Athletics-Records in double digits |29 December 2004

Of the 91 records, seven were established, another seven equalised, four were not ratified and one was wind-assisted. The remaining 72 were broken and now feature among the list of new records.

Female athlete of the year Céline Laporte and male athlete of the year Mervyn Loizeau contributed a great share to the excitement and are ranked high in the Seychelles Amateur Athletics Federation-established top 10 ranking for all distances on the track and in field events.

Apart from the 22 competitions organised by the Seychelles Amateur Athletics Federation (SAAF), Seychellois athletes competed in 14 regional and international competitions, winning 30 medals – 10 gold, seven silver and 13 bronze.

African Athletics Championships’ heptathlon bronze medallist Laporte, who participated at the Athens Olympic Games as an invitee, has re-written the record books a number of times this year over different distances and in field events. The France-based heptathlete got records in the 60m hurdles (8.74 seconds in January, 8.64 seconds in February), the 100m hurdles (13.77 seconds in June, 13.71 and 13.70 seconds in July), long jump (6.27m indoor in January and 6.24m outdoor in June{equalling Beryl Laramé’s best}), heptathlon (5,477 points in May and 5,545 points in July), and high jump (1.73m in July).

Mervin Loizeau is the new male sprint star of Seychelles and he stands a big chance in dethroning swimmer Steven Mangroo as the Young Male Athlete of the Year.

The first male athlete in a long time to dip below 11 seconds in the blue-ribband 100m sprint, clocking 10.94 seconds during the IAAF World Youth Athletics Championship in Grosseto, Italy, Loizeau has been the revelation on the track here.

He won gold medals in the 100 metres of both the CJSOI competition in Reunion and the Lekip Sports Cadets Athletics Championship in Mauritius.

On the tartan track of Stad Linite, Loizeau improved records over 150m (16.6 seconds in February), 100m (11.1 seconds {manual} in March, 10.7 seconds {manual}in April, 11.00 seconds {electronic} in May and 10.94 seconds {electronic} in July), 200m (22.12 seconds {electronic} wind assisted in May, 22.3 seconds {manual} in June) and 60m (6,8 seconds {manual} in February).

Most of Loizeau’s times have gone down as records in both the youth (under 18 years old) and junior (under 20 years old) categories.

Young female sprinters also performed well this year with CJSOI 100m gold medallist Samantha Akatsa, Nathanielle Cherry, Sabrina Laurence (ranked first in women’s 400 metres with a manual timing of 1:00.1 in the girls’, under 16 years old, category) and Natifa Larue vying for top honours in the different races.

Nelson Renaud is establishing himself as a good one-lap sprinter, winning the 400m gold medal at the CJSOI competition in Reunion.

In middle and long distances, Phylis Labonne, emerged as the brightest long distance female runner on the red-earthed track of the Roche Caïman fitness trail and on the track of Stad Linite, breaking records in cross country races and over distances of 3,000m in the girls (under 16 years old) category.

Denis Rose, Ronny Marie, Simon Labiche, Evans Marie, Eugène Ernesta and Janet Croisée kind of confirm their status with some good performances this season.

On the field, lanky Praslinois William Woodcock proved that he isn’t afraid of height as he kept adding centimetres to the bar in the high jump event. High jump gold medallist of the CJSOI competition, Woodcock, who first cleared 2 metres on June 12 this year, finished the season with a best height of 2.07 metres, five centimetres shorter than the 2.12m top performance for the season registered by Jude Sidonie.

With so many talented athletes coming to Stad Popiler for training and to Stad Linite for competitions, it is hoped that the SAAF, the sports ministry and all those responsible for the development of young talents work together to monitor the development of the country’s future stars.

It is interesting to note that many of the athletes and even those who did not perform to the level expected of them in 2004 are already training in preparation for the new 2005 season which will begin early January with the cross-country races at the Roche Caïman fitness trail and close with the Jeux de la Francophonie in Niger in December.

G. G.