A dejected Linda Ferga after being disqualified for false starting (© Getty Images)
Aubière, FranceThe most outstanding performances of the final day of the French championships were achieved in two highly disputed events. In the men's 200m, Birmingham silver medallist Joseph Batangdon of Cameroon in lane five had already caught, Leslie Djhone at the end of the first bend and thus could control the race ahead of the 4x400m silver medallist in Paris, setting a season's World best of 20.57 as Djhone improved his season best to 20.77.
Nicole Ramalalanirina also confirmed her return to top level in the 60m Hurdles with a time of 7.94 ahead of Linda Ferga who clocked 7.97, securing her selection for Budapest. In the Pole Vault Vanessa Boslak carries on her progression with a new national record of 4.50m.
While Joseph Batangdon didn't really know what to expect before this week-end, he now feels reassured about his abilities to get on the podium in Budapest next fortnight.
"It helped me to have Leslie Djhone in my sight. I decided to try and catch him early because he is a 400m runner and if I had let him go, it would have been hard to close the gap in the end. I didn't think about the time during the race, only about my place. I was leading and could allow no one to get back in front," declared the Cameroonian about his race.
"I came to the French championships with doubts as I couldn't prepare myself like I would have wanted this winter. I've first had some physical problems and then fell ill, a bad flu that disturbed me for five weeks. On my first outing in Ghent, I didn't have good feelings at all. So I decided to keep heavy training sessions between competitions. I now consider I'm only about 90% of my capacities.
“Nothing really changed for me since my silver medal last year in Birmingham. It just went through like smoke, even in my own country. At the beginning of 2003, I had been awarded a grant from the Olympic Solidarity, which helped me to train in better facilities like INSEP, the French Sports Institute, but that's all. Sometimes, you just wonder what you are doing all that for.
“Last summer, I did part of my preparation in Georgia at the Dekalb Olympic Center. But I trained too much there. At the time of the World Championships I hadn't assimilated the workload and performed very poorly. But I'm still convinced that I can do far better outdoors. I even actually prefer running outdoors than indoors.
“I'll definitely go back to the US though, but it'd be better if I could stay for longer periods. Last year I was also tired because of the many trips back to Europe to compete for my club, but in the end my club is an essential contributor to my earnings, so it's difficult to solve.
“Before the World Indoor Championships, I'll run in Budapest next Tuesday and in Liévin on Saturday, but I won't put myself into too much pressure for these events. I'll just take them as training sessions where I can adjust technical parameters before Budapest.
“I'm feeling sad about the 200m being dropped from international indoor championships after 2004," Batangdon concluded.
About his second place, Leslie Djhone commented: "My race was just average. I got caught unaware by Joseph's start. We'll now see what time I run in Lievin but if I don't run below 20.70, it won't be worth going to the World Championships."
Ramalalanirina and Ferga qualify for Budapest sprint hurdles
The final of the women's 60m Hurdles was certainly the most disputed race in the prospect of Budapest with three athletes as potential candidates for the second spot in the team after Nicole Ramalalanirina had secured the first one with her 7.98 achieved in Karlsruhe last Sunday and her 7.94 in semi-final which ranks her as the World's third performer this season tied with Julianne Sprenger and Perdita Felicien.
While Patricia Girard had decided to end her winter season, before the French championships, two other athletes, Linda Ferga Khodadin (8.08) and Reina Flor Okori (8.10) had already reached the qualifying standards this season while Fanny Gérance was just two hundredths short.
Experience finally prevailed as Linda Ferga dipped under 8 seconds (7.97) for the first time this season for second place while Gérance was third in 8.14 and Okori fourth in 8.16.
Renewing her time of 7.94 in the final, Nicole Ramalalanirina declared: "I ran twice below 8 seconds today, which is in itself a satisfaction. It's a good start for the World Championships, though I don't think it'll be enough to get a medal in Budapest.
“For the moment, I'll first aim at qualifying for the final. I've been through many health problems in the last few years, and it proved very hard to get back to my level, because you just find yourself having to cope alone. People rapidly forget about you when you don't perform. Fortunately I'm now again in good health and so is confidence coming back. Now I have ambition".
Other noticeable results were recorded in the men's 800m where under the impulsion of Florent Lacasse, the first three reached the standards for Budapest. Lacasse clocked 1:47.10 ahead of Morocco's Mouhssin Chehibi (1:47.65) and Nicolas Aissat (1:47.69). The men's 60m was won by Lueyi Dovy ahead of Ronald Pognon, both clocking the same time of 6.68 as Stephane Cali, who had run 6.68 on Saturday had to settle for 4th in 6.72.
In the men's high jump Joan Charmant took the victory with 2.28m, while Laurence Manfredi won the women's shot put with a throw measured 18.05m.
