Amine Laalou competing in Berlin at the 1500m (© Getty Images)
Beirut, LebanonBen Youssef Meite (CIV, 100m and 200m), Amine Lalou (MAR, 1500m and 800m) and Nadjina Kaltouma (CHA 400m and 200m) completed the second half of double victories on the 5th and final day of athletics competitions in Beirut, at the VI Francophone Games.
Meite's 'favourite event'
Ben Youssef Meite achieved the best performance on Monday (5) with a 200m time of 20.37sec into a 0.20m/s wind. Already the winner at the 100m earlier in the week with a wind-assisted 10.15, he still wasn’t the favourite for the longer sprint. Indeed, Stephan Buckland (MRI) had been the fastest in each round (21.05 in heats, 20.78 in semis, beating Meite in the process). Placed in lane 3 just behind Meite, the experienced Mauritian (32, four time a finalist at Olympic or World Champs at the event) could never catch his rival.
Meite, 10 years younger than Buckland, proved himself to be a 200m runner as well in lowering his personal best of 20.72 set in July to 20.37. Buckland secured his silver medal in 20.59 from third placed Khalid Zougari (MAR) 20.77.
“My favourite event is the 200m because I have a toe problem which prevents me to do my best at 100m, and 200m is longer so one can have the time to fix a mistake during the race. Until now my best performances had been done at 100m, though.”
His 20.37 might change his mind now and draw new goals for 2010 season. During the World Championships in August, Meite was eliminated at the first round of 100m (10.41) and placed 7th in quarter final at 200m (20.78). His 100m personal best of 10.21 was like his previous quickest at 200m (20.72) established in July, and now he finds himself in the shape of his life in early October.
“I’ve been competing since January, it’s not easy to maintain his form all year long”, explained Meite.
Kaltouma rejuvenated
Winner with a huge 1.86sec margin at 400m, Chad’s Nadjina Kaltouma didn’t have an easy task at 200m this time. In lane 6, she had her main rivals, Canadians Kimberly Hyacinthe and Esther Akinsulie, in the lanes inside her. Hyacinthe, whose personal best before the Games was 23.48, ran 23.26 the previous day in the semis.
In final, the 20-years-old did even better with 23.15, but this was not enough to beat Kaltouma's 23.09. This week, the rejuvenated 32-year-old set her fastest time at 400m (51.04) for five years and at 200m for four years, completing a 200m-400m win double she had also accomplished at 2002 African Championships.
Laalou from the bell
The third ‘doubler’ of the day was Amine Laalou. Unlike in the 1500m on Saturday (3), the Moroccan didn’t wait until the last stage of the race to take the lead during the 800m final. He led at the bell in 54.02 and covered the last lap in a ‘negative split’ of 52.66 to finish in 1:46.68. The 5th placer at World Championships was never threatened by second placed Abdoulaye Wagne (SEN) 1:47.48 and other Moroccans Mohcine Elamine 1:47.76 and Fouad Elkaam 1:48.43.
Morocco was the most prolific medal winners in Beirut with 32 medals including 10 golds. The medal sweep collected at 1500m by Ibtissam Lakhouad (4:21.39), Hilali Siham (4:21.56) and Seltana Ait Hammou (4:21.79) was indicative of this domination. The Moroccan team is in the best shape for other successes at the 16th Arabic Championships to be held in Damas from 6 to 9 October, with Laalou and Yahya Berrabah (whose 8.40 long jump on Friday was the highlight of the Francophone Games) as inspiring leaders.
Games record
The only Games Record of the day was set by Canadian Jarod Macleod with 13.56sec in the men's 110m Hurdles. On his inside, Romanian Alexandru Mihailescu was the quickest away (reaction time 0.116), but was soon caught by the Canadian and eventually finished second in 13.92. Macleod just missed by 0.02 his personal best dating back to 2005.
France collected two more gold medals with Vanessa Gladone at the Triple Jump (13.40m) and Tumatai Dauphin who threw the Shot at 18.63m.
The VII edition of the Francophone Games will be held in 2013. The three candidates for the organising city to be designated on 15-16 December 2009 are Nice (France), Malago (Equatorial Guinea) and N’Djamena (Chad).
P-J Vazel for the IAAF
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