3,000m steeplechase specialist Mehdi Belhadj, 13th in the Worlds a month ago but injured in the right knee, was eliminated in the series at the European Athletics Championships on Tuesday in Munich, where Thomas Jordier qualified for the 400m final.
Hammer thrower Alexandra Tavernier, in difficulty this season and who had given up the Worlds in Eugene (United States) in July, also qualified for the final with the fourth mark (68.99 m).
Belhadj, who suffers from tendinitis in his knee, only ran the seven and a half laps of the track in 8 min 42 sec 38, the 22nd time in the series.
On the contrary, the two other Frenchmen involved in the distance, Louis Gilavert and Djilali Bedrani, will be present in the final. The first ranked fourth in his series in 8 min 32 sec 26, the second qualified on time, in 8 min 35 sec 57.
“I expected to have bad feelings: in the space of 17 days I had to run barely two, three times, ten days of cycling it does not replace the race. It went up to 1300-1500 m , and followingwards, I felt as the laps that it drew”, explained Belhadj, who had hesitated to participate in the continental meeting.
“I would have been disappointed if I had come in good shape, but I’m not disappointed with my race because today I don’t have the weapons to fight with the guys”, he summarized .
In the 400m, Jordier set the second fastest time in the semi-finals, in 45 sec 37, once once more improving his personal best which he had brought to 45 sec 39 in the heats the day before, once morest 45 sec 49 when he arrived in Munich. . Only the Briton Matthew Hudson-Smith ran faster, in 44 sec 98.
“Now that I have made it to the final, the objective is to grab every place to get the medal. A medal would do me the greatest good, aims Jordier. I will be very disappointed if I finish fourth.”
Earlier in the morning, Yanis David (6.57m, 9th) qualified for the long jump final.
