Wednesday’s 23rd edition of the Meeting International d’Athlétisme de la Province de Liège once again brought athletics at the highest level to the the Naimette Arena. The undisputed highlight was Elise Vanderelst, who shattered the Belgian record in the 5000 metres.
With an impressive time of 14:51.13, Vanderelst dipped well below Jana Van Lent’s previous national record (14:58.68). She finished fourth in a particularly strong field of competitors. Victory went to Ethiopian Hawi Abera (14:49.70), followed by Australian Maudie Skyring (14:49.93) and Slovenian Klara Lukan (14:50.40).
Eliott Crestan also put in a strong performance. The vice European and vice world indoor champion in the 800 metres took aim at Ivo Van Damme’s legendary Belgian record (2:15.0 from 1976) in the 1000 metres, but lost out by one second with a time of 2:16.58. He still won the race, ahead of Tunisian Abdessalem Ayouni (2:16.66) and Spain’s David Barroso (2:16.98).
In the 400 metres, Jonathan Sacoor was the strongest of the Belgian Tornados. He finished second in 45.89, behind Moroccan Younes Chattoui (45.65). Florent Mabille finished fourth (46.56) with Robin Vanderbemden sixth (46.94). In the women’s race , Imke Vervaet took a convincing win in 51.56, ahead of Helena Ponette (51.92).
Yanla Ndjip-Nyemeck took third in the 100-metre hurdles (13.17), while Camille Laus was second in the 800 metres (2:02.56) and Julien Watrin finished fourth in the 400-metre hurdles (50.65).
Out on the field Ben Broeders claimed a pole vault win with 5m56, while Thomas Carmoy triumphed in the high jump with a leap over 2m27. He then just fell short of improving his personal record (2m29).
The big star of the evening was Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh, Olympic and world high jump champion. She won her competition with a jump over 1m91 – well below her mind blowing world record of 2m10, but still good enough for victory on the night.
