by Larry Eder
One of the Meeting de Paris posters…
The meeting de Paris is one of the iconic meetings of the Diamond League series. I have to admit that I enjoy the presser in Paris, in both French and English, and the athletes are quite talkative. The meet was exceptional. Here’s my deep thoughts on the quality of the Paris meeting!
2021 Meeting de Paris, C’est magnificence, mais pourquoi?
- Well, Stade Charlety hosted 10,000 French fans as they enjoyed performances from the best of France and the globe, in a wonderful setting on a most excellent Parisian summer afternoon.
- Elaine Thompson won once again, this time in a rather mundane 10.72. Guess what? Remember when we drooled over a 10.72 at 100m?
- Kenny Bednarek battled a tough field over 200m to take a fine furlong in the city of Paris. The Wisconsinite is adding to his persona, especially after a silver medal in Tokyo over 200m.
- Mondo Duplantis, Sam Kendricks, Renault Lavillenie, Chris Nilsson took the pole vault for men on the road, and the fans loved it! Mondo had some challenges until he got to 5.95m, then, Dynamo Hum!, the Mondohoss600 went 5.95m and 6.01m, breaking Sergey Bubka’s MR (then WR) by .01m, ironically, just like Mr. Bubka used to do as he ventured into sports marketing and capitalism in the 1990s.
- The 110m hurdles showed that Hansle Parchment and Devon Allen could put on a show! 13.03 and 13.07! Come on!
- Francine Nyonsaba won the 3,000m in 8:19.09, the WL in 2021, adding to her 2021 season superlatives. I am not sure anyone can beat here anymore. Am I thinking what you are thinking? Sifan Hassan versus Francine Nyonsaba.
