Three days after winning, then losing, steeplechase gold, Mahiedine Mekhissi-Banabbad came good in the Letzigrund Stadium to take the men’s 1500m title at the European Athletics Championships in Zurich this afternoon with an audacious last lap at the end of a chaotic final.
The Frenchman, who was disqualified for ripping off his shirt in celebration in the closing stages of the 3000m steeplechase final on Thursday night, “ran with rage” today as he flew away from the field over the last 400m of a slow but dramatic race to win in 3:45.60.
His time, though, was largely irrelevant for Mekhissi-Banabbad had built up such a huge lead by the time he entered the home straight that he had time to indulge in more of his trademark early celebrations. This time the vest stayed firmly on his back, but he threw his arms out in triumph 80m from the line, gesturing to the crowd to cheer him home.
He glanced once over his shoulder, noted his huge lead and laughed out loud before slowing to jog across the line. For Mekhissi-Banabbad it was sweet redemption.
“This was my only possible reaction after the disqualification,” he said. “To go back on the track and get this title – for my family, for those who are close to me, for my coach.
“I came from joy to sadness after the disqualification and my reaction was the reaction of a champion. Winning today was the best thing I could do after the 3000m steeple.”
Behind him, Norway’s defending champion Henrik Ingebrigtsen won the scramble for silver in 3:46.10 just eight hundredths ahead of Britain’s Chris O’Hare, both survivors of a three-man tumble just before the bell.
That incident ended the medal hopes of O’Hare’s teammate Charlie Grice who tripped over the falling German Florian Orth sending Ukraine’s Stanislav Maslov down in his wake. It pretty much ended Ingebrigtsen’s title defence too.
The Norwegian record holder – many people’s favourite for gold – was forced to leap over Maslov to stay on his feet and Mekhissi-Banabbad took full advantage, immediately kicking on at the front. By the time he reached the back straight he had a 15m lead which he stretched again around the top bend before entering the straight with nothing to lose but his singlet.
This time, thankfully, he kept that on, and less than an hour later he finally had a gold medal around his neck.
“I guess that today I wrote athletics history,” he said. “There are not many athletes who are capable of doing what I just did.
“I had a lot of motivation. I ran with rage. I am very proud.”
Initially, his victory recieved a somewhat mixed reaction, but Mekhissi-Banabbad – who ran with a yellow card against his name for Thursday’s “unsportsmanlike or improper” behaviour – was pleased to have ended his roller-coaster ride at these championships with at least one gold medal.
“The people who were making negative noise at me at the start were only a minority,” he said. “The majority of the people here were making me feel good. People who make such noises do not understand sport. They come just to eat chips.
“Today, I was not done yet. To be honest, I do not know what happened behind me at the beginning of the last lap. I did not see the runners fall down.
“My coach told me to attack when I heard the bell and that’s what I did.”
To say Mekhissi-Banabbad has had a chequered career as an athlete is almost the definition of understatement. On the plus side, he is a proven medal-winner for this is his third European outdoor title, while he is also the European indoor 1500m champion, and he has won two Olympic silvers and two World Championship bronzes in the steeplechase.
But he’s often been the focus of less salubrious headlines – once for trading blows on the track with fellow countryman Mehdi Baala, and twice for incidents involving European Athletics Championship mascots.
No doubt aware of the winner’s bad boy reputation, Cooly the Cow kept well out of the way today. Mekhissi-Banabbad’s reputation as an athlete, on the other hand, took a turn to the good.
And now he has his eyes on a unique double at the Rio Olympics. “Not a lot of people could do this,” he said.
Then again, not a lot of people are Mahiedine Mekhissi-Banabbad.