Bydgoszcz (Poland) (AFP)

After a flamboyant Saturday, the French team returned to the ranks on Sunday with the image of its leader Renaud Lavillenie, but narrowly kept his place on the podium (3rd) of the Bydgoszcz European Team Championships (Poland ).

With a team almost complete, while several European stars were not at the rendezvous, Poland reigned at home with 345 points, ahead of Germany (317.5) and France (316.5).

The suspense for 3rd place remained intact until the last race, the relay 4x400 m men: the blue relay was doubled by Italy at the finish but kept a half-point ahead of the Transalpines to the outcome of the 40 events of the weekend! The Blues are 3rd for the third consecutive edition.

- "The wind was shit" -

After the disillusionment of Saturday night and the disqualification of the relay 4x100 m men, the team of France remained well placed without shining, in the wake of its leader, the world record holder of the pole vault Renaud Lavillenie, only 3rd of his competition with a jump to 5.71 m.

"The wind was shit, it was very unstable, bursts and almost nothing, I'm happy to have been able to report 10 points, I really saw myself in trouble at some point", he reacted in mixed zone, having been dominated by the Polish favorite Piotr Lisek (5.81 m).

Frustrated by a gust of wind, Lavillenie even threw his pole behind the mat in full swing at his first attempt at 5.71m.

"It's a small gesture of excitement that has no place on the stadium but we do not control everything when we give it all, I apologized, I do not have to do that."

Returned only mid-June to the competition because of tendonitis, Renaud Lavillenie is slowed down slightly in his progression when he had passed 5.85m at the French Championships in Saint-Etienne on July 28th. The 2012 Olympic champion is aiming for the title of world champion this summer, the only one missing from his list, which will be awarded in Doha (27 September - 6 October).

Sovereign for a decade, he is now in the shoes of the outsider against several athletes who have already jumped 6 m and more this season (the Polish Piotr Lisek, the Swede Armand Duplantis, the defending American Sam Kendricks ).

"I do not feel like that, before being the hunter I want to find myself (...) and I return the question: what does it make them go from hunter to chased? ", he said.

- Lesueur-Aymonin in Doha -

Several Frenchmen hoped to use the blue run of Bydgoszcz as a springboard for the Worlds. After Ludvy Vaillant (400m hurdles) and Alexie Alaïs (javelin) on Saturday, only Eloyse Lesueur-Aymonin made his bet Sunday by finishing 3rd in the long jump with 6.72m, exactly the performance required for Doha.

National Technical Director Patrice Gergès is due to announce his selection on Tuesday, which will be completed at the end of August after the Diamond League meeting in Paris (24 August).

In a hot temperature (around 27 degrees), Alexandra Tavernier held her hammer rank (72.81m) for the only French victory of the day, while Pascal Martinot-Lagarde stumbled on the Spaniard Daniel Ortega on the 110 m hurdles (2nd in 13.46).

At home Poland strolled thanks to its stars Adam Kczszot (800 m) or Piotr Lisek. The big performance of the weekend came from Germany's Malaika Mihambo, the best jumper in length in the world with a jump to 7.11 m slightly too windy (+2.2 m / s).

With the victory of the host country, this is the first time that another nation than Germany or Russia wins the European Championships team, competition born in 2009 as a legacy of the European Cup of Nations.

Five countries are relegated to the second division (Switzerland, Finland, Greece, Sweden, Czech Republic) while only Portugal is promoted so that the next edition is played in eight countries instead of twelve.

© 2019 AFP