Tokyo World Championships: Flavie Renouard determined to come back stronger in the 3,000m steeplechase

 I really didn’t give up. I fought all the way to the finish. I managed to overtake one athlete. I gave everything I had left. I have no regrets, although of course I would have liked a better placing. 

Renouard falls but gets back up with courage

In a high-class final featuring six athletes who had run under nine minutes, the Frenchwoman quickly found herself at the back of the field. She still clocked a respectable 9:25.15 over seven and a half laps. No personal best for the runner from Normandy, but an impressive performance in which she gave everything at her first World Championships. After falling at the second water jump, she arrived in the mixed zone visibly disappointed. “It was a fairly mixed final because of the fall. But I really didn’t give up. I fought all the way to the finish. I managed to overtake one athlete. I gave everything I had left. I have no regrets, although of course I would have liked a better placing. It was still an incredible experience. I would never have abandoned. It didn’t even cross my mind. I got back up as quickly as possible. I’d also like to thank everyone I heard in the stadium, because that gives you the strength to keep fighting all the way to the finish and try to wear the French colours as proudly as possible. These World Championships have been extraordinary. Even on a human level, with the staff, there was a real sense of togetherness. We really felt supported. The performance in the final leaves a slightly bitter taste, but I’ll come back even stronger in the years ahead.” said the Caen AC distance runner, who leaves full of hope and renewed motivation for training.

It is also worth noting the absence of the leading figure in French women’s 3,000m steeplechase, Alice Finot. The CA Montreuil 93 athlete, who trains in Galicia in northwestern Spain, finished fourth at the Paris Olympics and holds the European 3,000m steeplechase record. She withdrew a few days before the competition began because of a right calf injury sustained in early August at the French Championships.

Faith Cherotich, the new 3,000m steeplechase queen

Just minutes before the women’s 3,000m steeplechase final, there was still speculation that Kenya’s Beatrice Chepkoech might lose her world record, set in 2018. Reigning Olympic and World champion Winfred Yavi, who had come within seven hundredths of a second of the record at the Diamond League meeting in Rome on August 30, running 8:44.39 and setting an Asian record in the process, appeared to have all the cards in her favour.

The race got underway at a blistering pace, close to world-record speed, around 8:45. The four favourites, Uganda’s Peruth Chemutai, Kazakhstan’s Norah Jeruto, Bahrain’s Winfred Yavi and Kenya’s Faith Cherotich, immediately took control, passing the first kilometre at a punishing pace in under nine minutes, faster still than the men’s final two days earlier. But after Chemutai fell, only three athletes remained with two laps to go. At the bell, Yavi led the way, closely followed by Cherotich, who refused to let her get away. The Kenyan passed her at the final barrier and surged clear to take the title in 8:51.59, a championship record. Just 21, Faith Cherotich, the bronze medallist at the Paris Olympics, claimed her first world title. Winfred Yavi finished second in 8:56.46, while Ethiopia’s Sembo Almayew completed the podium with a personal best of 8:58.86. Overcome with emotion, the junior world champion let the tears flow. She claimed her first global medal, while Norah Jeruto eventually finished sixth and Peruth Chemutai withdrew.

The second-fastest 3,000m steeplechase final in World Championships history proved intense, with numerous falls, including that of 2021 Olympic champion Peruth Chemutai, who withdrew. The only French representative, Flavie Renouard, also fell, but got back up to finish her race and savour the moment in a packed stadium.