Muriel Hurtis takes women's 200m - European Cup (© Getty Images)
SottevillelèsRouen, FranceAs was the case on Friday, the women's sprints made the best impression during the second day of the French championships yesterday (17 July).
Hurtis – 22.78
The heats of the 200m respectively saw the victories of Paris 2003 bronze medallist Muriel Hurtis (22.78, equalling her season's best), Christine Arron (22.84 running in lane one of her heat) and Sylviane Félix (23.17). The final will give Hurtis a chance to regain French supremacy after she was severely defeated by Arron at Lille Metropole Grand Prix on 26 June - 22.87 for 22.60.
"I am actually surprised by my time," Muriel Hurtis declared. "I came to control the race, so I didn't think I'd run below 23 seconds. I feel I'm getting back to shape and now just hope that I won't lapse again into my little faults when I find myself in a close race.”
100mH - Three now have qualification for Athens
The day was also marked by the performance of 24 year old Reina Flor Okori who reached the French standard for the Olympics in the 100m hurdles, winning her heat in 12.87, the best time of the preliminaries. Her feat adds the number of qualifiers in this event to three besides Linda Ferga and Nicole Ramalalanirina, which, unless there is a significant reversal in final could mean the end of Patricia Girard's hopes as the Atlanta OG bronze medallist is still chasing the qualifying time and couldn't do better than 13.23 in the heats.
The men's Hurdles were won easily by Ladji Doucouré in 13.35, after recording an assisted 13.25 in the semi-final (wind +3,7). "I didn't have a good start, contrary to the heat and the semi-final, which forced me to struggle to catch the others. I'm not really happy with the way I ran technically. Now, I'm waiting for the Golden League meet in Saint-Denis to measure myself against the world's best, and then we'll see" Doucouré commented.
In the 400m hurdles, Stéphane Diagana's retirement leaves the field open for Naman Keita. The tall runner (1.96m) was not deterred by his assignment to lane one and recorded the best time of the heats in 50.38. "I had planned to run in 12 strides until the third hurdle, and in 13 until the end. I only managed until the ninth but my race remains correct on the whole" declared Keita.
Raquil provides a 45.80 boost
In the flat race, Marc Raquil followed his progression through the semi (46.52), hoping for a 45.80 in the final to boost his morale, while training partner Leslie Djhone jogged to clock the best time in the heats of the 200m (20.81).
The women's 1500m gave rise to a spirited quest for the Olympic standard by Latifa Essarokh assisted by Morocco's Bouchra Ghezielle as the duo rapidly broke from the rest of the pack. The headwind however thwarted their project leaving Ghezielle the victory in 4:09.13 and Essarokh the national title in 4.09.49.
The men's 800m saw the incursion of 1500m runner Mounir Yemmouni, the European U23 champion (3:32.97 in Roma in 2004). However, the young athlete, who took a break from his altitude training camp in Font Romeu to work on his speed was caught in a tactical race where the specialists prevailed. Moussin Chehibi of Morocco finished first in 1:48.64 ahead of Nicolas Aissat 1:49.06 (with Florent Lacasse absent for medical reasons). The women's title went to 2002 European indoor bronze medallist, Elisabeth Grousselle on her return to competition after a two-year break (2.01.37).
In the absence of Bouabdellah Tahri, who preferred to run the 1500m, the 3000m steeplechase was won by Gael Pencreach in 8:27.96.
Below par field
With the exception of the men's Triple Jump won by Karl Taillepierre with 17.16m – 5th best French performance ever - ahead of the 2003 NCAA champion Julien Kapek, the field events didn't produce any outstanding results.
In the throws, titles were awarded to Bina Ramesh in the women's Javelin (55.20) and Yves Niaré in the men's Shot Put (18.22m). Grégory Gabella took the High Jump with 2.21m while Nadine Caster won the Long Jump (6.54 at 39 years old!) in the absence of the injured World champion Eunice Barber, who still hasn’t made her seasonal debut either in the Long Jump or in the Heptathlon.
The Heptathlon and Decathlon were won respectively by Julie Martin (5876 points) and Gaetan Blouin (7576 points) as the athletes already selected for Athens besides Eunice Barber - Laurent Hernu, Laurent Barras, and Marie Collonvillé – were content with polishing their technique in a few events only.
Carole Fuchs for the IAAF
