Drafted to join the semi-finals, the member of SA Toulouse UC unfortunately finished fourth in his race. Big disappointment for the reigning French champion.
“He is still sleeping. I think it will be very difficult for you to manage to speak to him. What is certain is that there is a lot of frustration.” Benjamin Robert’s trainer, Sébastien Gamel quickly finds the words to sum up the result of his foal on Thursday evening (local time, i.e. 4:20 a.m. Friday morning in France): a 4e place in his 800m semi-final, depriving him of qualifying for the final by 9 hundredths (with a time of 1’45”67, just behind the Kenyan Emmanuel Wanyonyi).
“The fact of having been drafted for the semi-finals, it had clearly taken a big weight off his shoulders because he felt like a survivor to continue the adventure in these Worlds. He had been able to spend a good night. He said to himself he had nothing left to lose. On the other hand, in his semi-final, he was not very good strategically. He made only one mistake, halfway through the race, by failing to to take the wheel of the Canadian runner” analyzes Sébastien Gamel. Nevertheless, for the technician, this 4e place is anything but a failure: “I’m not looking for excuses for Benjamin. But the level of his race was really high. Talking to other coaches, we came to the same conclusion: this 800m is without any doubt the densest event of these Worlds. Benjamin can keep his head held high.”
Heading for the European Championships next month
After this American episode, the athlete from SA Toulouse UC will be able to quickly get back into the swing of things with the European championships scheduled for next month, in Germany, in Munich (August 15-21).
“We return to Toulouse on Monday. Continuing with Europe is a good thing. It will have nothing to do with the Worlds. I hope Benjamin will go to the final. He has the potential”, warns Sébastien Gamel.
–
