Frenchman Wilfried Happio, European silver medalist in the 400m hurdles behind the untouchable Norwegian Karsten Warholm on Friday in Munich, felt that his first international medal rewarded "a trying year, with a lot of work".
This silver medal, he said after the final, "it represents a difficult, trying year, with a lot of work and mutual trust with my coach (Olivier Vallaeys, editor's note).
It comes as the icing on the cake.
It's the end of the season like the summer season, with a lot of happiness and satisfaction.
I come out of this race happy.
“I think this is my fifteenth race in three months”
“The first few meters, I said to myself: + Oh yeah, Warholm has worked well in recent weeks!
he smiled about the powerful start of the reigning Olympic champion and world record holder from Norway, who returned to form in time for Munich.
Unlike the Worlds of Eugene a month ago, where he had cracked in the final.
"I tried to do my best, I knew that I was coming with a lot of fatigue, I ran a lot (this season), I think it's my fifteenth race in three months", he said. he adds.
On the sporting level, Happio, who was just a breath away from the podium at the Eugene Worlds in July, improved his personal best by 1 sec 70 this summer.
🍿 Relive the 400m hurdles final and Wilfried Happio's silver medal 👇 #Munich2022https://t.co/pUEMglbZVi
— francetvsport (@francetvsport) August 19, 2022
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Subject of a sexual harassment complaint
Off stage, the young athlete is the subject of a complaint for sexual assault filed on June 30 by a French international athlete, who denounces repeated touching which would have taken place at Insep, where the two athletes train, last September.
The brother of this young woman hit Happio in the face in Caen at the end of June, a highlight of the French Athletics Championships, where he was titled a few minutes later, a blindfold over his left eye.
Asked about his mental management of a season which has taken a particular turn since June, Happio replied: “If we are all there, it is because there is also mental strength.
I have a nice entourage, my fiancée who accompanies me well in my career, my parents, my managers, the coach, and the federation too.
"I proved to people that when you love what you do and when you do it with passion, it only gives better results," he said.
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