Paris (AFP)
Burkinabé Hugues-Fabrice Zango shone on Sunday, beating the African record for the triple jump with the 17.77 m during the indoor meeting in Paris.
He is the man who climbs the world triple jump. Burgeoning Hugues-Fabrice Zango, a Burkinabe bronze medalist at the World Championships in Doha (Qatar) in October, has improved his personal best since his first outing in winter with a rare performance at 17.77 m.
Zango (26) thus becomes the 4th best performer in indoor history behind the Swedish Christian Olsson and the Cuban Aliecer Urrutia (17.83 m) and the world record holder Teddy Tamgho (17.92 m), who is also his trainer.
"17.77 m to start it is promising, I did not think I was as fit, said the athlete who divides his time between Béthune (northern France) where he is preparing a thesis in electrical engineering, and the Insep where he trains for the weekend in Paris.
After an already successful first try (17.42 m), Zango roared the hall of the AccorHotels Arena (ex-Bercy) on his third jump, before then winning the competition in a last "duel" try against Frenchman Melvin Raffin (best jump at 16.91 m), his training partner.
"I am fourth of all time yes, but it's only at the bottom of the podium! There is nothing to cheer about yet, there is a lot of work. The world record? It will come out when it comes out. The world record will not necessarily be my limit. I am not yet at the top of everything I need to master, "said the Burkinabé, who arrived in France in 2015, who dreams of becoming the first Olympic medalist in history from his country this summer in Tokyo.
The meeting was also rather stingy in great performances, with a first disappointment for the public at the announcement at the very beginning of the package of the package of the French world decathlon recorder Kevin Mayer as a precaution compared to his left Achilles tendon which forced him to abandon during the World Decathlon.
On the 60 m hurdles, which Mayer had to compete, it was the Briton Andrew Pozzi who won the final ahead of the Frenchman Pascal Martinot-Lagarde, equaling in 7 sec 52 the best world performance of the year.
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