ANGERS, France – Sprinter Jimmy Vicaut continues to show great form in his Olympic preparations, after clocking another sub-10 seconds to win the men’s 100m at the French Championships over the weekend.
The 24-year-old posted a time of 9.88 seconds to win the event on Saturday (25), comfortably beating Stuart Dutamby (10.12) and Mickael-Meba Zeze (10.21) who both set personal bests for second and third place, respectively.
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Vicaut’s winning time was his second fastest of the season behind his world-leading mark of 9.86 secs, which he set earlier this month.
World record holder Usain Bolt of Jamaica has also clocked 9.88 secs this season and sits joint second on the top list with the Frenchman.
Earlier at the meet, Vicaut ran 9.94 seconds in the semifinal heats – his fourth time under the 10 seconds barrier from five 100m races in 2016.
“I’m very satisfied,” the sprinter said on the IAAF website. “I’m in my best career form and I will continue to work hard.”
Christophe Lemaitre, the 2012 European champion, ran 10.09 to win his heat with the second fastest time, but had to pull out of the championships before the final because of an achilles tendon problem.
Vicaut returned to complete the sprint double on Sunday, winning the 200m dash in 20.62.
Another highlighted performance at the French Championships came in the men’s pole vault, where world record holder Renaud Lavillenie cleared a world-leading height of 5.93m to take the victory.
Lavillenie opened his series at 5.75m before going over 5.85m on his first attempt as well, before his winning effort.
He also tried two attempts at 6.01m, but came up short.
Nevertheless, he was pleased with his championship ready performance.
“It feels good. I’m very happy to do this performance at the championships,” said Lavillenie.
“My two attempts at 6.01m were very close.”
In other results, Dimitri Bascou ran a slightly wind-assisted 13.05 (2.1m/s) seconds to win the men’s 110m hurdles title, while Pascal Martinot-Lagarde finished sixth in 13.73 after he hit the seventh hurdle.
Stella Akakpo captured the women’s 100m crown with a personal best time of 11.17, while Floria Guei took the 400m crown in 51.21.
Experienced jumper Teddy Tamgho won the men triple jump with a last round effort of 17.15m, but injured himself in the process and will miss the Olympic Games with a fractured his left femur.
