© Stade de France ®
Macary, Zublena et Regembal
Costantini - Architects
ADAGP - Paris - 2002
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COMPETITION  NEWS |
 THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY
Paris 2003 Saint-Denis
French athletics fans ran the whole gamut of emotions on Tuesday evening. From dejection at the sight of Romain Mesnil failing to qualify for the pole vault final, to utter delight as Marc Raquil came from nowhere to snatch a last-gasp bronze in the 400 metres.
Men’s 400 metres: Raquil the rocket
The undoubted highlight of the day for Team France came in the last event as Marc Raquil charged back from last place to grab a bronze in a new French record of 44.79. Fellow French hope Leslie Djhone ran an encouraging PB to finish fifth in 44.83. American Jerome Young won gold in 44.50 ahead of compatriot Tyree Washington (44.77).
Women’s 800 metres: Mutola the great
Maria Mutola from Mozambique is quite simply in a class of her own. Her 17th straight win at the distance was never in doubt as she kicked clear in 1:59.89. Her training partner Kelly Holmes from Great Britain (2:00.18) fought hard to hold off Natalya Khrushchelyova (2:00.29) to claim silver.
Men’s pole vault: Mesnil the meek
Romain Mesnil is out of the competition, almost before it even started. The French gold medal favourite came in – and straight out - at 5.70 metres. This from a vaulter with the best clearance in the world this season (5.95 metres). To cap it all, none of his teammates made it into the final either.
3000 metres steeplechase: Tahri the nearly-man
Bouabdellah Tahri ran a gutsy race to finish fourth in 8:10.65, an improvement on his fifth place finish in Edmonton two years ago but still just short of a medal. He finished over a second behind Spain’s Eliseo Martin (8:09.09). Qatar’s Saif Saaeed Shaheen is the new world champion (8:04.39), after outkicking Kenyan Ezekiel Kemboi (8:05.11) on the home straight.
Men’s discus/Women’s Triple Jump: Alekna and Lebedeva the triumphant
With a throw of 69.69 metres, Lithuania’s Virgilijus Alekna won gold in the discus ahead of Hungary’s Robert Fazekas (silver with 69.01 metres) and Belorussia’s Vasiliy Kaptyukh (bronze with 66.51 metres). Tatyana Lebedeva, meanwhile, retained her world title in the triple jump with a leap of 15.18 metres. Cameroon’s Mbango Etone set a new African record for silver (15.05 metres) and Italy’s Magdelin Martinez picked up the bronze.
Best of the rest of the French
Muriel Hurtis looked good in her 200 metres quarter-final, winning in 22.70. She actually ran faster in the first round though, clocking a new season’s best of 22.51. Sylviane Félix missed out on a semi-final spot. Stéphane Diagana is through to the semi-finals of the 400 metres hurdles after a 49 second run. Naman Keïta and Sébastien Maillard also booked their places in the semis. Manuela Montebrun showed just why she is favourite for the hammer with a first throw of 71.36 metres in qualifying. Patricia Girard, meanwhile, scraped into the 100m hurdles final in a time of 12.85.
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