Ludvy Vaillant, Gilles Biron, David Sombé and Téo Andant ranked second on Sunday, behind the United States, by signing the French record.
Better late than never. On the penultimate race of these Worlds in Budapest, the men’s 4×400 meter relay brought, on Sunday August 27, its first medal to a French clan hitherto empty-handed by winning the silver. Well launched by Ludvy Vaillant who passed the baton to Gilles Biron in third position, the French team then held on to the laps of David Sombé and Téo Andant. “I’m super proud of my partners. They did an incredible job. They handed over to me in a super good situation: I just had to finish”congratulated the last torchbearer at the microphone of France Télévisions, greeting in passing all the people associated with this performance, including Loïc Prévot who had taken the place of Gilles Biron in the series.
“Ludvy threw very well, Gilles too, wanted to greet David Sombé in the mixed zone, a few minutes before the medal ceremony. When I see that he arrives in three, I say to myself ‘Oh the crook, under what conditions is he putting me there?’ (laughs) At that moment, I say to myself: ‘well now I mustn’t miss this.’ Suddenly, I stick to the English and in the home stretch, we do what we know how to do. Teo finishes very cleanly. Individually and collectively, we did a great job.”
The French record in your pocket
With a time of 2’58″45, the French sprinters set the French record. “We talked about a medal, we talked about a record… We did both, everything is good”, summed up David Sombé after the final. The previous record, established in 2003, was previously held by Leslie Djhone, Naman Keïta, Stéphane Diagana and Marc Raquil (2’58”96). “Stephane [Diagana] was there, Leslie [Djhone] sent us a message of strength, which did us good. We have zero regrets to see, it’s monstrous. Here, we take advantage of the moment. I think we haven’t landed yet.” David Sombé reacted again. World champions, the United States indeed left with a status of almost untouchable (2’57″31)but the Blues resisted the return of Great Britain (2’58″71)third, and Jamaica (2’59″34), finally at the foot of the podium.
Thanks to this relay, the French Athletics Federation avoids an embarrassing zero point in the medal standings, since the women’s relay finished last in its final in stride. By dodging in extremis the record obtained during the Worlds of Helsinki in 1983 and Stuttgart in 1993, France thus invites itself among the 45 nations with at least one metal in Hungary. And the torchbearers are already aiming further. “This medal is that of the French team. We proves that we are present one year from the Games and we are going to get this Olympic medal”, warns Teo Andant.