News25 Aug 2010


Tamgho and Lavillenie top the bill in chilly Lille

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Teddy Tamgho leaps to French Triple Jump record in New York Diamond League (© Victah Sailer)

Teddy Tamhgo and Renaud Lavillenie lived up to their headline billing at the the 23th edition of "Meeting Lille Métropole" on Tuesday (24) evening, the final meeting of the French Alma Athlé Tour before a crowd of 18,000 at the venue that will host the 2011 IAAF World Youth Championships next July.

Tamgho, the World indoor champion, World indoor record holder at 17.90m and current season world leader at 17.98m, reached 17.63m for the third time this season to secure a clear victory in the Triple Jump.

"When Aleksey Fedorov took the lead in the fourth round (17.18m, +2.4), I woke up and said to myself: 'Is he really going to beat me at home?" said the young Frenchman, who was a disappointed third at the European Championships. "Since Barcelona, time has kind of stopped for me, I slept a few and ate a lot, but I wanted to show something good to Lille’s public." Tamgho's leap winning came in the fifth round.

Lavillenie’s ambition to vault six metros fell short as the swirling wind and cold wrangled his effort to clear 5.87m. But his 5.72m second attempt clearance was nevertheless a remarkable performance, given the conditions. One week after his sole defeat of the season in London, the European Champion was satisfied to be back to his normal level.

"Overall, it was a good competition for me tonight," Lavillenie said. "I was able to use big poles and I narrowly missed 5.87 which would have been my third performance of the season. The main thing was to win in order to put things in the right order."

Rodgers out-duels Lemaitre


The new French hero Christophe Lemaitre competed for the first time since his triple gold performance at the European championships, where he won individual titles in the 100m and 200m, and was part of the winning French foursome in the 4x100m Relay. Little was known about his current shape prior to his 100m outing here, lending even more anticipation to his first post-Barcelona appearance.

"I took one week off then resumed gently with my club teammates, and finally did a more specific workout before coming to Lille," the 20-year-old said.

As the gun took off, Lemaitre was left well behind Mike Rodgers’ bullet start. The Frenchman ate up the American's lead centimetre by centimetre, but Rodgers nonetheless prevailed in 10.17 (w+0.4).  Lemaitre was timed in 10.20, while Martial Mbandjock placed third in 10.23.

"This is the first time I properly executed my race since indoors, my rhythm is beginning to come back. It seemed to be a fast race but judging by the time, the weather was too cold and this must be a soft track, so I’m expecting a fast time by the end of the season," said Rodgers, who was also impressed by the media fuss surrounding his young rival.

"He’s like the French Usain Bolt! It felt good to beat him in front of his home crowd."

Lemaitre admitted his status has changed since Barcelona. "There’s a lot of euphoria around, I sometimes find it difficult to manage to go through all this, but so far it’s just fun as long as I can find peace at home. I receive a lot of fan mail. Tonight the public had encouraged me a lot and this helped me to overcome my technical error at the start," Lemaitre said, explaining that his foot touched his calf causing him to stumble. I had to run like a fool to try to come back but it was not enough." Lemaitre will meet Rodgers again in Rieti on 29 August.

Kiplagat rains on Baala's return

The men’s 1500m was a highly anticipated race as it was the the first outing of the season for 2002 and 2006 European Champion Mehdi Baala, who missed the 2010 edition through a calf injury. "I have lost all of my points of references, it’s weird to compete after so many months off," he admitted. Thus, he stayed in the pack right behind his training partner Bouabdellah Tahri, the European record holder in the 3000m Steeplehase, while Mahiedine  Mekhissi-Benabbad, the European champion in the Steeplechase, was the only runner to followed the rhythm that was asked of the pacemakers. After 900m, Baala accelerated in a vain attempt to narrow the 15 metro gap behind Mekhissi, who passed the 1200m point in 2:51.54. Eventually, Kenyans Nixon Chepseba and Silas Kiplagat took the lead in the final bend and the latter had the best finish to win in 3:35.50. Mekhissi was third in 3:36.18 and Baala seventh in 3:37.05.

Kiplagat, winner in Berlin two days earlier and the season's world leader (3:29.27 in Monaco), wasn't deceived in this tactical race. "I was a little unsure before the race because I had no idea of what type of race strategy the French would use. Then I took it like a championships race, when tactics matters the most".

The men's Shot Put saw three Americans reach beyond the 21-metre line. Reeese Hoffa took the victory in 21.18m, just two centimetres farther than Adam Nelson, with Cory Martin third with 21.04m. Americans took the top-two spots in the 400m won by LeJerald Betters in 45.05 comfortably ahead of David Neuville (45.78). Their teammate Tianna Madison took the women’s 100m in 11.20 (w+0.8) thanks to a beautiful start.

"My main focus was to stay in my lane because I tend to run crazy when I race other girls," the 2005 World champion in the Long Jump said. "I ran a really bad race in Berlin – I freaked out as the field pulled away – and this made me run better and not duplicate my mistake. Today was definitively the best I ran this year."

"I want to continue to compete at both sprints and long jump in the future," Madison added. "Jumping is more fun but the 100 is more prestigious.  But technically, as I get faster, it is even harder to be fast on the board. When I come back to the long jump, I will have the speed to back it up and put everything together."

Piere-Jean Vazel for the IAAF

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