Salim Sdiri - French indoor record holder for LJ (© Getty Images)
The 2005 edition of the National Indoor Championships in Liévin has a great dimension this year, as French direction made the participation required for athletes in order to be qualified for the European Championships in Madrid, even if they already have achieved the qualification standards.
This is an attempt to save these Championships from disappearing, as it wasn't shown on French television for the first time ever. Competition was tough in the famous track of Liévin, where several athletes placed themselves as favourites for Madrid.
World leading Long Jump for Salim Sdiri at 8.24
The last event of the second day of the National Championships provided exciting performances from Salim Sdiri, 25 years old jumper, who showed promises with his 12th place at Athens Olympics.
In Liévin, in matching his outdoor Personal Best from 2004 of 8.24m, Sdiri not only won the National Indoor title but also broke the National record (8.17) by Jean-François Bonhème set 31 years ago.
A joyful Sdiri said: “I didn't think at all about breaking the French record. One month ago, I lost the will to jump because of personal problems. But today I felt great, and my first attempt confirmed it. I fooled, but estimated the jump to be longer than the qualifying mark for Madrid (7.98). For the second jump i tried to duplicate the same run-up and i did 8.15. I used the same strategy for the 3rd jump and landed at 8.24.”
“I wanted to stay focused for the rest of the competition, and confirmed with my 4th jump at 8.15. My run-up for the 5th attempt was so fast that I didn't even control the take-off and did only 5.84.”
He didn't take the last attempt. Strong pressure came from Yann Domenech, who jumped twice over 8m and placed 2nd with 8.05.
A good sign could come from the fact that Sdiri broke the performance which made Bonhème a European Champion back in 1974.
“My performance today allows me to target a win in Madrid!”
European record holder Pognon back on track
The Long Jump overshadowed Ronald Pognon who came in Liévin as the newly crowned 60m European record holder, after clocking 6.45 set last weekend in Karlsruhe.
Another outstanding time wasn't in the plans due to the lack of opposition and the consequences of a bad flue. However, the motivation to win his first ever senior national title was present.
Three rounds were scheduled on Saturday: in the heats, he produced a good start and ran, from his own words, only 35m for 6.61. In the semi-final, he “did a mistake in my third step, a detail which I specifically practiced yesterday. I only ran the first 45 metres,” analysed the 22-year-old sprinter.
The clock still showed 6.56, underlining his enormous progression from his 6.65 personal best before the 2005 season.
In the final, Pognon had a better start, which was followed by a soft acceleration and his incredible top speed which produced an immense gap with his opponents in the final 20m. He won in 6.55.
“I didn't want to push things hard, I wanted to stay cool, I'm already thinking about the coming races, in the meeting in Liévin and the European Indoor Championships in Madrid.”
His teammate Christine Arron is also recovering from the flu, which slowed her training since her win in Gent, two weeks ago. She qualified for the next round with 7.20, but didn't seem as relaxed as usual.
“I'm not in my best shape, the start of the warm-up was fine, but I felt a little tired before the race. Last year at the Nationals, I did 7.16 in heats, so today's time is just average,” explained Arron.
“Compared to the other girls, my start was bad,” but after two false starts, no mistake was allowed...
Only heats were scheduled on Saturday, so she will have to wait for Sunday to run the semis and the final, where she will face the opposition of hurdler Linda Khodadin who qualified in 7.38.
Ladji Doucouré easily advances to semi-final
Linda Khodadin (former-Ferga), double European indoor champion at 60m Hurdles, didn’t compete in her favourite race, which is usually one of the toughest events at the French Nationals.
In her absence 1996 Olympic bronze medallist Patricia Girard, 2000 Olympic finalist Nicole Ramalalanirina, 100m Hurdles French champion Reina-Flor Okori, and outsiders Fanny Gérance and Joanna Bujak lined up in the final and all started excellently.
Girard and Ramalalanirina leaned to the tape, but Okori, in lane 6, had a better surge and overcame a worrying 8.25 in semi final to snatch her first senior National indoor title.
“I was so scared, I didn't even hope to win as I'm late in my preparation; I virtually spent the whole week in a swimming pool in order to try to maintain my form.”
In the men's race, Ladji Doucouré, back from an indoor campaign in the USA, easily qualified for Sunday's semi-final in 7.62. The 110m Hurdles Olympic finalist seems ready to break the National record of 7.50.
World Championships bronze medallist Marc Raquil was supposed to compete in the 200m here in Liévin as a good preparation for his comeback after several injuries but he had to cut his warm up short after feeling pain again.
Pierre Jean Vazel for the IAAF
