Dayron Robles (c) and Ladji Doucouré (l) in Sotteville (© Jiro Mochizuki)
Cuba stole the show during the Meeting Lille Metropole Gaz de France Nord Région Nord / Pas de Calais, 2nd leg of Lagardère Athlé Tour, as Dayron Robles confirmed his great shape in winning the 110m Hurdles in 12.96, into a -0.6 wind and cold temperature in Villeneuve d'Ascq, and Yargelis Savigne triple jumped 15.02m, a new world season leading mark.
The Lille Metropole Gaz de France Région Nord/Pas-de-Calais meeting is one of a select group of Area meetings at which points can be acquired by athletes to qualify for the IAAF / VTB Bank World Athletics Final, to be held on 13-14 September in Stuttgart, Germany.
Dayron Robles' performance was particularly surprising considering the cool and windy weather in northern France, even more for the observers who witnessed Robles hitting the 3rd hurdle during an acceleration practice in warm-up and falling heavily on the track. Fortunately, the 21-year-old didn't get injured.
Robles surprises himself
While weather conditions weren't ideal for a high quality performance, Robles had a good start in spite of a 0.164 reaction time and increased his lead over the field at each hurdle, in a flawless race.
The screen shown 12.97, later rounded down to 12.96.
Robles was himself very surprised by the time : “My aim was to break the track record (13.24 by Cuban Anier Garcia), and I was expecting 13.15. After the finish line I thought I had indeed run around 13.15, that's why I was so surprised and happy with that time.”
Indeed, his sensations were very different from his World record race in 12.87, fifteen days ago.
“In Ostrava, I had the impression of performing a big effort, while today, it felt easy and smooth.”
Still, one can estimate that the tenth between Ostrava and Lille can be found in the average reaction time and the unfavourable weather conditions but Robles stated that, even if he is used to training under Cuban's sunshine, he prefers cool temperatures.
And the coach too!
His coach Santiago Antunez wasn't expecting such a fast time either.
“Dayron was ready to run sub 13sec, but standing in the crowds, I saw the wind blowing in the opposite direction, the clouds and low temperature, so I was actually surprised by this performance.”
Coach Antunez described the plan up to Beijing Olympic Games. “The plan was to run four times under 13sec before the Olympics. He has done it twice, so there are 2 more to do, and he will compete in five other meetings. Next one is Rome, then maybe Athens, then Paris, which is very important because he will be prepared to run sub 13sec again.”
Team-mate Tajada wins too
Just before Robles' race, his team-mate Anay Tejeda won the women's 100m Hurdles in 12.84. Even though she was disappointed by her time as she was looking to run “around 12.67-12.68 and break the national record,” the young Cuban was eager to watch Robles ' race.
“We have the same coach and training with the world's number one hurdler is really motivating for me, it pushes me to do better.”
This was before the 3rd Cuban success of the night in Lille, as Yargelis Savigne won the Triple Jump with 15.02m, a world season leading mark. The 23-year-old World champion showed great shape from the first attempt, 14.81 (wind +0.1), followed by 15.02 (w+1.1) and 14.72 (+0.6), but she then ended her competition.
Diniz pleases French crowd
Yohann Diniz, 50km Race Walk European champion and Silver medallist, offered the crowd a French record on the track over 5000m in 18:18.01.
“I didn't have race plan before the start, but after the first kilometre (3:35.78), I thought to myself ‘should I slow down or should I maintain that pace?' As I heard there was a good atmosphere in the stadium and people were encouraging us, I decided to go.”
Diniz, 30, went past the 2nd kilometre in 7:12.07. “After the 3000m (10:52.44), I felt pain and tiredness, as I was in front and by myself,” he said.
4000m was covered in 14:35.43, too slow to be able to chase the World best (18:05.49 by Goula Hattem in 1997), but enough to smash his 18:35.54 national record.
“I'm satisfied by my race, that means that my illness, which still couldn’t be identified in the medical analysis sample one month ago, is now over. I'm not preparing for such a short (5k) effort, there is no correlation between 5km and 50km which will be the Olympic distance, but this means that I'm on my way back,” explained Diniz.
10.10 again for Collins
Kim Collins (SKN) impressed during the men's 100m race with a storming start and acceleration, to win with a 0.13sec margin over France's Martial Mbanjock. Collins set his 3rd 10.10 time in a row, after meets in Moscow and Zukhovsky.
“I'm disappointed by the time because I wish I had run under 10sec, but the weather made it difficult (wind was -0.3). I am probably in the best shape of my career, and I was happy to run in France,” said the winner of Paris 2003 World Championships, whose next race will be in Madrid.
The 200m went to Brian Dzingai in 20.39 (w+0.1). “I felt a lot of wind during the race, but it is about winning races right now, not worrying about the time,” said the Zimbabwean sprinter.
Muriel Hurtis said almost the same, after her 22.73 win in the women's race. “I'm doing almost the same time as in Oslo and Annecy, but with different races. I struggled to warm-up before the race, was tired from the past week, and I felt it during the bend. I am however satisfied by the result.”
Notable other results -
Other notable results include Ivana Brkljacic, 74.89m at women's Hammer Throw over Yipsi Moreno (73.11), Mehdi Baala's emphatic win at 1500m (3:34.30) and Mohamed Salman Al-Khuwalidi (KSA) a 8.23m Long Jump.
The women's 100m, Laverne Jones (ISV) in 11.30 (w+1.1) defeated all the favourites, with European champion Kim Gevaert (BEL) 2nd in 11.31, Olympic Champion Yuliya Nesterenko (BLR) 3rd in 11.39, and European record holder Christine Arron (FRA) 5th in 11.47 for her first race of the season.
Pierre-Jean Vazel for the IAAF
