Christophe Lemaitre polishes off his double in Stockholm with a dominating 200m win (© DECA Text&Bild)
Albi, FranceStrong winds played a key role on the final day of the French national championships on Saturday (30), undermining Christophe Lemaitre’s attempt at another national record and forcing Renaud Lavillenie to no-height in the men’s Pole Vault.
Windy 20.08 victory for Lemaitre
The day after breaking his own national record in the 100m with a 9.92 dash, the only question surrounding the young French star was by how much he would break his 200m French Record of 20.16. After winning his heat in 20.69, he confirmed his intentions to run faster than ever: “I can break it if I manage to negotiate the curve properly. My coach told me to save energy during the first round and to not run faster than 20.60. At least, he won’t bawl me before the final!”
During the final, Lemaitre’s curve was not much better as he was only leading by one metre from his teammate Pierre-Alexis Pessonneaux. But once he got into the home stretch, the 1.89m/82kg sprinter left the pack and increased his lead until the finish line, crossed in 20.08. His joy was short-lived when the speaker announced that the tailwind, at 2.3 metres per second, was over the legal limit for record ratification.
“I wanted to break the 200m record since the start of the season, but each time the conditions were not helping me,” Lemaitre lamented. Indeed, in Saint-Etienne the wind was blowing at -2.2 during a 20.33 run as it did in Stockholm, -2.8 for 20.28; and at the Paris Samsung Diamond League fixture, where he clocked 20.21, the breakdown of a module of the false-start apparatus delayed the race by 15 minutes. In Albi, the wind, which was favourable in the straight, was against the runners in the first part of the bend.
“20.08 is still a good time, but I made many technical mistakes,” Lemaitre analysed. “This was my fifth race in three days and I definitively can improve it. Running faster will be required in Daegu for the World Championships.”
Mesnil near miss at 5.91m, no-height for Lavillenie
Swirling winds were obviously a disturbing factor during the Pole Vault as the competitors would often stop their run-up or change their marks in trying to adapt to changing conditions. The Albigeois Romain Mesnil chose to start late with a 5.63m bar which he cleared at his first attempt. The favourite Renaud Lavillenie, the European Champion indoors and outdoors, opened even later at 5.73m, but failed three times.
“I wanted to take risks and it didn’t work. High level athletes have to take risks, if not, it’s better to stay at home,” Lavillenie justified. “My warm-up was ok. The problem was not the height of the bar, but rather the changing wind. Because of that, I was either outside or inside my checking marks by 30 centimetres.”
Alternating the best and the worse this season - with a world leading jump of 5.90m and a no-height in New York - Lavillenie has had an erratic season so far. “I was unlucky with the conditions, but really, I’m not worry at all. There’s one month left before the World Championships and my goal is to get a medal there.”
New York’s winner, Romain Mesnil, leaped over the 5.73 bar at his third try, before narrowly missing 5.91m, and confirmed his ability to always make the best of difficult conditions.
“I’m unbeaten in this stadium! Today Renaud made the mistake I’ve made before in my career,” revealed the 34-year-old. “If I’m still competing at my age, it’s because I want to become World champion, as I already had a Silver medal in 2009.”
Tahri prevails in tactical Steeplechase
Bouabdellah Tahri dominated a tactical 3000m Steeplechas race (8:34.29) in warm conditions over a strong field.
“There is such a depth in this event that nobody knew what would happen during the race,” the European record holder at 8:01.18 explained. “With my coach, we are trying to put in place various strategies and race schemes. Today, the plan was to progressively accelerate during the whole race.”
That acceleration left Vincent Zouaoui-Dandrieux (8:35.34), Noureddine Gezzar (8:37.96) and Mohamed-Khaled Belabbas (8:42.21) well behind in the absence of European Champion Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad who is provisionally suspended for a disciplinary infraction in Monaco last week. “I started my sprint early with one kilometre to go, as I had a national title to defend,” Tahri added.
With 13.26, Dimitry Bascou took an impressive win over Bano Traoré (13.68) in the 110m hurdles, but once again the wind (+4.1) provided more frustration than satisfaction. “There’s nothing to do about it,” said Bascou. “I only tried to put more rhythm into the intervals in order to avoid fatal mistakes on the barriers.”
European 200m champion Myriam Soumaré took the title in her specialty in 22.86 (+5.0) confirming her ascending shape one day after her personal best at 100m (11.17).
“I’m very happy to win. The mental preparation made the difference today because the wind was like a wall against us in the curve. It was a war and I won it!”
The men’s long Jump was the most dramatic competition of the day, as European silver medallist Kafétien Gomis won on his last attempt (8.22m, +4.0). Salim Sdiri, in his first competition of the season, finished second (8.13m, +3.7), while Benoit Maxwell landed over the eight-metre barrier for the first time in his career (8.06m, +3.8).
Pierre Jean Vazel for the IAAF
