News Archive

Press Brief Darya KLISHINA
This is my first season with my new trainer, Loren Seagrave. So I need time to adjust to my new training methods. It’s very different from Russia as I’m new exercises. I’m working a lot on my speed and I think I’m faster now. I want to jump around 7 meters this season and why not try to beat my personal best (7.05). But my main goal for this season is to win the European gold medal in Zurich

Press Brief Blanka VLASIC
I’ve never been injured this long before. I’ve never been in this kind of situation, so I don’t know if my results are normal or not. The good news is that I’m healthy now and better things lie ahead. It’s not so easy, but 1.92 is not so bad for a first competition. Right now I need to be patient and to take one competition at a time. I feel great physically, but not everything is coming together with my technique. I’m missing a lot of jumping training and competition. It’s been too long to think that I would pick up were I was. I need to go through the season now, even if I’m not jumping 2.05 or not attempting world records because I need to get back to where I was. After Paris I’ll be jumping in Glasgow and London.

Press Brief Renaud Lavillenie
I’m happy with my performance in Lausanne yesterday. The conditions were a bit difficult, but I won and took the 4 points. I think that I can jump again as high as in Donetsk (world record) in an outdoor competition, but it might be complicated this year because of the difficult weather conditions. I hope to be able to jump around 6.05 this season, and I’ll be aiming higher in 2015 and 2016. My goal is to stay unbeatable as long as possible. I won the last two editions of the European Championships, so I’ll be looking to grab a third gold medal in august. I’ll be of course watching France vs. Germany tonight, but I’m very happy to be in Paris and to jump in the Stade de France tomorrow. The weather conditions will have an impact on the pole-vault competition. With wind and rain you can lose up to 15 centimetres. With my level, I think I can jump around 5.80 in rainy conditions. But the most interesting thing is to compete against the other athletes. If I win with a 30 centimetre margin on the other pole-vaulters, it’s a very good result.

Press Brief Brittney REESE
I’ve been successfull at the Nationals in Sacramento, but I had no rythm. It’s quite normal at this stage. But I’m gonna be better and better in my running, with more rythm and speed, maybe as soon as tomorrow in the Stade de France. I love this event, this is my second time here. I hope to jump well and to have a good result, which would be 7 m or higher. But I would be pleased with a 6,90 m jump.

Press Point Pierre Ambroise BOSSE
I’m ready to run fast, I feel like I can win this race. I’m excpecting a lot from the pacemaker. I’ll be looking to run the first lap in 50.5, and then I’ll have to focus on technical details. I’m arriving here in great form. This could be a race to beat the French national record (1.43.15). It will depend on the weather.

Press Point Sanya RICHARDS ROSS
I’m really glad to be back in Paris. I’m vey happy with my time in Sacramento at the US championships, and I’m ready to run even faster here. I’ll be looking to run once again under 50 seconds. This season my goal is to be consistant around 49 seconds. My toe still hurts a bit, but I feel like I’ve done 90% of the road to be pain-free, and I’ll be looking to finish the season with no more pain

Press Brief Ashton EATON
I’m very pleased so far with my experience on 400 m hurdles. A very interesting experience. It’s a lot different feeling to compete every week, than competing in decathlon once in a while and training in between. I could manage to train on decathlon until june, but not anymore as I started to compete on 400 m hurdles early june. But it’s not a problem actually. I’m feeling 80% healthly, so I’m feeling a lot better than the last seasons, where I used to be a little bit in pain constantly. I had no goal in mind on 400 m hurdles, so I’m quite happy about the one I have done so far. It’s not my first visit to Paris, I’ve came once in holidays with my wife after the London olympics. But I’ve never compete at MEETING AREVA.

PARIS PERCHE : A shower of jumps
Athletics moved away from its usual setting on Saturday 28 June to go out and meet the general public. It left the formal decor of the stadium behind and invited itself to the centre of the city. Indeed, on the initiative of the French Athletics Federation (FFA), the organiser of the MEETING AREVA, a pole vault exhibition was proposed in the very heart of Paris, just a stone’s throw from the Eiffel Tower, in the gardens of Le Trocadéro. The result was a kind of foretaste of the MEETING AREVA 2014, the French stage of the IAAF Diamond League, which is due to take place on Saturday 5 July in the Stade de France. Gracing the event was an exceptional athlete, Renaud Lavillenie, Olympic champion and world record holder in the speciality with a jump of 6.16m.

An explosive atmospere beckons in the sprint
It’s a mighty event. Asafa Powell, the former 100m world record man (9’’74) will take to the track for the start of the 100m on Saturday 5 July in the Stade de France for the 2014 edition of the MEETING AREVA.

A shower of stars and record prospects in the hurdles
The MEETING AREVA has always loved fences, partly as a result of French tradition but perhaps more about a taste for a showstopper. The 2014 edition will be a further demonstration of this passion and it is sure to be the most meaningful of recent years. One thing for sure is that the audience in the Stade de France, on Saturday 5 July, will be treated to the best in the world in the high (110 and 100m hurdles) and low hurdles (400m hurdles). An explosive cocktail of overseas stars and French aces, both established and new, suggest that some truly outstanding performances could well be on the cards.