KEVIN MAYER (FRA) TRIATHLON - 18h55
« Having a triathlon in a Diamond League meeting is a very good idea. I support it. It helps to show combined events to the public. And, in the same time, it helps us to prepare the main championships and to work on transition without doing a complete decathlon. So, it’s obviously a good thing. But we have to remember that triathlon is not a real event, it has to stay only a good way to prepare and t attract the public. I’m in a good shape, I worked a lot for the past week weeks. I hope the MEETING de PARIS will reflect all this hard work. But I’ve been injured. So, I will probably throw the javelin on a short run up. »
OMAR MCLEOD (JAM) 110 M HURDLES - 19h20
« I’m in a good shape, that’s obvious. I’ve just got a new PB (12.90). I’m fast, faster than ever. This season, I have to confess that WR is in my mind. I hope to be able to beat it before the end of the season. But I don’t want to target it at each event. I don’t need this kind of pressure. The reason I improved so much this season is my new coach. I switched coaches, now I train in Lexington, Kentucky, with Edrick Floreal, Kendra Harrison’s coach. He gave me back the love of hurdles. Most important, I changed my technique. »
PIERRE-AMBROISE BOSSE (FRA) 800 M - 20h40
" I was fast this season, I was good in training, but being injured forced me to stop for 3 weeks in last May. At this time of the year, it’s tough. Now, I need to run, I need competitions. I’m short of fast races. For that reason, running on Saturday evening at the MEETING de PARIS could be an opportunity to open my account. In Nancy, earlier this week, it was ok but I was short of about 100 m. Now, I think that my peak will be in London for the Worlds then in the post-championships meetings. »
RENAUD LAVILLENIE (FRA) POLE VAULT - 19h32
« It looks that people forgot that I was on only one leg for all the last winter. I needed to rebuild myself. It’s not an easy task. Knowing that, my season in pretty decent so far. At first, I was not able to jump on a complete run up, I only could do it on 16 strikes. For the last 3 weeks, I could have done it, but the conditions on competition didn’t allow me to. Despite this problem, I have been able to jump 5 times at 5.80 m or higher. That’s correct but not enough to win a big event. But things will change, we are only on late june. Today, I don’t feel any pain, I’m able to fully train and jump. »
SAM KENDRICKS (USA) POLE VAULT - 19h32
« I’m very happy to be in Paris. Happy to be back in Paris, where things started for me. I remember being there in 2015, for the meeting, my first big international meeting. I was proud to be part of it. Now, things are different. Jumping 6 m in Sacramento was an important goal for me. It’s was something I tried to achieve for a long time. With my coach, we worked a lot to do it. Now, it’s done. It gives me a lot of confidence. »
RUTH JEBET (BHR) 3 000 STEEPLECHASE - 21h00
« After Eugene in Diamond League, I came back to Kenya to train for one week. I needed it. Now, I’m feeling very good. I’m in shape, I’m feeling rested. I’m very happy to be back in Paris where I beat the WR record last season. The crowd helped me a lot to achieve it. I have not forgot. Now, I would like to defend my WR and even, why not, to improve it. For that reason, I asked for a fast pace : 3.00/3.01 for the first two km. Then, I would need to push hard to finish in 2.58/2.59 »
CHRISTIAN TAYLOR (USA) TRIPLE JUMP - 20h38
« I’m very happy to be in Paris. I was there three years ago in 2014, when the event was at the Stade de France. I don’t know the new venue, I will discover it. Weather is a little bit cold, but that’s fine for me. I live and train in Netherlands, so I’m used to it. I’ve been training in Netherlands since last February. So far, my season has been quite good and interesting. But I want to be very consistent at my next competitions. My training has been wonderful, the field is very strong : I expect a lot for the MEETING de PARIS. »
MUTAZ BARSHIM (BHR) HIGH JUMP - 19h08
« I’m very happy to be back in Paris because I want to jump good. Obviously, the main goal this season is the World championships in London, but it’s not the only goal. This season I want to have a different and specific approach for every single competition. Each time I want to be successfull, I want to be excellent. It was not planned, but I haven’t done an indoor season. So, I had more time to prepare and to build myself. So far, I feel really confortable with my running and that’s very important. I can jump at full appraoch with eight steps. I haven’t really changed a lot of things in my training this year, just some small touch. »
GARFIELD DARIEN (FRA) 110 M HURDLES - 19h20
« I have to say that I was surprised by my shape and my times at the start of the season. I didn’t expect to run in 13.20 so early, mainly because with my dad - who is also my coach – we decided to start to work on speed later than usual. After that, my goal was to stay in the same zone. I think I succeed, except in Roma in Diamond League, which was my only bad race so far. But everything gone wrong for this competition : I missed my plane twice, then I was hit by another athlete’s spikes at the start and I couldn’t finish. In Ostrava, I got a new PB (13.09) but it was not expected. I didn’t even planned to run in Ostrava, but we had a good offer. I just wanted to speed up after the 4th hurdle. »
THOMAS RÖHLER (GER) JAVELIN - 20h35
« I’m feeling good, very good. I’m coming straight for a very good competition in Ostrava, where I was able to throw more than 90 m (91,53 m). With three days between these two events, the MEETING de PARIS should be great. This season, I’m very pleased with my throws. I was able to throw very far, with an amazing start in Doha, an history performance of 93.90 m. Then things have been good. Each year, I try to give myself new challenges, in training as well as in competition. Two years ago, I wanted to be consistent at 85 m. Last year, it was 87 m. This season, I want to achieve an higher goal, I try to be consistent at 90 m or more. So far, I succeed. »
FAITH KIPYEGON (KEN) 1 500 M - 21h40
« The race on Saturday evening at the MEETING de PARIS will be my third and last before the World championships. I hope to win, of course, but I also expect from this race some good informations to adjust my training before London 2017. I don’t know the track, I’m not sure it’s fast or not. So, it’s not easy for me to predict a time. I just hope that victory will goes to the better athlete. »
ELAINE THOMPSON (JAM) 100 M - 20h29
« I’m very pleased with my season so far. I started very early in Jamaica with a strong race on 400 m, I got a new PB. I ran 10.78 on 100 m at Shanghai in Diamond League. Then I have been able to run even faster in Kingston (10.71). But to be honest, nothing was really planned. Things just happened. I never focus on time. I’m more focused on myself, staying in my own lane and execute well. And I try to surprise myself at every race. That’s why I cannot say anything about a time before a competition. This year, I’m injury free. That’s good. About my programm between Paris and the Worlds in London, I honestly don’t know. It’s not decided. »
FLORIA GUEÏ (FRA) 400 M - 20h03
« I really look forward to run on Saturday evening at the MEETING de PARIS. Because I was injured, I couldn’t be part of the competition at Lille for the European teams championships. But now everything is getting in place. So, I’m confident. My last specific training session has been very solid, I ran on 320 m at the pace of the competition. It was great. So, I want to run a good race, getting a strong performance, having fun and feeling good sensations. I’m ready. »
