Hernu has plenty of time

He may not stand at the top of the world hierarchy yet, but French decathlete Laurent Hernu can be satisfied with the way the 2003 season went.

Hernu took fifth place at the 203 World Championships in front of his home crowd (8218 points), and followed that with a victory in the Talence Decastar meet with a score of 8219 points, which lifted him to third place in the final standings of the IAAF World Combined Events Challenge.

Though Hernu remained short of his personal best of 8280 (2001), the consistency he showed with totals around 8200 points has given him confidence for the future. 2003 also brought him a lot with regard to experience, as with only 4-5 decathlons a year, one doesn't learn overnight how to manage the event.

"A decathlete only comes to maturity from 27-28 years of age" claims the tall (1.90m) man who turned 27 years of age this summer.

But having ambition doesn't necessarily mean rushing things and Hernu knows what he's talking about as his early career was hampered by a series of injuries. 

If Hernu's career had to be summed up by a few words, they would be ‘pleasure’ and ‘loyalty’. ’Pleasure,’ because he hasn't grown weary of spending his days in the stadium. In the evening, after his second training session, he can still be seen on the track as a coach, transmitting his knowledge to a group of youngsters of his club. “Loyalty” to a club (Nogent sur Oise, 60km north of Paris) that he has never left since he first registered at the age of eleven, following the footsteps of his father who had been a javelin thrower and who became his first club coach. Before taking to athletics, Hernu had already tried football and karate and he also played a lot basketball, handball and volley at secondary school.

Coaching at a distance

A new coach in the club, Gilles Follereau, rapidly noticed, that Hernu's temperament, wouldn't be satisfied by having to travel to a competition just to take part in one event and so he introduced him to the Decathlon. The pair have been working together since then and have forged strong friendship ties so that working at a distance wasn't considered insurmountable, when Follereau settled in the South of France two years ago.

Besides, Hernu doesn't stay alone in Nogent. Since 2000, he has regularly joined the group of sprinters coached by Guy Ontanon (which includes Muriel Hurtis), who oversees his preparation for the 100m, 400m, the Hurdles and the Long Jump.

"There's no problem for Gilles and Guy to work together, “ confirms Hernu. “They are both physical education teachers and have known each other for a long time. We often have phone calls with Gilles who sends me plans and I travel down to his place from time to time for a training camp".

Junior years

Hernu's career didn't get off on a memorable start. As a junior a shoulder injury sustained in competition (in the Pole Vault) ruined his season. The following year (1996) he scored 6277 points, but his shoulder dislocated again, this time in the middle of throwing the Javelin. There was no other choice other than to undergo surgery, in March 1997.

"Then I had to start again from naught, to build my physical condition but also to relearn the basics of stretching, Javelin, Discus and the Pole Vault.”

Those efforts bore their first fruit the following winter when he started to get invited to national training camps following his capture of the French U23 indoor title at the Heptathlon. "I learnt a lot from these camps concerning training and the atmosphere surrounding the Combined Events".

Sydney and Edmonton

In 1999, a five-year job contract offered by his club freed his mind from money concerns so that he could focus fully on the sport. He then progressively entered the international scene with 19th place at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, breaking the 8000 points barrier for the first time the same year in Arles.

In 2001 he was a finalist in Edmonton with his best score ever (8280), and the following year he was ranked seventh at the European championships in Munich.

By way of change, for 2003, Hernu’s coach proposed that he make his season debut abroad so that he would confront the world’s best. However, the results didn't fit with expectations as the Frenchman only got back from Götzis with 7807 points. But it wasn’t worrying for all that!

"Actually I was in the middle of a training period and lacked one week's preparation. What comforted me was that I wasn't even tired after the meet and could get rapidly back to normal training again".

Hernu’s performance at the European Cup in Bressanone on the first week-end of July wasn't much better (7742). "The trip had exhausted me and the track was of poor quality. After a terrible High Jump result, I would have pulled out if it weren't for the team who eventually won the title. I just contented myself working on technical adjustments in the last events.”  Fortunately, all went back into plan when he scored 8184 at the French championships which followed soon after.

It gave you shivers to hear your name chanted

From there the rest of the season became unforgettable with the special experience of competing at home in front of a 55,000 crowd at the World Championships. The magic started a few days before his event when he went to the stands of the Stade de France to watch his team mate Eunice Barber during the Shot Put.

"I was immediately overwhelmed by kids asking me for autographs. I told them that I was only there for a few minutes but I must have signed about 150 of them…." The following days were as enthralling. "It gave you shivers to hear your name chanted like a football star while entering the stadium. But I had no stress at all, I was just focused.”

”The athlete who probably surprised me most was Dmitry Karpov of Kazakhstan [3rd with 8374 points]. I knew him little so you wonder when you see him set PBs in the 100m, 400m, the Shot Put.  He had two really poor throws in the javelin but he managed to make up ground. If it hadn’t been for his last attempt the final ranking would have been different.”

Talence

Hernu’s victory in Talence one month later also remains as a special memory because the Decastar is a very famous meet, attracting 11,000 spectators to watch just Combined Events. There was another plus too. Athletes can bring their own music to pace their attempts. "The World Championships had a great atmosphere, but it really lacked music," Hernu laughed.

Thanks to his performance in Talence, Hernu ended the season with third place in the IAAF World Combined Events Challenge, which brought him a US$15,000 bonus.

"Honestly, before Talence, I didn't even give it that much thought. At that time I was happy with the fifth place I then held, as for the third year in a row I was in the top 8, meaning that I was getting better. But then I told myself that if I was the best French performer, I also had to be the first Frenchman in the IAAF Challenge (and Romain Barras was at that point third).”

"The formula of the Challenge is very welcome because decathletes don't have many opportunities to get earnings. So, that money is a real help to prepare better, fund training camps. But it could also be interesting to study the possibility to introduce Triathlon or Pentathlon events in Grand Prix meets".

Looking to improve Day 2

As for 2004, Hernu's eyes are already fixed on the Olympic Games in Athens. "I want to be a finalist. From there I'll try to gather as many points as possible to get the highest place possible".

Hernu will also try to reach a final score that better fits with his abilities. "8200 points was a bit below my expectations this year, but what comforts me is that if we take the best performances from my last three Decathlons event by event, it gives a score of 8466."

What is needed is for him to handle his second day of competition better. Hernu confirms he's learnt a lot this year in that field. For the rest he'll work more specifically on the sprints and his starts and get advice from Decathlete Sebastien Levicq (4th at the 1999 World championships in Seville) for the Pole Vault. "Sebastien says that it is easy to get points for the Pole Vault. Actually I feel I can get more points in all events but I'll have to be able to reproduce what I do in training.”

"At the end of my career, I'd like to be able to say to myself that I did the best I could. But for now there's still plenty of time lying ahead," Hernu concluded.