Albi (AFP)
A true nugget of French athletics with a multifaceted talent, Sasha Zhoya, just out of adolescence (18 years old), showed his continuous progress by finishing 2nd in the 200m of the French Championships in Albi on Sunday, a breath away from the 'gold.
Irradiated with sun all summer, the dried and yellowed meadows which border the Tarn around Albi only ask for a spark to ignite.
Sasha Zhoya seems made for that, to set the track on fire.
The day after the demonstration of Cyréna Samba-Mayela (19) over 100 m hurdles, another promise of French athletics, hope for a medal for the Paris Games in 2024, shone against the "adults".
The place left free by the captains of the tricolor sprint (Christophe Lemaitre injured, Jimmy Vicaut ended his season), Sasha Zhoya achieved a great end of the race and almost won a first title among seniors on the 200 m by exploding his personal best (20.68 with +0.7 m / s of wind against 20.91).
But he was beaten to the thousandth of a second by the more experienced Amaury Golitin (23 years old), better off.
“I'm really happy. At the start of the week I wasn't sure if I would run because of achilles tendon pain, he explained. I'm even happier with the time than with the place, because I did not think I had the sufficient shape for that. I made light sessions to spare my tendon for a week. "
- Coached by Doucouré -
The French Athletics Federation (FFA) did everything to attract the young man to France, who was born and raised in Australia, but whose mother is French.
The assiduous court worked and Zhoya chose at the beginning of the year to represent France, where he now trains at Insep under the advice of Dimitri Demonière (ex-coach of Jimmy Vicaut) and the 2005 world champion of 110 m hurdles Ladji Doucouré.
His time of the day only places him 8th for the year among juniors in the world, close to Bruno Cherrier's French junior record (20.62 in 1972 in Munich).
But progressing in the sprint should be useful for his two strong disciplines, the pole vault and the 110 m hurdles, where he holds the unofficial cadet world records.
Zhoya must therefore continue his season until the French Cadet and Junior Championships on October 17 and 18 in Lens where he hopes to double 200 m and 110 m hurdles.
- "Prepare for next year" -
By 30 ° C on Sunday, under a bright sun, Wilhem Belocian, one of Zhoya's mentors, continued his good streak by winning the title over high hurdles in 13 sec 20 (zero wind), very close to his established record. mid-August in Monaco (13.18).
"It's rather a good race, not far from my personal best. These times under 13 seconds 30 is what I'm looking for with Ketty (Cham, his trainer), to prepare well for next year."
Mélina Robert-Michon won at 41 her 19th summer title of French champion in the discus throw (60.06 m), while the French record holder in the hammer throw Alexandra Tavernier won without trembling (72.76 m) by going to the end of his contest despite a pain in a shoulder after his 3rd throw.
The day after her 100 m title, Carolle Zahi confirmed the double in the sprint with her victory over 200 m in 22 sec 98 (+0.7 m / s).
© 2020 AFP