Kapek's 17.38 Triple Jump highlights - French Champs, Day 2

Held under unusually high temperatures, the primary highlights of the second (21) of three days of the French National championships included three performances within an hour by the ubiquitous Eunice Barber, Julien Kapek's 17.38 Triple Jump victory, and Ronald Pognon's 10.17 win in the 100 metres, while the medical staff had a busy day with many medal hopes for the upcoming European Championships suffering from injuries.

Kapek improves to 17.38

The best performance of the day was accomplished by the triple jumper Kapek with a 17.38m (wind -0.1) leap on his last attempt, after a series that included an effort of 17.00 and a pair of fouls. It was a huge improvement from his previous personal best of 17.12m, when he won the NCAA title in 2003 while at the University of Southern California.

Born in Clamart in 1979 to a Senegalese father and Polish mother, Kapek began his sporting interest with karate, basketball, and athletics at age 15, but his performances as a teenager were not good enough to attract much attention. In 2001, he went to USC with bests of 16.08 and 48.63 at 400m to his credit. Still following the plans of French coach Jimmy Gabriel, he improved by almost one meter in 2002 and stabilised his performance to get the NCAA win in 2003 and 10th place at the Athens Olympic Games. A fine season debut in 2006 was halted by a heel injury during a meeting in Brazil, leading to a month of inactivity. He managed to comeback in time to take third place at the European Cup (16.80m), before winning his second national title with a huge margin. Now the sixth farthest performer among Europeans this season, Kapek’s ambition are rising.

"I’d like first to check my current form in the international circuit against the world's best jumpers," he said. "It will be a good preparation for the European championships, my major goal for 2006."

Sébastien Pincemail took second with a 16.67 leap.

Barber's busy hour

After breaking her personal best at 100m the previous day with 11.52 in heats, Heptathlete Euncie Barber ran 11.75 in the semi-final while still in competition in the Javelin Throw. Her series was 41.73, 49.90, foul, 45.21, 46.61, 46.51 and eventually finished eighth in an event won by Sephora Bissoly with a 59.52m throw. Barber, in a brilliant form, was, in the meantime, also competing in the High Jump and won the title with a 1.86m leap, but did not compete in the 100m final in order to avoid any potential injury risks. The race was won by Véronique Mang in 11.31.

Deep men's 100
 
Under ideal conditions, the men's 100m semi-finals produced a performance density rarely seen in France. The relay team has six members at 10.30 or better, which gives some hope to obtain a sixth European title, a year after their World title in Helsinki. The final, run against a 0.4m/s wind, didn’t produced the expected fast times, but Ronald Pognon won comfortably in 10.17, 0.15 ahead of Oudéré Kanfarafou (10.25 in semi-finals) and Lueyi Dovi.

The men’s 1500m was as expected a tactical race, as the pack reach the kilometer in 2:32:48. Mounir Yemounir tried an early sprint at the bell and led after the last bend, but was passed by 3000m Steeplechase specialist Bouabdellah Tahri who covered the last 300m in 39.4 en route to a 3:40.79 win. Yemmouni eventually finished 3rd in 3:42.43, behind Algerian Abdelslam Kennouche (3:41.53). Tahri is now focusing on the Steeplechase for the European Championships to erase from memory his fourth place finish at the previous edition.

Leslie Djhone, Europe's best performer at 400m (44.91) this year, easily qualified for Saturday's final with a 46.07 performance after putting on the breaks with 30m to go. Said the 2004 Olympic finalist: "In the heats, I started slowly and finished strong, today I went out faster before relaxing, so tomorow I’ll try to put together a full race." His training partner Marc Raquil, second on the European lists with 45.01, chose to run the 200m and qualified for Saturday's semi-final with a 21.26, only 0.06 off of his personal best, while the fastest time was produced by David Alerte (20.85).

As injury woes mount, some key names questionable for Gothenburg

The French team for Gothenburg will be announced after the conclusion of the championships, and should include about 80 names. But in an incredible epidemic of injuries, most of the finest medal hopes are currently injured, including Pole Vault national record holder Vanessa Boslak, hammer thrower Manuèla Montebrun and high jumper Mélanie Skotnik.

Sprinter Christine Arron, who was recovering from pelvis problems, also injured her thigh adductor muscle in the 100m heats and thus won’t compete "unless a miracle happens," she said.

On a brighter note, distance runners Driss Maazouzi and Mehdi Baala, and World 110m Hurdles champion Ladji Doucouré might be able to recover before the beginning of August.

PJ Vazel for the IAAF