Muriel Hurtis takes women's 200m - European Cup (© Getty Images)
Niort, FranceMuriel HurtisHouairi produced the leading performance of the second day of the French Championships, as she burst to a promising 22.38 during the opening round of the 200m.
Women's 200m the key event of the day
The women’s 200m heats drew the most attention of Day 2 action and delivered the drama. It provided the occasion to see a match over the distance between the two women who have dominated French sprinting for the past decade: Hurtis-Houairi, the former 200m European and World Indoor, coming back from pregnancy and Christine Arron, the former 100m European Champion, on the comeback from injury. Both appear to be back at their finest level for Sunday's 200m final.
In the first heat, Hurtis-Houairi produced an extraordinary bend and covered the straight in a relaxed style against a 1.6 m/s wind. Still, she posted 22.38, her second fastest time ever, the fastest among Europeans and is now the sixth fastest in the world.
“I’m of course very happy with the time," the 28-year-old said, who has a 22.31 career best from 1999. "I was looking for a relaxed heat and to save energy for the final. I tried to do it, that’s why I’m surprised by the time. I hope I won’t be exhausted after this race and that I will run even faster tomorrow”
A 22.50 performer this year, she shocked a week ago with a subpar 23.13 for fifth place in Heusden. “I was hoping to run fast in Belgium, as my training times gave promising indications, but somehow, I completely missed my race, I lost my fluidness, and I know that when I run relaxed, I run faster, like I did today.”
Arron 22.88, then falls ill
Arron, running in the third heat, was contesting her first 200m in two years, and won it in 22.88 (wind -1.5). Unfortunately, she felt sick aftwards and was immediately examined by medical personal. She has yet to decide whether she'll fun the final on Sunday.
"It was a non-race for Christine,” her coach, Stéphane Caristan, said. “She felt dizzy during warm-up and she was not sure about lining up in the call room. She still competed but she didn’t looked good at all, it was like she was fighting against a four meter per second wind. After the race, she felt faint and her heart rate would not calm down.”
The 100m European Record holder (10.73) was transfered to a clinic with French Federation doctor Philippe Deymier in order to be examined but was expected to be released later in the afternoon. “She just told me that she had a similar sickness 10 years ago,” Caristan added. Indeed, Arron, 33, suffered from vertigo during the 1997 nationals between each of the 200m rounds, and those recovery problems forced her to chose to focus on the 100m during her career. Plagued by injuries in 2006, Arron had shown better form this summer, culminating in an 11.06 clocking last week in Monaco. Already qualified for Osaka in the 100m, Arron was on a quest to qualify in the 200m as well in order to double in Osaka.
“Running 22.88 in these conditions shows me she can run much faster,” Caristan estimated, "but at the moment we haven’t decided if she will race tomorrow."
In Hurtis-Houairi and Arron’s absence, the 100m final was won by Carima Louami in 11.54 (wind -1.5).
Season's best 45.19 for Djhone
Leslie Djhone erased any doubts about his current form after winning the 400m in fine style.
“I had a pale first half of the season, but my coach wanted me to reach my peak later than usual with the World Championships in late August,” the 26-year-old 2004 Olympic finalist said.
Reaching 200m in 21.9 and 300m in 33.0, Djhone had a similar race structure as his recent races, but this time managed to maintain form in the last straight to smash his season best with 45.19. “I ran my own race without caring about the others, that’s why I opened fast. I took me some time to manage to renew my effort in the last bend, but the final time is good,” the national record holder (44.64) said. Behind him, Brice Panel (45.89) edged Mathieu Lahaye by a mere .01 seconds.
Third titles for Désert, Skotnik
In the women's race, the favourite, Senegalese Amy Mbacké Thiam, the 2001 World champion, cruised toa 50.92 victory, unchallenged. The title went to Solen Désert, 25, who took more risks than usual, and changing her habits of more conservative tactics led her to a new personal best of 51.42 for her third national title. The depth was the highest ever for a final with five other frenchwomen dipping under 53 seconds.
Mélanie Skotnik captured a third title as well after matching her season's best of 1.95 in the High Jump before missing three times at her own French Record (1.97).
"I'm very happy with my competition because I didn’t want to go to Osaka with a 1.90 jump”, said Scotnic, who broke a streak of bad performances due to a new shoe adaptation.
Dovy takes men's 100m
The favourite for the men’s 100m final, Martial M’Bandjock, had to stop after 12 steps while Lueyi Dovy captured the victory in front of his home crowd in 10.41 (wind -1.2) from Manuel Reynaert 10.45. M’Bandjock, fastest in heats with a wind-assisted 10.21, explained that cramps disturbed his warm-up. “I shouldn’t have run but I still took the risk to run the final. I stopped in order to not get seriously injured.” Dovy gave credit to his unfortunate rival. “I’m conscience that I was lucky today because Martial had faster times than me, but I’m glad I won. Now, we have to work in order to defend our 4x100m World Title in Osaka”.
Other notable wins include Julien Kapek in the Triple Jump (17.10m), Yves Niaré’s 20.08 in the Shot Put, and the 5982 point tally in the Heptathlon for Antoinette Nana Djimou Ida. Mohamed-Khaled Belabbas won 3000m Steeplechase in 8:33.48 and and Abdelkader Bakhtache took the 1500m in 3:40.51, using similar tactics of staying in the pack before producing devastating finishes to claim their victories.
Pierre-Jean Vazel for the IAAF
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