In his last race of the season, Jean-Simon Desgagnés finished 12the of the 3000m steeplechase of the Silesian meeting, in Poland, counting for the Diamond League circuit. Sunday, the runner from Saint-Ferréol-les-Neiges stopped the clock at 8 min 23.28 s at his first start in steeplechase since his 13e make way for the Paris Olympic Games.
Desgagnés found himself in the middle of the pack, which was already very stretched out at the start of the race due to the two pacemakers who had orders to run at 8 minutes 2 seconds. Once the pack split into two, the Quebecer was 3-4 meters behind the leading group and his stubbornness in trying to catch up with them finally got the better of him in the last kilometer.
“Starting with the first group burned a lot of energy and it still took a lot out of me. As much as it’s positive to trust yourself and go with the leaders, I was a little too greedy to do that and I should have been more with the second peloton to aim for a more equal race with a faster finish,” the 26-year-old athlete explained to Sportcom.
Desgagnés eased off after the first kilometer in order to rejoin the second group.
“I didn’t aspire to run in the 8:04 range and it was clearly too fast for my level. If I stayed with them, it was doomed that I would break at the end. That’s kind of what happened.”
I minimized the damage, but the damage was done. It’s easy to say in hindsight, but I should have let that first group go.
Jean-Simon Desgagnés
On the last lap, Moroccan Soufiane El Bakkali caught up behind the leader, Kenyan Amos Serem, before starting to overtake him on the last bend and confirming his lead with 100m to go. The double Olympic champion had a good lead after the last hurdle, except that he almost got caught out at the finish line after taking his foot off the gas. El Bakkali needed a photo finish to be declared the winner.
Less than two hours after his race, Desgagnés was already drawing lessons for the next season.
“It’s a tough way to run an 8:23. I suffered in the last 800m and I’m learning a bit from that race. One of my strengths is usually finishing quickly and picking up seconds in the last kilometre, but there, with the cartridges I had burned at the start of the race, it wasn’t really possible. It cost me dearly and I gritted my teeth to finish the race in a decent time.”
Earlier this week in Sweden, Desgagnés placed eighth in the Boras Mile, with a time of 3:55.38, a personal best at that distance.
The curtain falls on Desgagnés’ season, who will take a two-week leave. The medical student at Université Laval will then begin his internship in family medicine in Charlevoix.
“It’s a great season! I set a personal best in three distances: 5000m, steeplechase and 1500m [par sa prestation au Mile de mercredi, NDLR]. I finished 13e at the Olympics and been very consistent in the Diamond League.”
PHOTO OLIVIER JEAN, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Jean-Simon Desgagnés at the Paris Olympic Games
It’s a great season, I’ve managed to progress again and establish myself among the best internationally.
Jean-Simon Desgagnés
Still in Europe, Desgagnés’s training partner, Charles Philibert-Thiboutot, took the 11e rank (3 min 39.92 s) of the 1500 m of the Grand Prix of Tempere, in Finland.
Two world records, victory for Marco Arop
The Silesian meeting was the scene of two world records on Sunday: that of the 3000 m, courtesy of the Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigsten (7 min 17.55 s), a race in which the Ontarian Mohammed Ahmed recorded a new Canadian record of 7 min 31.96 s.
Sweden’s Armand Duplantis improved his world record in the pole vault with a new bar of 6.26m. He cleared one centimetre more than the one he achieved at the Paris Olympics.
PHOTO SERGEI GAPON, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Armand Duplantis broke his record set at the Paris Olympic Games by clearing the bar at 6.26 m.
Alberta’s Marco Arop was dominant in the 800m, finishing in 1 min 41.86 s, with a lead of almost a second and a half over his closest rival.