Wilfried Happio screamed at the finish – with joy and relief.
But why the hurdler ran to victory on Saturday at the French Athletics Championships in Caen with a thick patch on his left eye and a headband pulled over it, the 23-year-old didn't want to talk about it afterwards.
"I don't want to say more about the attack," said Happio, but: "The race was more complicated than usual because I only had one eye."
20 minutes before the starting gun, Happio was beaten up in the warm-up area.
“It was pure aggression”
"Someone jumped on him and hit him," said Happio's coach Olivier Vallaeys: "A guy came out of nowhere and asked him if he was Wilfried Happio and then jumped on him.
I was able to hold him back." And: "We are shocked.
The guy was arrested and Wilfried is fine.
But I'm speechless, that was pure aggression, that's scandalous.
Such are the methods of a savage.”
The police are investigating the background, apparently the attacker was a brother of one of Happio's training partners.
Although Happio initially did not want to run at the weekend after the attack, he stormed to the French championship title over 400 m hurdles in a personal best time of 48.57 seconds - and qualified for the upcoming World Championships in Eugene/USA (July 15th to 24th). .