With temperatures of 32°C and a humidity rate of 39% at the start of the meeting, conditions were perfect for enabling the athletes to shine during this MEETING AREVA 2015. Of course, the thousands of spectators who filled the first two rings of the Stade de France didn’t get to witness the first world record in the history of the Saint-Denis arena. In the 5,000m, despite joining forces with her rival Almaz Ayana, Ethiopian Genzebe Dibaba finished 26 seconds short of the record set by her sister Tirunesh. In the high jump, Qatari Mutaz Essa Barshim, who appears at every meeting to be in a position to beat the record set by Javier Sotomayor, fell slightly short of the mark tonight, finishing fifth and leaving the top spot to Russian Daniil Tsyplakov.
Records raining down
Indeed, there may not have been a world record but the spectators were able to console themselves with a European record (Jimmy Vicaut in the 100m, record equalled), an African record (South African Wayde Van Niekerk in the 400m), a North American record (American Evan Jager in the 3,000m steeplechase), three MEETING AREVA records, six national records and six best performances in the world this year, proof that the athletes are fighting fit with some 49 days to go till the start of the Worlds in Beijing.
Lavillenie disappointed
The performance put up by Jimmy Vicaut should be welcomed and his second place, behind Asafa Powell, certainly embellished the French scoreboard, which had been a little lacklustre up till then. Renaud Lavillenie, the most eagerly awaited French performer of the evening, suffered a cruel blow, finishing fifth in the pole vault after six victories in a row at the Stade de France. Fifth place also went to Pascal Martinot-Lagarde in a very high-flying 110m hurdles, won by Orlando Ortega (best time this year). Aside from Vicaut, only Kafétien Gomis, second in the long jump, and Kevin Ménaldo, fourth in the pole vault, really shone among the French contingent.
Jamaica, Kenya and Greece honoured
Among the overseas stars, aside from Powell, Ortega, Van Niekerk and Jager, credit goes to the two Kenyans Silas Kiplagat (best performance in the world this year in the 1,500m) and Jairus Kipchoge Birech (best performance in the world in the 3,000m steeplechase), as well as their compatriot Eunice Jepkoech Sum, uncompromising in the 800m. In the women’s 100m, Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce also proved that she was indeed the queen of sprint with a new meeting record. Finally, Greece climbed onto the highest step of the podium in the two pole vault events, with two national records to boot for Konstantinos Filippidis and Nikoleta Kiriakopoulou. In short, the Stade de France enjoyed another thrilling night of athletics this year and so we say roll on 2016!
