Birmingham (United Kingdom) (AFP)

Under the wind and the rain of Birmingham, neither Rénelle Lamote, coming to get the minima for the World championships of Doha (September 27th - October 6th), nor Melina Robert-Michon, in search of reference, did not succeed their coup Sunday during the 11th stage of the Diamond League.

The countdown is on for Lamote, who had to settle for a frustrating 4th place in the 800m with a disappointing time (2: 01.46), far from the "performance level" required by the French Athletics Federation (2 : 00.20) and IAAF minima (2: 00.60).

Enclosed in the peloton at the start of the race, the vice-champion of Europe (25 years), absent from the provisional list of 42 selected disclosed August 13 by the FFA, has managed to better reposition itself to attack the last lap but she was a little short to play the victory, which went to the American Ajee Wilson (2: 00.76). She now only has one race left, on August 24th at the Diamond League meeting in Paris, to sign the requested time, she who did not do better this year than 2: 01.21, on August 10th in Bydgoszcz at course of the European Team Championships.

- Paris, the last chance -

For Mélina Robert-Michon also everything will be played in Paris. Widely distanced for the moment in the classification of qualifications (11th tie with 1 point), it is in Charléty that the vice-champion Olympic discus throw (40 years) will try to snatch one of the 8 tickets for the final of the Diamond League (September 6 in Brussels). 9th and penultimate (57.67 m) of a record competition won by Cuban Yaimé Perez (64.87 m), the holder of the record of France (66.73 m), returned this year to the competition after a break in 2018 due to maternity and who already has his ticket in his pocket for Doha, has remained very far from his best performance of the season (62.41 m, July 16 in Sotteville) and has not reassured in the optics of the Worlds.

The women's 200m, which was the highlight of the meeting with a royal plateau, smiled on Bahamian Shaunae Miller-Uibo. The 2016 Olympic champion in the 400m at Rio in 2016, victorious in 22 sec 24 Sunday in Birmingham, has the luxury of setting the sprint ace like the British Dina Asher-Smith (22 sec 36) and Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (22 sec 50).

Over 100m hurdles, Jamaican Danielle Williams has clearly positioned herself as the main favorite of the big event in Qatar. The 2015 world champion (26 years old), already the author of the best time of the year (12 sec 32 in London at the end of July), won in 12 sec 46 in front of the record woman of the world (12 sec 20), the American Kendra Harrison (12 sec 66).

In the 100-meter absence of US World Cup runner-up Christian Coleman, the fastest man in 2019 (9 sec 81, July 1 at Stanford) last-minute package, Jamaican Yohan Blake took the opportunity to award his first race in the Diamond League since September 2017 (10 sec 07).

© 2019 AFP