Muriel Hurtis wins the 200m gold in Munich (© Getty Images)
Eaubonne, FranceFrance's best sprinters Muriel Hurtis and Christine Arron were back on track over 200m last night (Friday, 7 Feb) in a national meeting, with European Indoor and outdoor champion Hurtis running a 2003 World leading 22.76.
Both women had already been in action this winter. Last weekend they ran over running 60m, Hurtis in Dortmund (7.18), and Arron in Mondeville (7.22), the latter's first race since the birth of her son last June.
The two training partners, who are coached by Guy Ontanon didn't face each other last night in Eaubonne, with Arron first into the starting blocks for the B- final, in a programme which was running one hour behind schedule! She made a good impression in the first half of the race, running in lane five, she closed a gap on Fabe Dia but then faded as the finish approached, and was edged out by Dia in the last metres (23.52 against 23.47).
"I'm not really happy with my race" Arron declared. "I expected a time closer to 23 seconds but I lacked resistance in the end. I did this 200m to assess my fitness but I felt more at ease at 60m. In any case it's a good performance though, as I hadn't planned to compete indoors at first. I'm now meant to run a 60m tomorrow (Saturday) for the regional championships, but I'll only do it if I've recovered enough".
On the other hand, expectations were high for Muriel Hurtis, and the European champion didn't fail to live up to them. Pushed hard all along by Sylviane Félix, she set a world season’s best of 22.76, with Felix finishing in 23.16.
“My performance satisfies me very much. I had come to run under 23 seconds. Because of the delay I had to stop my warm-up and start again later. I got a bit worried because I fell a little pain in the calf. I didn't know that 22.76 was the leading time for the season," confirmed Hurtis. “I haven't been following what's happening on the event. Anyway being world leader at this stage of the season means nothing. My next target is to improve my indoor best, which is 22.51.”
In the Energizer Indoor Flanders in Gent on Sunday 9 February, Hurtis is entered in an epic 60m confrontation where she will face Zhanna Block, Karin Mayr, Kim Gevaert, Manuela Levorato and Merlene Ottey.
Hurtis will run both 60m and 200m in Lievin a fortnight later.
Carole Fuchs for the IAAF
Gent start lists -
http://www.energizer-euroseries.com/2003/
