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The middle-distance runners are in their realm at Charléty. The 2024 edition was a case in point because, in addition to Faith Kipyegon’s world record in the 1,500 m (3’49’’04), three French athletes improved on their national record on the blue track: Gabriel Tual in the 800 m, Agathe Guillemot in the 1,500 m and Alice Finot in the 3,000 m steeplechase. The latter ran a blinder of a finish down the home straight to secure second place in 9’06’’15, behind the Bahraini Winfred Yavi (9’03’’68). Since then, the CA Montreuil 93 athlete has continued to really step up the pace, as evidenced by her fourth place at the Paris Olympics in 8’58’’67; a new European record.
To raise her game still further, 34-year-old Alice Finot has this year surrounded herself with a new team including French experts Philippe Dupont and Pascal Chirat, as well as Spaniard Saul Martinez. Her goal: to adopt a new race plan, which involves keeping pace with the athletes from high altitudes for as long as possible, rather than dropping back at the start of the race and then picking her way back up through the field. It is a strategy that she’ll have the opportunity to put into practice against her main rivals in the Wanda Diamond League Meeting de Paris’ 3,000 m steeplechase and it may well culminate in a new French record.
The best national performance of all time is also something that Jimmy Gressier and Yann Schrub will be targeting. The former has been shattering French records like there is no tomorrow, setting no fewer than three new reference times over the winter in the 3,000 m (7’30’’18), 5,000 m (12’54’’92) and 5 km (12’57’’). The record for the second of these distances will be in very grave danger in the Paris arena on Friday 20 June with the presence of locomotives like the Ethiopian Yomif Kejelcha, the short-lived world record holder in the half-marathon (57’30’’) and the fourth fastest athlete in the world of all time over 12.5 laps of the track in 12’38’’95, as well as Kenyan Jacob Krop, who secured the record in 12’45’’71 and a double world medal over the distance (2nd in 2022 and 3rd in 2023). The 28-year-old long-distance runner from Boulogne-sur-Mer AC, who took gold in the half-marathon European Running Championships in April, is now dreaming of breaking the legendary 12’50’’ barrier, a performance that just four Europeans have achieved to date.
Given the wealth of talent in French middle and long-distance running, he is not alone in switching things up a gear. Proof of this comes in the person of European 10 km champion Yann Schrub who, with a time of 13’00’’, finished just three seconds behind the runner from northern France during his national record performance in the 5 km race in Lille in mid-March. An athlete that excels at major championships, as indicated by his bronze medal in the 10,000 m (2022) and his silver medal in the 5,000 m (2024) on the European stage, the 29-year-old from Moselle in NE France is constantly pushing the limits in terms of reference times and mental barriers. Used to being cheered on by a very enthusiastic crowd of mates in the grandstands, this year he’ll benefit from the added support of some 18,000 spectators in Charléty, in what will be his debut performance at the Wanda Diamond League Meeting de Paris. A valuable asset indeed.