Frenchman Wilfried Happio won the silver medal in the 400m hurdles at the European Athletics Championships in Munich on Friday August 19, in a race dominated by Norwegian Karsten Warholm.
The reigning Olympic champion and world record holder won in 47 s 12 ahead of Wilfried Happio (48 s 56). The Turkish Yasmani Copello (48 s 78) finished third, depriving the Frenchman Ludvy Vaillant of the bronze medal by a hundredth of a second (fourth in 48 s 79).
After his frustrating fourth place at the Worlds in Eugene (United States) last month, Happio, at 23, won his first international medal which crowns a season marked by his immense progress.
” Happy “
“It comes as the icing on the cake. It’s the end of the season like the summer season, with a lot of happiness and satisfaction. I come out of this race happy”said Wilfried Happio.
But his year is not just about sporting exploits. Wilfried Happio is the target of a complaint filed on June 30 by a French international athlete, who denounces repeated touching which allegedly took place at Insep, where the two athletes train, on the night of September 20, 2021. young woman is the sister of the man who hit Happio in the face in Caen at the end of June, a highlight of the French Athletics Championships, where he was titled a few minutes later, a blindfold over his left eye.
In Munich, Wilfried Happio brings France its fifth medal in these championships (two in silver, three in bronze). The Frenchman could do nothing against Karsten Warholm, definitively recovered from the muscle tear which had prevented him from appearing in top form at the Worlds, where he finished seventh.
“It’s all the more appreciable that I learned that victories are rare and that you have to know how to appreciate them, because in sport, everything goes very quickly. I am very happy to be back”launched the Norwegian.
Third French present for the final, Victor Coroller took the eighth and last place in 50 s 46.