Team Europe: Mekhissi-Benabbad, Blanco and Luchianov to lead 3000m steeple challenge

Over the coming week, European Athletics will continue to present brief profiles of the athletes who will represent Team Europe at the IAAF Continental Cup to be held in Split, Croatia on 4-5 September.

Besides Europe, three other continental teams: Americas (NACAC and CONSUDATLE), Africa and Asia/Pacific (Asia and Oceania), will lay claim to the title of “Continental Champion.”

Today, in three parts, we run the rule over Team Europe’s male hurdles and steeplechase runners.

European 3000m steeple champion Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad of France.

Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad (FRA) 3000m steeple

Born: 15.03.85

Height: 190 cm

Weight: 75 kg

Club: Efs Reims A

Major championships record:

Olympic Games:                                          3000m steeple: 2/2008

European Athletics Championships:        3000m steeple: 1/2010

Personal best: 3000m steeple: 8:06.98 (2009)

Season's best: 3000m steeple: 8:07.87 Barcelona 1.8.10

In Barcelona, Mekhissi-Benabbad set a championship record of 8:07.87, a time that beat Kenyan Matthew Birir's winning clocking when the Olympics were held on this track in 1992.

"It was difficult to win  ... since my number one rival was Bouabdellah (Tahri) who is the best in the world,” said Mekhissi.

“It was a tight race. I won it only in the last few metres. Bob beat me in the French championships and tonight it felt like my just revenge. We respect each other a lot. I watched him often on TV as a young boy. I was a little sad for him. I am delighted to have beaten the championship record but my number one objective today was to win the race."

Right from the gun the two Frenchmen shot into the lead and simply ran away from the rest. With each lap the gap increased, both men looking easy up front. Their rivals seemed to decide early on that they were running for bronze. After one lap the two Frenchmen held a five-metre advantage. After two laps the gap had grown alarmingly and as the leaders passed the first kilometre in 2:41.19 it was clear that Francesco Pannetta's 1990 championship record of 8:12.66 was in grave danger.

It was at the final hurdle that Mekhissi forged ahead to strike gold.

It was in 2007 when he clocked 8:14.22 in Heusden that Mekhissi broke through into the world's elite. That same year in Debrecen he took the European under-23 title with ease. In 2008 he added the European team title in Annecy, but the following year he suffered injury at the Berlin World Championships and was forced to withdraw.

José-Luis Blanco (ESP) 3000m steeple

Born: 03.06.75

Height: 175 cm

Weight: 65 kg

Club: C.A.La Sansi

José-Luis Blanco of Spain.

Major championships record:

Olympic Games: 3000m steeple: H/2008.

World Championships: 3000m steeple: H/2009, H/ 2007, 14/ 2005

European Athletics Championships: 3000m steeple: 3/2010, 2/2006

Personal best: 3000m steeple: 8:12.86 (2006) 

Season's best: 8:19.15 Barcelona 1.8.10

José-Luis Blanco is renowned in Spain for his persistence, having 13 attempts at becoming national champion (after four silvers and three bronzes) until he finally succeeded this year at the Olympic stadium where he was later to lift bronze in at the European championships. His biggest international achievement came four years ago when he claimed European silver in Göteborg.

This time round, he and the rest of the field resigned themselves to fighting for bronze when the French duo of Mahiedine Mekhissi and Bouabdallah Tahri set off at a punishing pace that no one else could follow.

Blanco finally prevailed in his duel with Ion Luchianov of Moldova for the bronze: “I was calculating my realistic chances during the race as I was conscious that the two French were too strong and out of my reach,” said Blanco.

“It's a great success for the Spanish team and a personal one as I was silver medallist four years ago. It is fantastic to do it here in front of my family and friends in Barcelona's Olympic stadium.”

Blanco is also an avid cross country runner and is among the three Spaniards who have made most appearances at the World Cross Country Championships - nine. His best performance came in Dublin 2002 when he helped Spain to team bronze. His club, La Sansi was founded by himself and he is both president and the leading athlete. He uses part of his earnings to fund five promising young athletes with grants from his own pocket.

Blanco achieved fame in March this year when he chased three thieves who had stolen two bags from a supermarket in Lloret and retrieved the stolen goods.

Ion Luchianov (MDA) 3000m steeple

Born: 31.01.81

Height: 178 cm

Weight: 67 kg

Club: USM

Major championships record:

Olympic Games: 3000m steeple: 12/2008, H/2004

World Championships: 3000m steeple: 4/2009, H/2005

European Athletics Championships: 3000m steeple: 4/2010, H/2006

World Indoor Championships: 3000m steeple: H/2010

World Junior Championships: 3000m steeple: 11/2000

Personal bests: 3000m steeple: 8:18.97 (2008), 1500m: 3:43.94 (2010)

Ion Luchianov of Moldova.

Season's best: 8:19.64 Barcelona 1.8.10

Ion Luchianov has a habit of surprising people. He created a stir when he qualified for the Olympic final in Beijing, breaking in the process the 24-year-old Moldovan record and leaving it at a respectable 8:18.97, almost five seconds better than the previous mark. In Barcelona he created a similar reaction when he led the charge to chase down the two Frenchmen, Bouabdallah Tahri and Madiedine Mekhissi, who had stormed into what was to prove an unassailable lead. His fearless chase almost brought him his reward, had it not been for Catalan José Luis Blanco who was spurred on by the roars of the local crowd to grab bronze.

Even more surprising is that Luchianov should emerge from a country where there is a lack of a stadium with modern track and field facilities to train in. The problem became particularly acute after the demolition of the Republican Stadium in Chisinau in the summer of 2006.

But Luchianov is grateful for training camps abroad where he can develop his talent. His initial desire was to attend a sports school, but when that became impossible because of injury he turned to athletics. A business studies student, he grabbed his final opportunity last year for a world student games title by lifting gold in Belgrade at the age of 28. He was also the only Moldovan athlete to compete in the world indoors in Doha last winter.

Being the most high profile athlete in Moldovan athletics, he has won athlete of the year awards several years running under the tutelage of his coach Mikhail Kravtov.