Thanks to a last test measured at 7.93 m, Konaté (19) will play the final on Sunday morning. His sparring partner, 2022 Munich European bronze medalist Jules Pommery, was knocked out following biting all three of his attempts.
“The track is difficult to grasp, fast but soft at the same time, it absorbs a lot of shocks. The marks were turned upside down. Tomorrow (Sunday, editor’s note) I will + tear everything up +”, promised Konaté.
Pommery told him to be “disappointed but not even surprised, it’s like my season since the beginning of February because of food poisoning at Insep”.
“It’s not an excuse but since then I haven’t managed to climb the slope, to regain my feelings.”
In the 400m, Gilles Biron won his series (46.50) and will play the semi-finals on Friday followingnoon, unlike Muhammad Abdallah Kounta (47.55).
Norwegian star Karsten Warholm, Olympic champion in the 400m hurdles, easily won his race by setting the best time of the series by far (45.75), like the new Dutch world record holder Femke Bol (52.35).
© 2023 AFP