SPRINT FESTIVAL – Stade de France in Paris – The French stage of the IAAF Diamond League

With a little less than a month until the big day, the line-up for the MEETING AREVA 2013 has just been further boosted by a handful of new names. The presence in the Stade de France on Saturday 6 July of this host of stars from World athletics, who have already been crowned with success or are in the process of doing just that, will make the French stage of the IAAF Diamond League even glossier than in previous editions.

Billed as the evening’s main event, the men’s 200m already had a start list worthy of an Olympic or World final, with six competitors having run under 19’’90 over the course of their career: Jamaican Usain Bolt, world record holder (19’’19), Frenchman Christophe Lemaitre (19’’80), Jamaican Warren Weir (19’’84), his compatriot Nickel Ashmeade (19’’85), Dutchman Churandy Martina (19’’85), and finally Jamaican Jason Young (19’’86). To this list, the organisers have added Jimmy Vicaut.

Just back from the IAAF Diamond League Meeting in Rome, where he secured 3rd place behind Justin Gatlin and Usain Bolt, with the best European time this year of 10’’02 to boot, Guy Ontanon’s student has confirmed his presence over what is a less customary distance for him. “I want to make progress with the 200m this season, a distance where my personal best – 20’’58 – dates back to last year, with the aim of using it to benefit my performance in the 100m, explains the Frenchman.

The difficulty factor at the Meeting AREVA is sure to be intriguing and I’m hoping to make the most of the atmosphere to secure a place in the World Championships (minimum of 20’’43). I know that I can perform well this year over 200m. I’ll be gunning for a good time at the Stade de France, enough to get my ticket to the Worlds at least, a bit better than that even.”

Until now Jimmy Vicaut has never had the opportunity to participate in the MEETING AREVA. Indeed he’s never even had the chance to compete in a single competition on the Stade de France track. However, the scheduled 50,000 spectators won’t ruffle his composure. “The pressure may be a bit greater, but I take fairly little notice of the outside elements, he says. I just run my race.”

Another young French athlete, whose performance has really stood out since the start of the season, will also have a chance to discover the sublime setting of Metropolitan France’s largest arena on Saturday 6 July. Valentin Lavillenie, 21 years of age and the younger brother of Olympic pole vault champion, has been invited by the organisers to compete in a competition where his elder sibling will be targeting his fifth consecutive victory.

Winner of the Montreuil meeting on 3 June, with a jump of 5.65m (a personal best outdoors), he too will be seeking to benefit from the very choice context to clear the minimum height to earn a place in the World Championships in Moscow (5.70m).

Meanwhile, the line-up for the men’s 400m isn’t quite complete as yet. However, confirmation of the presence of the world’s top specialists already ensures it will be one of the evening’s high points. Kirani James, the young prodigy from Grenada, reigning Olympic and World Champion, will cross swords here with American LaShawn Merritt. Their last confrontation, in Eugene in the United States on 1 June, saw the advantage go to LaShawn Merritt, winner in a time of 44’’32 ahead of Kirani James, 2nd in 44’’39. The revenge match, in the Stade de France, promises to be electric.

The same explosive atmosphere is set to envelop the track for the men’s 110m hurdles too. On the start line will be no less than three of America’s most illustrious specialists: Aries Merritt, with an Olympic and World record (12’’80), Jason Richardson, reigning World Champion (12’’98 last year), and David Oliver, the World Number 1 in 2010, a year when he ran his personal best of 12’’89 at the MEETING AREVA.

To date, David Oliver has showed himself to be the fastest of the three, confirming his return to fitness with a time of 13’’10 on 1 June in Eugene. However, his two main rivals are making no secret of the fact that they’re intending to make the most of the Stade de France track to vie for national leadership.

Agence Blanco Negro