Athletics fans had to wait 17 years, but it finally happened on Saturday evening: the Stade de France was, at long last, able to bear witness to a world record. In the women’s 3,000m steeplechase, Bahrain’s Ruth Jebet put in a fantastic performance to win in a new world-record time of 8:52:78, beating the previous benchmark which had stood for eight years. Despite the hot conditions (the temperature fluctuated between 33 and 29°C between the first and last events on the programme), that world-record run was not the only remarkable effort made at the MEETING de PARIS, because no fewer than 27 personal bests, four national records, three continental records and two meeting records were also broken or equalled. Athletes who had hit peak form in Rio proved in Paris that, just one to two weeks later, they were still at the very top of their game.
Four Rio-Paris doubles
From the outset, during the first event of the night – the men’s shot put – New Zealander Tom Walsh set the tone by breaking the Oceanian record and meeting record. A little later, in the women’s 1,500m, middle-distance runner Laura Muir (GBR) broke the meeting record and British record, and produced the best global performance of the season to boot. Still on the track, Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha, set a new junior world record at the end of the night in the men’s 3,000m, in what was the best performance in the world this year. Last but not least, four Olympic champions added the 2016 MEETING de PARIS crown to their CVs. As it happened, all of them were women : Sandra Perkovic in the discus, Ruth Beitia in the high jump, Natasha Hastings (gold medallist in the 4x400m relay in Rio) in the 400m, and the aforementioned Ruth Jebet in the 3,000m steeplechase.
Lavillenie all smiles again
France failed to win an athletics gold medal at the Olympic Games, but spectators at the Stade de France still reserved a magnificent welcome for the six French medallists present on Saturday (Dimitri Bascou, who won a bronze medal in Rio, took part despite the lack of 110m hurdles event on the programme). One of them, Renaud Lavillenie, who had a gloomy time of things in Brazil, regained his broad smile in Paris by triumphing in the pole vault. Mélina Robert-Michon, a silver medallist like Lavillenie, again finished behind Sandra Perkovic in the discus. Jimmy Vicaut came in fifth in the men’s 100m, which had to make do without Christophe Lemaitre, who was forced to withdraw due to a severe cold. In addition, Kevin Mayer, who took a silver medal in the decathlon, tried his hand at the javelin event, finishing in last place, a position also occupied by Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad in the 3,000m. By the end of proceedings, there were some tired heroes on display, who fans in attendance will hope to see again on 1 July 2017, at the next edition of the MEETING de PARIS.
