Last dance for Samba-Mayela at the European Championships

Before this sparkling day of March 19 and this title of world champion in the 60m hurdles, Cyréna Samba-Mayela’s winter had been a little shaken up by an episode of fatigue in February. The 21-year-old hurdler had made an impression in Belgrade by breaking the French record (7”78) and savored the work which, finally, paid off. She and her coaches from the Tamgho team wanted to extend the momentum this summer, but the machine stalled somewhat in the spring.

Samba-Mayela, as on alternating current, recorded a few runners-up in the Diamond League, 5th at the Doha meeting in May, in 12”72 (+ 3.8 m/s) and 4th in Paris on June 18, in 12 ”76 (-0.4m/s). But, as the Worlds approached in Eugene, the Covid deprived her, the following week, of the French Championships and away from the slopes for a good ten days.

The form went up when arriving in Oregon, but still did not suggest a elimination as early, from the playoffswith a fourth place in 13”15. “ I was not really surprised with my result, she explained to the press a few days ago. I felt good, but the season had been complicated and on D-Day, it’s all that has been done before, what we have deep down that comes out, rather than the state of the moment. It was like the season. » Would this indoor crown have weighed too heavily on his shoulders? “ I digested itshe promises. It’s more that there’s been other personal things around, plus the Covid. »

As demanding with herself as she is introverted, the young woman began to identify the reasons for her failure: ” I don’t think I was able to cultivate the right things, those that will put me in the best position to be able to put out the best race. It’s not as if I had a good race with mistakes, you could have said: ah, I could have done that… There, it’s just that nothing came out. It was more interior than technical. »

After Eugene, the Francilienne cut a few days, recharged her batteries before reactivating her legs on sprint sessions. For introspection, we will see later. In Munich, in a less demanding context than at the Worlds, Samba-Mayela has the sixth fastest time among entries and keeps the objective of climbing on the podium for her last competition of the year. “ There, I will enjoy more, she says, don’t bother me. » And perhaps let yourself be carried away in the dance that smiled on the medalists of his generation, Just Kwaou-Mathey (22 years old, 110m hurdles) and Jules Pommery (21 years old, length), in bronze this week.