Africa-Press – Senegal. Athletes Louis François Mendy, specialist in 110 meters hurdles and Sangoné Kandji in triple jump, will represent Senegal at the next world athletics championships which start next Saturday in Budapest, Hungary, learned the APS from federal source.
“For the world championships, we have two qualifiers. They are Sangoné Kandji in the triple jump and Louis François Mendy in the 110m hurdles”, confided the president of the Senegalese Athletics Federation, Colonel Sada Oualy in an interview with APS.
“These two athletes are preparing in Europe where they participate in meetings. In terms of preparation, they are in good hands. When they returned from the Games of La Francophonie, they returned to France to continue their preparations,” explained Mr. Oualy.
Mendy won the gold medal in the 110 meter hurdles at the Ninth Games of La Francophonie in Kinshasa. The 24-year-old hurdler broke the championship record twice in the first round with a time of 13 seconds 46 hundredths and then in the final with a time of 13.38.
He qualified for the world championships in athletics which will continue until August 27, by achieving a time of 13”18, during the international meeting of Troyes Aube in France held last July.
The Senegalese athlete also obtained his ticket for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
He is the first Senegalese athlete since London 2012 to have qualified, reaching the minima (13”27). He participated in the Rio Olympics in 2016 and Tockyo 2020 by invitation.
Since the athletics meeting in Bonneuil (France), on June 18, 2019, Mendy has continued to progress and improve his time.
Starting from a time of 13.59, he improved his record to obtain a time of 13.18, finishing each time in first place in the last meetings in which he took part since 2019.
His compatriot Kandji finished fifth in the triple jump at the same Games of La Francophonie. “For Kandji, she qualified with her title of African triple jump champion at the 2022 African Championships in Saint-Pierre, Mauritius,” explained Colonel Oualy.
At 31, the triple jump and long jump specialist won her first gold medal at the African Bamboo Championships in Mauritius.
In 2017, she won the triple jump gold medal at the Islamic Solidarity Games in Baku, Azerbaijan, achieving a new personal best of 13.05 m.
For his part, the 400 meters specialist, Cheikh Tidiane Diouf failed to qualify, despite his brilliant season this year. The native of Touly (Thiès) beat his personal record with a time of 45″48 achieved at the La Chaux-de-Fonds meeting in Switzerland on July 2.
“He is setting world-class times, but unfortunately he could not qualify,” regretted the president of the Senegalese Athletics Federation.
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