with Alexis Miellet and Djilali Bedrani, France wins a double in the 3000 m steeplechase

After Alice Finot’s title over the same distance, Alexis Miellet won gold on Sunday, while participating in only his fifth outing over this distance in his career.

The discipline definitely suits the French. After Alice Finot’s title, Saturday, over 3,000 meters steeplechase, the French Alexis Miellet and Djilali Bedrani offered the French team a superb double in the same event, Monday June 10, at the European championships, in Rome. Arriving in the Italian capital with performances placing them in the top 5 in Europe, the two cross-country skiers waited until the last lap to take charge while the Italian Osama Zoghlami led by a long way throughout the rest of the race.

To win the title, and his first individual international medal, crossman Alexis Miellet reduced his personal best (8’14″01). A performance of choice for the native of Dijon, author of a successful reconversion this year in moving from 1,500 meters to the steeplechase, and who had already achieved the minimums for the Games, in Marseille. He beat his compatriot Djilali Bedrani (8’14″36) by a short head, checking over his shoulder that he wasn’t going to be overwhelmed. The German Karl Bebendorf took third place (8’14″41).

At 29 years old, the 2023 European champion in the mixed cross-country relay has validated express learning in a discipline that is nevertheless technical. “My first race, I do theare minimums for Europe. The second, those for the Games. And there, I am European champion. Honestly, it’s incredible, I’m going to have a hard time realizing it.” said Alexis Miellet, all smiles, draped in the tricolor banner. While he saw the prospects becoming blocked over 1,500 meters, the fault of a high French density, he decided last year, at the urging of his father, to try his luck on the steeplechase.

“Since September, II do one technique session per week because I started from scratch. Obviously, I saw what I was doing, I learned quickly. I have a lot of coordination because II come from football. But I didn’t think it was going to go so quickly.” recognized Alexis Miellet, while remaining “lucid” on its level. “For the Games, I prefer to leave telling myself that a finalist place will be good, and to seize the opportunity, rather than wanting to aim for a podium.”

For his part, although disappointed to have seen the title slip away from him, Djilali Bedrani relished a “first international medal in seventeen years of career”. “I’m still quite happy that it remains in France, when we know that the 3 000 French steeplechase has always been relevant.”

The French duo follows in the footsteps of Mahiedine Mekhissi and Bouabdallah Tahri, the last to have achieved the double over this distance at the European Championships in 2010. Crowned four times at European level, Mahiedine Mekhissi also shared the podium, in 2016, with Yoann Kowal, third. “Yoann Kowal is a benchmark for me in athletics because we have roughly the same references. Being able to succeed a guy like that, I’m really happy, and I also have a thought for him”, whispered Alexis Miellet, in the mixed zone. For ten years, at the European Championships, the French have been medalists in the men’s 3,000 steeplechase at each edition, with the exception of that of 2022 in Munich (Germany).