The Frenchman finished fourth, Tuesday in Eugene, two hundredths of the bronze medal. He got closer to four hundredths of Stéphane Diagana’s French record.
by
“Damn, I was third … at least I gave everything.” Tuesday July 19 in Eugene (Oregon), Wilfried Happio was still third a few meters from the finish line of the 400m hedge final , before, finally, to take an unexpected fourth place. He failed two hundredths of a world bronze medal won by the American Trevor Bassitt (47 seconds 39 seconds), 3rd behind the Brazilian Alison Dos Santos (46 seconds 29 seconds) and another American, Rai Benjamin (46 seconds 89 seconds).
After the fourth place in the hammer launcher Quentin Bigot and the disappointment of the 110 m hurdles (Pascal Martinot Lagarde, Just Kwaou-Mathey and Sasha Zhoya not qualified for the final), a medal would have done good to the team of France.
At 23, Wilfried Happio crushed his own record. And this time, he even tuned a legendary French record -long record of European -, that of Stéphane Diagana: 47 seconds 41 against 47 seconds 37.
He had first broken his personal record at the end of June, in a very specific context: a few minutes before the final of the French championships, he had been attacked by the brother of an athlete, who filed a complaint against him for Sexual assault.
The question of whether he realized the level of performance, the interested party was shared: “I’m going to say that in a few days. For the moment, I really have fourth place in my head. But but I am happy to get closer to Stéphane’s time. It is a mentor and an example. “
The Lille licensee added: “Before arriving here, I would not have thought it if I had been told that I was going to finish 4th, with the names that there are. To Tokyo [at the Olympic Games ], I do not even qualify in the final. You have to know how to seize the opportunities in life. Today, I may have seized one. “
” Oh, there is Warholm ! “
However, in the particular context of the Karsten Warohlm mixture, which may not reproduce often, Wilfried Happio may have been well alongside the result of a life. The American Trevor Bassitt “left more slowly, which made him had a little more juice than me at the end. He managed to grab the two hundredths that were missing, he analyzed more lucid . Congratulations to him, now, this is the last time he has done that to me (smile). “
What did he think when he went up his handicap on the world record holder, Kartsen Warholm, who was cracking, at the entrance to the last straight line? “I said to myself so much: ” Stop telling you that it is Warholm, otherwise you will never do first ”. When I passed I said ” Oh, there is Warholm! ”. I told myself that I was going to beat him but once you really do it, you are always a little surprised. “
This result opens up new horizons to the athlete, who will have to solve his extra-sports problems, he who was heard by the INSEP (his place of training) but not yet by the police. “We are going to work accordingly. We are all a little human. At the end of the race, you tell yourself that it is a question of mind, to the one who is most up to date in his training,” he declared.
The one who has won almost a second and a half over his best time in less than a month is not even surprised: “It may seem phew. I rather see him in the sense that it was three Years that I was doing 49 seconds. I stagnated, when I trained hard. I needed a click, he explained. When we are very young, that we know periods of doubt, we can trip and set limits.
As of August, Wilfried Happio will have a new opportunity to show that it does not keep chance. In Munich, he will be one of the podium contenders for the European Championships. “I take the lead in the European ranking, it’s nice. I am very respecting my competitors and I know what they can do,” he said. He will certainly find there a revenge karsten warholm and sharper than in Oregon.