The performance: Pontvianne is getting closer to the minimums
It may not be the one we expected to validate the minima for the world championships in Belgrade (March 18-20) on Sunday, and yet with 17.08 m, Jean-Marc Pontvianne got closer to two centimeters from the reference mark. The triple jumper won the competition at Bercy in a crazy atmosphere. “He is doing a lot of good this competition. I jump for that and the emotions it gives, ”reports Pontvianne with a big smile.
Better still, with this jump, the Frenchman is among the three best in the world for the season, which could open the doors to Serbia for him. “I went for the 17.08 m. I’m hopeful it will pass. I am very satisfied”, says the French triple jumper who explains his success by his psychological work. “I refocused a lot on myself, I worked a lot with my mental trainer to refocus on my intentions. And today it went very well,” he explains.
Melvin Raffin for his part has still not passed 17m but is getting closer little by little. With a best jump measured at 16.82m, the young athlete from Bordeaux achieved his best jump of the season.
5.88m
Chris Nilsen had barely recovered from his North American record in Rouen on Saturday evening, passing 6.05 m, when he was already due to hit the road for the Paris meeting at Bercy. It is therefore tired that the American appeared in front of the Parisian public, but carried by the atmosphere he made the show. He passed (almost) everything on the first try and after being the only one to clear 5.88m, he directly asked for 6m.
After three failures, the Olympic vice-champion of Tokyo did not perform a new competition at this height, but he who wanted to try to chain two competitions knows that he will not be caught there. “We drove here at night after the competition, I slept for a few hours and I just hoped that it would go well. It was the first time that I chained two meetings and I will never do it again. I am very tired. I want to sleep for at least 48 hours in a row,” laughed Chris Nilsen after his successful contest.
Behind him, Valentin Lavillenie carried out the fine operation by taking third place in the competition with a bar erased at 5.76 m, also barely 24 hours after the Normandy meeting. ” I slept well. I don’t even feel tired, it’s weird. I’m happy, I took my bearings for the rest of the winter”, justified the best French pole vaulter of the moment.
Note the personal record of Romain Gavillon, who took six centimeters to his previous mark by passing a bar at 5.67 m.
The nugget: Jeff Erius rubs shoulders with the big boys
He had come to stock up on experience for his first international meeting, Jeff Erius was not disappointed. The now co-record holder of France junior in the 60m with Christophe Lemaitre (6”64) did not break the French record but he was able to compete with the American Michael Rodgers by taking second place in 6”72 . If he is “not very happy with the time”, he was not impressed by the American sprinter either. “I faced Christophe Lemaitre, Jimmy Vicaut, even Arthur Cissé so I’m not going to lie, I don’t care much,” he joked after his race.
And the main thing is elsewhere for the young 17-year-old sprinter. “I really came to have fun as it’s the last competition of the season. I wanted to beat the French record but I only equaled it so it’s already not bad for a first season (in juniors editor’s note). It’s been a rather satisfying season,” explains the Alsatian, who is now planning for the Junior Worlds this summer (in Cali, Colombia from August 1 to 6) with a time of around 10”15 for a podium even if “in my head I want much less”.
Kevin Mayer, injured, gives up the Indoor Worlds in Belgrade
Kevin Mayer will not be traveling with the France team at the Belgrade Worlds (March 18-20). The combined events specialist, who was to compete in the heptathlon there, felt pain in his right Achilles tendon and preferred not to take any risks for the rest of his season.
“I started to feel this pain in September but managed to manage it well until January,” he explained. Then, the world record holder tested positive for Covid-19 and was only able to resume athletics a week before the start of his competitions.
“Winter is for fun and summer is for weighing so I prefer not to take any risks to weigh in at the Eugène Worlds”, declared the double Olympic vice-champion of the decathlon who hopes to bring back some a medal, before perhaps moving on to the European Championships in Munich in August.
“The times will go down little by little”
Wilhem Belocian, winner of the 60m hurdles in 7”53: “It’s a good regularity, it’s nice, we’re just starting the preparation for the Worlds so I think it’s going to go down on good days. Belgrade (indoor worlds editor’s note), it’s just a passage, we are really preparing for the summer. But I’m not going there to make up the numbers, I hope I’ll arrive in good shape to reach the final and then we’ll see what happens. The lap times are a bit high at the moment but I’m sure it will go down little by little”.
Note that Pascal Martinot-Lagarde did not take part in the final, he withdrew following a “left calf tension” felt on “the warm-up for the final” and preferred “not to take any risks” .
Among the women, Cyréna Samba-Mayela confirmed her sparkling form by winning the final in 7”92, very close to her best time of the season (7”84). On the finish line it was very tight since the Finnish Reeta Hurske took second place in 7”93 and Djita Kambudji completed the podium in 7”94, a personal record for the two hurdlers. Laetitia Bapté, 6th in 8”10, fails to validate the minima for the Belgrade Worlds.