With Berlin gold fresh in their minds, sprint hurdlers Pascal Martinot-Lagarde and Elvira Herman are gearing themselves up for more glory at next month’s Glasgow 2019 European Athletics Indoor Championships.
It would be quite something to win two major senior European titles within a matter of months and in Lievin on Sunday (10), the gold medal-winning duo showed they are determined to do just that.
At the Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais, a European Athletics Indoor Permit Meeting, Martinot-Lagarde won at home in 7.57 as Herman won the women’s event in 8.00.
At 27, Martinot-Lagarde’s medal collection is growing by each championship and he already holds all three medals from the European Indoor Championships: gold in 2015, silver in 2017 and bronze in 2013. He also has three medals from the World Indoor Championships.
Berlin last summer was his first major outdoor title and his victory in Lievin represented his fastest time of the winter, taking him to third on the European list behind Spain’s Orlando Ortega (7.49) and Cyprus’s Milan Trajkovic (7.54).
The Frenchman won his heat in 7.64 before 7.57 in the final gave him victory over the United States’ Aaron Mallett in 7.63 and Brazil’s Gabriel Constantino in 7.75.
Herman, 22, rose from being world U20 champion in 2016 to the European crown in Berlin and here the Belarusian defeated Ukraine’s Hanna Plotitsyna, second in 8.06, with US athlete Evonne Britton third in 8.10.
With a season’s best of 7.97, Herman is right in the picture in her pursuit of a podium place in Glasgow. The European lead currently stands to Germany's Pamela Dutkiewicz at 7.89.
Lewandowski drops down to win the 800m
Poland’s Marcin Lewandowski has experienced some of the greatest moments of his career at the European Indoor Championships and there is no doubt he is hungry for more.
A gold medallist in the 800m in Prague in 2015, he will be the defending 1500m champion in Glasgow and it has been quite a few days for him.
After a national record for the 1500m in Torun on Wednesday with 3:36.50, he ran a season’s best in Lievin, winning in 1:47.90 to defeat Tunisia’s Abdessalem Ayouni (1:48.22) and Spain’s Alvaro de Arriba (1:48.70).
His teammate Iga Baumgart-Witan looked equally sharp as she won the 400m in 52.87 from the Netherlands’ Laura de Witte, who ran a personal best of 52.96 in second with reigning European champion Justyna Swiety-Ersetic third in 52.97.
In the men’s 400m, Belgium’s Kevin Borlee was in good shape as he won in 46.97 from Dominican Republic's former world and Olympic medallist Luguelin Santos in 47.44.
Lipsanen extends Finnish indoor triple jump record
When Finland’s Simo Lipsanen took seventh at the European Indoor Championships in Belgrade in 2017, his third round effort made history as he reached 16.84m for a national indoor record.
On the road to Glasgow he has gone even further with a leap of 16.98m for second behind Burkina Faso’s Fabrice Zango Hugues with 17.09m.
Racing for the first time since the European Championships in Berlin where injury forced him to forfeit from the final, Jimmy Vicaut was third in the 60m in 6.64 as Ivory Coast’s Arthur Gue Cisse won in 6.57.