,000m and Marathon.Race walker Jared Tallent was selected for the Australian team along with sister Rachel. Also in the race walking events are Swiss duo Marie and Laura Polli. In fact, more than a third of the Swiss women’s athletics team is made up of siblings. Aurelie and Fanette Humair go in the 4x100m along with Lea Sprunger, whose sister Ellen will compete in the Heptathlon.Jon Mulkeen for the IAAF

Moscow will be a family affair for Borlees and other siblings

The Borlee brothers are perhaps the most famous twins in athletics at the moment, and the 400m runners are set to make history at the IAAF World Championships in Moscow.

With less than a month until the Meeting Areva 2013, the line-up has been further boosted by a handful of athletics stars, making the French stage of the IAAF Diamond League even glossier than previous editions.World 110m Hurdles record-holder Aries Merritt will return to the Stade de France on 6 July in search of his first victory in the French capital. He has competed here five times previously, but is yet to win. The Olympic champion’s task will not be an easy one either, as he will be up against World champion Jason Richardson and David Oliver, who set his PB of 12.89 at this meeting in 2010.This year, Oliver is so far the fastest of the three, confirming his return to form with a time of 13.10 in Eugene. But his two domestic rivals are making no secret of the fact that they’re intending to make the most of the fast Stade de France track to vie for national leadership.The men’s 400m line-up is not yet quite complete, but the presence of two athletes in particular will ensure that it will be one of the evening’s high points. Winner in Rome and Eugene, USA’s 2008 Olympic champion LaShawn Merritt will face the previously-announced Kirani James, the World and Olympic champion.The pair have already clashed twice this season. James got the upper hand in Shanghai, winning with a world-leading 44.02, but Merritt prevailed in Eugene as just 0.07 separated the pair, 44.32 to 44.39. Their revenge match in Paris promises to be electric.Billed as the evening’s main event, the men’s 200m already had a start list worthy of a global championships final, with six competitors having run under 19.90 over the course of their career – World record-holder Usain Bolt, World bronze medallist Christophe Lemaitre, Olympic bronze medallist Warren Weir, World finalist Nickel Ashmeade, European champion Churandy Martina and Jamaica’s Jason Young.The latest addition to this list is Jimmy Vicaut. Fresh from his performance at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Rome, where he finished third in a European-leading 10.02, Guy Ontanon’s student will be competing in his secondary event.“I want to make progress with the 200m this season, a distance where my personal best of 20.58 dates back to last year, with the aim of using it to benefit my performance in the 100m,” said the European 100m silver medallist.“I’m hoping to make the most of the atmosphere to secure a place in the World Championships. I know that I can perform well this year over 200m. I’ll be gunning for a good time at the Stade de France, enough to get my ticket to the Worlds at least, a bit better than that even.”Until now, Vicaut has never competed at the Meeting Areva, nor has he ever set foot on the Stade de France track. But the expected 50,000 spectators won’t ruffle his composure. “The pressure may be a bit greater, but I take fairly little notice of the outside elements. I just run my race.”Another young French athlete who will be making their Stade de France debut on 6 July is 21-year-old Valentin Lavillenie. The younger brother of Olympic pole vault champion Renaud Lavillenie, he will be part of a competition where his older sibling will be targeting his fifth consecutive victory. Winner of the Montreuil meeting last week with an outdoor PB of 5.65m, Valentin will hope to benefit from the atmosphere to achieve the World Championships qualifying standard of 5.70m, equal to the indoor PB he set earlier this year.Organisers for the IAAF2013 IAAF Diamond League calendar Doha, QAT – 10 May Shanghai, CHN – 18 May New York, USA – 25 May Eugene, USA – 1 Jun Rome, ITA – 6 Jun Oslo, NOR – 13 Jun Birmingham, GBR – 30 Jun Lausanne, SUI – 4 Jul Paris, FRA – 6 Jul Monaco, MON – 19 Jul London, GBR – 26-27 Jul Stockholm, SWE – 22 Aug Zürich, SUI – 29 Aug Brussels, BEL – 6 Sep

Merritt, Richardson and Vicaut among latest Paris additions – IAAF Diamond League

With less than a month until the Meeting Areva 2013, the line-up has been further boosted by a handful of athletics stars, making the French stage of the IAAF Diamond League even glossier than previous editions.

Renaud Lavillenie enthuses about Eugene - IAAF Online Diaries

“Hi everybody! I am glad to give you some of my news, as the outdoor season has already started.