Frédéric Dagée (shot put) and Margot Chevrier (pole vault) return with the gold. Camille Seri (400m hurdles) and Alessia Zarbo (5,000m) have secured silver. Finally, Lenny Brisseault earned bronze (javelin).
Frédéric Dagée broke the French shot put record with 20.75m. He improved by three centimeters on the mark of the late Yves Niaré (20.72m in 2008). With five medals (two gold, two silver, and one bronze), the NCAA ranks third in the medal table at these French Elite Championships and fourth in the “placing table.”
From Friday onwards, the Nice delegation did not disappoint. First, Lenny Brisseault in the javelin secured a beautiful bronze medal with a throw of 70.18m. A beautiful medal that promises a fruitful summer for the junior. A little later, it was Alessia Zarbo who stood out in the 5000m. In a fine race, the Antiboise took the silver medal by clocking her best time of the season at 15’53”02, which allowed her to achieve the performance level for the U23 European Championships.
In the discus, Dean-Nick Allen did not disappoint by finishing just off the podium with an implement thrown at 53.43m (SB). For her first French Elite Championships, Cecile Bogliolo fought well by throwing her javelin at 43.63m and took 9th place in the final. A good amount of experience gained for the junior, who positions herself as one of the favorites for the French junior championships.
As a symbol, on a Saturday when rain was expected, Fred Dagée shone like a true ray of sunshine. With a shot put throw at 20.75m, the Montargis native electrified the crowd by taking the gold medal and simultaneously seizing the French record, which was held by Yves Niaré (20.74m). Even though he remains far from the Olympic qualifying standards (21.10m), let’s hope he can be ranked in and be one of the pleasant surprises in the list that the federation should reveal in a few days.
It was said to be a good day for records. And Margot Chevrier wouldn’t disagree. Besides climbing to the top of the podium, the Nice native improved her personal best with a jump of 4.51m. She then took the best U23 European performance, setting her up in excellent condition for the European Under-23 Championships in 15 days.
In the 800m, Youssef Benzamia, who had brilliantly qualified for the final the day before, couldn’t do better than 7th place with a time of 1’50”58. In a tactical race, he chose to take risks but couldn’t compete against the experience in the discipline.
In the 100m hurdles, Sacha Alessandrini did the job in the heats by taking second place with a time of 13”16. In the final, the athlete coached by Franck Né took 5th place with a time of 13”14.
To conclude this lovely weekend, a final medal was deserved. This came from the 400m hurdles, where Camille Seri did not disappoint by stepping onto the second podium position. All this while setting a new personal record in 57”14. Second in the under-23 rankings, she should be on her way to Tallinn (Estonia) for the U23 European Championships from July 8th to 11th.
