Led by a diabolical Pascal Martinot-Lagarde, 2nd in the 110m hurdles after another year marked by injuries, the Blues won three medals at the European Championships in Munich on Wednesday evening, with the two third places of Just Kwaou-Mathey ( 110 m hurdles) and Jean-Marc Pontvianne (triple jump). In an Olympic stadium a little calmer but above all more moist than the day before, the finalists of the 110m hurdles were presented to the sound of “Sympathy for the Devil” by the Rolling Stones, to believe that the DJ knows Pascal Martinot-Lagarde well.
Because the 30-year-old hurdler, sure of his strength, experienced, is a real devil ready to come out of his box at the right time, always in the final, despite the injuries and the sores that mark his career, and have further rotten his season, between a right calf injury, hamstring problems, two anginas and a blocked back, among others.
For the twelfth time in 18 major competitions in his career (16 finals), Martinot-Lagarde managed to get on the podium, obviously setting the best time of his season (13.14), he who was defending champion, in addition to have already won 5 world medals (4 indoors).
“Blink”
As usual, this medal machine attempted its dreaded “break” on the line and almost overtook the Spaniard Asier Martinez, who had taken the upper hand, but only kept his lead by a thousandth of a second after review of the photo finish.
“It’s horrible but magnificent. We are in the same scenario but reversed as four years ago, I had beaten the Russian Shubenkov by a few thousandths. We are talking about a duel where it throws itself on the line like that can. But no regrets. At this level of time, a thousandth is not even the blink of an eye”, told “PML”. “In any case, look at my journey: I’ve had a hard time all season, and here I’m finishing on an excellent note. I have nothing to regret. Martinez had an incredible race, he broke his record the day of the final.”
Quite in contrast to Martinot-Lagarde, statue of a motionless commander behind his half-Robocop half-Terminator sunglasses, Just Kwaou-Mathey embellished his presentation in front of the public with several dance steps and a huge smile.
Two attitudes for two different generations, while Kwaou-Mathey, training comrade in Poitiers of sprint nugget Jeff Erius, achieved the feat of climbing the podium for his first international final at 22, after two years of an express progression.
In 13 sec 33, this skinny athlete was able to resist the return of the Swiss Jason Joseph (13.35), while Sasha Zhoya, for his first final too, fell at the end of the race for an anecdotal time (8th in 16 sec 51) . Footballer in his youth in Evreux, Kwaou-Mathey shone in Munich, in the city of his great friend Dayot Upamecano, star of the round ball with the Blues and Bayern.
Pontvianne with Tamgho
After two sluggish days marked by the early retirement on Monday of decathlete Kevin Mayer, the Blues had their first good evening the day after the bronze medal snatched at the end of the night – and appeals – by the long jumper Jules Pommery. In addition to the hurdlers, Jean-Marc Pontvianne also distinguished himself for a great first with the triple jump bronze at 28, validating only one jump (16.94 m). Pontvianne is part of the tradition of the French “triple”, becoming the 5th tricolor to medal at the Euro after Serge Hélan in 1994 (2nd), Teddy Tamgho in 2010 (3rd), Benjamin Compaoré and Yoann Rapinier (1st and 3rd) in 2014.
The Nîmes, in addition to Sébastien Bouschet, his lifelong coach, has also been co-trained by the former world champion Tamgho for eight months. He paid tribute to him on Wednesday: “His contribution, we see it right away. I go from 7th in 2018 to medalist in 2022 with only eight months of work with him. I went to see him saying to him: ‘I don’t know not make the medal.’ He knew how to do it as an athlete and a coach, he was the man for the job. Teddy thinks of a medal morning, noon and night. He doesn’t let anything pass.”