France’s Vicaut shows off Moncton medal credentials – European Athletics (EAA) – News

Some of Europe’s top junior athletes went through their paces at the Mannheim Junior Gala in Germany on Sunday with French sprinter Jimmy Vicaut showing superb form, running 100m in 10.17 after going even faster with a personal best of 10.16 in the heats.

It was the fastest time in the world this year by a junior and, at 18, Vicaut is still eligible for the 2011 European Athletics Junior Championships in Tallinn, Estonia.

Vicaut will also go to the IAAF World Junior Championships in Moncton, Canada, later this month as a serious contender for a gold medal.

Speculation is also inevitably abounding that he can eventually supersede the European junior record of 10.04 set by his fellow Frenchman Christophe Lemaître last year.

Behind Vicaut, who moves up to being the seventh fastest European junior ever over 100m, Great Britain’s Deji Tobias was second in a personal best of 10.30 while Belgium’s Julien Watrin, who also has another year as a junior, set a national junior record of 10.39 in third.

France’s Pascal Martinot-Lagarde, fourth at the 2009 European Athletics Junior Championships, won the 110m hurdles in personal best 13.37 to become the second fastest junior in the world this year.

Sadly, a potential clash with Great Britain’s Jack Meredith, who has run 13.32 this year, failed to materialise after the Briton was disqualified for a false start in the final after running 13.46 in his heat.

Behind Martinot-Lagarde, Norway’s Vladimir Vukicevic – the younger brother of the 2009 European Athletics Under 23 Championships 100m hurdles gold medallist Christina Vukicevic –  got second in 13.49 after equalling his own national junior record of 13.42 in the heats.

Another man with medal prospects in Moncton is Great Britain’s Jack Green, who clocked a 400m hurdles personal best of 50.86.

Great Britain’s leading European junior sprinter Jodie Williams, who will also be eligible for Tallinn, also went close to her best of 11.24 when she sped to 11.26 in Mannheim while Sweden’s Erik Sundlof cleared a personal best of 2.21m to win the High Jump.

Germany’s junior 4x100m relay teams also posted good times with the men combining for 39.91, a time equalled by Great Britain in a separate heat, for the fastest time by a European junior quartet this year, while the German women went one better and clocked 44.22 for the best time in the world by a junior squad in 2010.

 European Athletics (EAA) – News