The 45th KBC Night in Heusden-Zolder was a nice reunion for fans with the Belgian European Championship contenders. Among others, Jochem Vermeulen, Florent Mabille, Imke Vervaet and Naomi Van den Broeck were keen to show themselves in front of their own audience a few days after their medal race at the European Championships in Rome. However, the wind did not make it easy for them. Still, Vermeulen managed to grasp a PR in the 800m and Van den Broeck had her third best time ever. The star of the meeting was Puerto Rican Jasmine Camacho-Quinn.
The European Championship goers left the Italian sun where it was. At the Stadion De Veen in Heusden-Zolder, the wind was particularly strong as a result. On the sprint number, this at times led to measured speeds of +4m/s which unfortunately meant valid times were in the minority.
Marine Jehaes’ 11″31 will therefore not go into the record books, although the young sprint star is showing she is back on track after injury. Among others, she beat Rani Vincke (11″32). The run afterwards got slightly more normal wind at +2.8m/s. Patrizia Van der Weken, the number four at the European Championships, proved the strongest in it with 11″07. Rani Rosius was still able to snatch third place in 11″26 after a difficult start.
Among the men, the wind also lent a firm hand. Although Kobe Vleminckx half kicked out his spike on the way, he still came third in 10″21. The win went to Joshua Harttman in 9″92. In the high hurdles, a compatriot drew the longest finish. It was Elie Bacari who sprinted to 13″39. Never before had the European Championship finalist gone so fast, although the time could not be homologated due to the wind. Bacari was later in the evening awarded the Paul Eerdekens Trophy for best Belgian performance of the meeting. In his wake, Julien Watrin ran to 14″22. The Belgian Tornado who is fighting back handsomely after testicular cancer had hoped to dip under 14 seconds, but popped too hard at the third hurdle to do so.
The absolute star of the meet came from Puerto Rico. Reigning Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn tolerated no opposition in the 100m hurdles and won convincingly in 12″56.
Equally indisputable was Naomi Van den Broeck’s victory in the flat 400m. She set her third chrono ever, taking 51″68 from Imke Vervaet’s 52″22. Paulien Couckuyt ran to 53″46 in her first 400m of the season. In the men, Florent Mabille triumphed, on the same track where he broke out with a solid PR last year, by setting 46″72. In the 400m hurdles, Nina Hespel set her best time of the season. 57″34 was good for a win.
In the 800m, Eliott Crestan is still searching for the direct Olympic limit of 1’44″70. Yesterday, in the final straight, he was alone in his quest. He found no one left to pull himself up and authoritatively ran in first in 1’45″40. Vice-European 1500m champion Jochem Vermeulen also opted for the double track lap. He clearly digested all the attention and obligations of his silver plaque well and returned home with a new PR of 1’46″38 and second place. Tibo De Smet was unable to turn the tide after moderate hurdling in the first lap and ran in sixth in 1’47″19. Christina Hering made it to the women’s in 2’04″00, followed 63 hundredths later by Vanessa Scaunet.
It was Australia at the top of the 1500m. Stewart McSweyn did not tolerate any more company in the last 200m and won convincingly in 3’35″44. His compatriot Sarah Billings did it with less conviction but also took the win in 4’06″26. Antoine Senard and Elise Vanderelst were the best Belgians in the pack. Senard clocked 3’39″41, Vanderelst put 4’07″84 on the clock.
The 5000m manages to provide top performances year after year at the KBC Night and once again the front was running fast. Santiago Catrofe sharpened his own record by setting 13’05″95. Guillaume Grimard also consigned his previous best time to the dustbin. On the same track where he ran his record two years ago, this time he ran to 13’39″79.
In the pole vault, Elien Vekemans tanked some confidence again after a difficult European Championships and injury worries. With 4m23, she remained on par with the winner, but her error attempts relegated her to place four. Timothy Herman was finally able to flirt with the 80m mark again. He threw his javelin to 79m21, although he had to give way to Kasper Sagen. The Norwegian set a PR with 80m66.
