London (AFP)

Wilehm Belocian is serious: the Frenchman has confirmed his good start to the season by taking a good 2nd place in the 110m hurdles of the London Diamond League meeting.

The former junior world champion, who is more than two years spoiled by injuries, proves that he will be one of the Blues to follow very seriously at the World Cup in Doha (27 September-6 October). In a race where Omar McLeod, Olympic and world gold medalist, was a scarecrow, the Guadeloupe did better than resist, finishing in the same time as the winner (13 sec 28/100), the Chinese Wenjun Xie. Either three hundredths of his personal best (13 sec 25/100).

What give the smile and comfort in his preparation the 24-year-old athlete, who had already finished 2nd at Stanford, June 30, still Diamond League.

"The form is there, the Frenchman reacted, my trainer had asked me to take out my guts and put everything I worked in. I was determined and I did not want to let go of anything. play not much, so I'm satisfied. "

The smile is there, the times are very good and Belocian, who managed to get ahead again the ogre McLeod (3rd in 13 sec 32/100), like Stanford, continues to gain confidence while are profiling the Worlds.

- Renaissance -

"I'm in front but these are just rallies," he said, "we'll have to wait for the big showdown at the World Championships, where the meters will be reset, I know that McLeod is a fighter and that will make it all It's a very good fight, but it's important for my morale because I'm coming out of two galley seasons, I'm keen on what's happening to me now and I'm taking it.

2019 is indeed the year of the renaissance for Belocian, who seemed set to climb the ladder at full speed after a beautiful European bronze medal in 2016 at just 21 years before being brutally stopped in his tracks and to see his career is bracketed by physical glitches.

For Pascal Martinot-Lagarde, there is still some work to do after this London exit. The European champion, returned to the competition only on July 5th after a left adductor injury that disrupted his preparation, failed in 4th position (13 sec 49/100) and still needs to activate to make up for the time lost by the rendezvous in Qatar.

"It makes sense, what I did today, he let go, that's about what I was waiting for, I have to keep working, my body and my adductor are better I did a lot of work between Lausanne and today so it's normal for me to be a little knockout, but it's good to collect races, I think it was a clean race, less fast but technically more accomplished than Lausanne. "

PML still needs to chain races and the French Championships, scheduled for July 26-28 in Saint-Etienne, probably arrive too early and will only serve as "preparation". The opposite of Belocian, who will be in the Forez favorite with the ambition to clinch his second national title after the 2016, just before the beginning of his troubles.

© 2019 AFP