Abderrahman Samba, photo by PhotoRun.net
The Meeting De Paris always looks has some great hurdle races. This time, the 110m hurdles, the 400 meter hurdles will both have a great fields. The 400 meter hurdles is a focus for the sport this year, with Samba and Warholm battling all season and setting records in many of the races. Here’s a quick report from Meeting de Paris, one of my favorite meetings.
The slogan for the Meeting de Paris – ‘Speed in Paris’ – is not just reserved for the flat sprints; the hurdle events at the IAAF Diamond League meeting on 30 June promise to be just as explosive.
Qatar’s Abderrahman Samba is undefeated so far this year, winning the 400m hurdles at the IAAF Diamond League meetings in Doha, Rome, Oslo and Stockholm. He has reduced the Asian and IAAF Diamond League records to 47.41 and will have Ed Moses’ meeting record of 47.66 in his sights when he competes in Paris.
He will have plenty of competition, too, as world champion Karsten Warholm and Olympic champion Kerron Clement will also be in the field. Warholm has twice bettered the 48-second barrier this year, finishing second to Samba on both occasions. The young Norwegian will be keen to gain revenge.
Such is the depth of the 110m hurdles field in Paris, there will be two heats followed by a final.
One year on from his surprise 13.05 victory at this meeting, Jamaica’s Ronald Levy will be back at the Stade Charlety. The Commonwealth champion will face two other past winners of the Meeting de Paris, both of whom recorded lifetime bests of 12.94 in the French capital: Olympic silver medallist Orlando Ortega and 2015 world silver medallist Hansle Parchment.
Sergey Shubenkov, the 2015 world champion, is also in the field, so too is a strong US contingent, including world record-holder Aries Merritt, 2016 US champion Devon Allen and 2017 US champion Aleec Harris.
Pascal Martinot-Lagarde and the top French hurdlers could well make the most of the stiff opposition to improve on their times ahead of the European Championships in Berlin.
Organisers for the IAAF
