PARIS – The Meeting Areva, Paris Diamond League will offer two 110mH races for the first time due to the high level of French athletes currently competing in the discipline.
European indoor champion Pascal Martinot-Lagarde is fresh from a win in Eugene and in Paris he will be flanked by his two compatriots that also made the medal stand in Prague, Dimitri Bascou and Wilhem Belocian. His older brother Thomas Martinot-Lagarde as well as Garfield Darien and Ladji Doucouré are also set to toe the start line.
But the French will not have it easy as Olympic champion Aries Merritt, world champion David Oliver, European champion Sergey Shubenkov and Cuba’s Orlando Ortega are also in the field.
World pole vault record holder Renaud Lavillenie will also be in action in Paris, where he hopes to clear 6 metres for the first time at his home Diamond League.
“Right now, I want to jump 6m each time I perform, as Sergey Bubka managed to do in his golden years.”
However, he notes that he will not be disappointed to not jump over 6 metres if the weather conditions are not favourable.
