Mekhissi-Benabbad sets 2000m Steeplechase world best
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| France’s Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad improved the 2000m Steeplechase world best to 5:10.68 at the 4th Alma Athle Tour meeting on home soil in Reims on Wednesday. |
The 2008 Olympic Games 3000m silver medallist took nearly three second off the former best on 5:13.47, set just five days ago in Nancy by his compatriot and rival Bob Tahri, setting up a battle-royal in the race for the gold medal at the European Athletics Championships later this month.
The 2010 European Athletics Championships will be held in Barcelona between 26 July and 1 August.
“I’m very proud of what I did, and doing it on French soil is beautiful. This is my first record for the 2000m Steeplechase. In France, we now have currently the two best runners in the steeplechase world and, of course, there is a very strong rivalry,” said Mekhissi-Benabbad after the event.
Both the Frenchmen are also bidding to become the first European runner to go under the eight-minute mark in the longer championship event over the barriers.
Tahri holds the current European 3,000m Steeplechase record with 8:01.18, which he set when winning the World Championships bronze medal last summer.
Like Mekhissi-Benabbad, Tahri has also been in great form in the last week. In addition to his 2000m Steeplechase world best, he also ran a world-leading 3000m Steeplechase time of 8:03.72 on his home track in Metz on Tuesday night.
The two men could go head-to-head for the first time this summer at the French Championships in Valence, which will be between July 8-10, and they should also meet at the MEETING AREVA, the IAAF Diamond League Meeting, in Paris on July 16.
Top French stars heading for IAAF Diamond League meeting in Paris
In addition to the expected presence of Mekhissi-Benabbad and Tahri, MEETING AREVA recently announced that it had signed up the top French athletes in their appropriate events on the programme.
Eloyse Lesueur is one of the emerging stars of French Athletics and showed her class when she won the Long Jump at the SPAR European Team Championship in Bergen, Norway, two weekends ago with a personal best of 6.78m.
The 2009 European Athletics Indoor Championships Pole Vault gold medallist Renaud Lavillenie, and the highest vaulter in the world outdoors in 2009 with his French record 6.01m, is already leading the Diamond League race in his event after winning in Oslo and New York last month.
In the famous Stade de France, he’ll be joined by a host of other top French pole vaulters including the 2009 World Championships silver medallist Romain Mesnil as well as Damiel Dossevi and Jérôme Clavier.
Teddy Tamgho, the 2010 World Indoor Championships Triple Jump gold medallist and world indoor record holder, jumped a massive 17.98m in New York last month, the world’s third best performance in history, and he will be looking to thrill his local fans in similar fashion.
In the Stade de France, he’ll also be keen to get the upper hand against two of his expected rivals for the forthcoming European title: Great Britain’s Phillips Idowu, the reigning world champion outdoors, and Sweden’s revitalised Christian Olsson, the 2002 and 2006 European Athletics Championships gold medallist.
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| French prodigy Christophe Lemaitre will be up against the likes of Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell at the IAAF Diamond League Meeting in Paris on July 16. |
The 20-year-old from Aix-les-Bains showed he’s in good shape by recently reducing his best to 10.02 when finishing second behind Great Britain’s Dwain Chambers at the SPAR European Team Championships.
Another French sprinter to watch is Martial Mbandjock, the winner of the 200m in Bergen who ran a European-leading time in the longer sprint of 20.38 on Saturday.
The 2006 European Athletics Championships 400m bronze medallist Leslie Djhone traditionally starts his season late and so far this year he still only has the relatively modest time of 45.72 to his name but he will be looking to benefit from the ambiance racing against the world’s best in front of a home crowd to put him in the right frame of mind to challenge the likes of Great Britain’s Martyn Rooney and Belgium’s Jonathan Borlee in Barcelona.
