The honor is safe, France will not return from the World Athletics Championships in Budapest empty-handed. The French men’s 4x400m relay won a silver medal on Sunday, the last day of competition. The French quartet, made up of Ludvy Vaillant, Gilles Biron, David Sombe and Téo Andant, set a national record in 2 min 58 sec 45. Only the United States beat them (2: 57.31). Great Britain completes the podium (2: 58.71).
As the very last events of the nine days of competition in the Hungarian capital loomed, the French team was heading for an embarrassing zero point. But the tricolor torchbearers took on the role of saviors in extremis, as the decathlete Kévin Mayer had done a year earlier at the Worlds in Eugene (Oregon, United States), obtaining gold for him. With only one silver medal on the clock, France only finished 27th in the nations ranking.