European Athletics (EAA) – News – Calvin in top shape for Hungary

French runner Clémence Calvin will be pitching for a medal at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships, which take place in Szentendre, Budapest, on December 9.

Last year in Velenje, the 22-year-old finished eighth in the U23 category despite carrying an injury that was to dog her for months afterwards.

Colvin ran with the pack for most of the race in the Slovenian mining-city before they finally got away and she finished 19sec adrift of winner Emma Pallant of Great Britain.

It was on the eve of those championships in Slovenia that Calvin first noticed the injury that was to dog her for the rest of the 2011/2012 winter. "It was at the end of a warm-up session the day before the championships when I suddenly started to suffer from synovial tendinitis in the right leg. It happened at a really bad moment," she told Athle.com in an interview.

It was to be the month of May 2012 before she could train properly again.

After that experience, she is understandably approaching the winter season with caution: "I am focusing all my training on strength to avoid any silly injuries," she explained. "I shall take part in the senior race in Allones, but for the European championships I shall go in the U23 category again. I learnt a lot from last year and I hope to do much better."

But after her French age-group record over 10km recently, she is clearly in the shape of her life and ready to improve dramatically on last year's performance. It was on October 7 that Calvin demolished the former French age-group record for 10km by 29sec leaving it at 33:53, an improvement of almost a minute on her previous best. "I should have attacked this record last year after the 2011 SPAR European Cross Country Championships but I got injured. I wanted to beat the French record but I did not expect to do it by so much!"

Calvin confesses she lacked confidence at the start of the race in Paris since this was only her fifth outing over the distance, but after passing the half-way mark in 17:04 she then threw in two swift kilometres of 3:18 running a negative split 16:49 for the second half of the race.

"It is my first and only French record," she said. "I was incredibly frustrated at not getting the 5000m record so I shall console myself with this one."

Last summer, Calvin also took part in the European Athletics U23 Championships, finishing agonisingly out of the medals in fourth. Interestingly, on this occasion she was 10sec ahead of the woman who she was later to confront over the cross-country in Velenje, Pallant. She was also fourth this summer in the senior French championships with what is her new best over 5000m of 15:57.85.

Subsequently, Calvin also picked up the French U23 steeplechase title in 10:30.20. If all goes to plan, Szentendre will witness a much improved Calvin model compared to last year.

 European Athletics (EAA) – News