There will be no French in the final of the 400m hurdles of the world athletics championships in Budapest. And it’s a big and bad surprise. The two tricolors in the running Wilfried Happio and Ludvy Vaillant both failed in the semi-finals on August 21: “It’s a big disappointment, regrets the first at the microphone of France TV, for me, my relatives. It was a lot of work and sweat to succeed. I got too far from the 8th hurdle and it changed my race”.
Happio was taken out in the third semi-final which only qualified the top two. He came too far to hope to pass in 48’83. Vaillant, for his part, believed in it a little: third in his race, he was eliminated on time (48′’48). He will long regret his bad approach to my 9th hurdle. “I dug in and got too far from her,” he complains.
It’s a serious setback for Happio (24), after a brilliant 2022 season where he came close to the world podium.
The three favorites, the Norwegian Karsten Warholm, the American Rai Benjamin and the Brazilian Alison Dos Santos, easily qualified for the final scheduled for Wednesday, where their clash promises to be electric.
The Dutch Femke Bol has made her return to competition, two days after her cruel fall before the arrival of the 4×400 m mixed relay which had cost her team a medal. A big favorite in the 400m hurdles, she crossed the heats without a hitch with the best time (53.39).
