The 22nd Meeting International d’Athlétisme de la Province de Liège was a night full of sporting highlights. Under ideal conditions, history was made: Maxime Carabin shattered the world record in the 100 meters (T52), Eliott Crestan set a Belgian record in the 600 meters, and both Marta Alemayo and Leo Magnusson broke meeting records.
Carabin sets the tone with a world record!
🔥 Maxime Carabin, three-time world para-athletics champion, kicked off the meeting spectacularly with a world record of 16.18 in the 100 meters (T52). “There’s nothing better than doing this in front of my home crowd,” said the emotional athlete from Liège.
Watrin’s comeback & strong Belgian performances in sprint events
💪 Julien Watrin made an emotional comeback in the 110-meter hurdles, finishing fifth in 13.87. The race was won by Germany’s Tim Eikermann (13.49), with Nolan Vancauwemberghe securing third place in 13.68.
⚡ Rani Rosius finished second in the 100 meters (11.33) behind Luxembourg’s Patrizia Vanderwerken, who won in 11.11.
Belgian record for Crestan in the 600 meters!
🥇 Eliott Crestan smashed the Belgian 600-meter record with a phenomenal time of 1:14.47, the fastest European time of the year! Pieter Sisk also broke the previous record, finishing in 1:15.19 (previous record: 1:15.35 from 2002).
“I’ve been chasing this for so long. Everything came together tonight: the weather, the crowd, the atmosphere,” Crestan said with joy.
Meeting records for Alemayo & Magnusson
🌟 Marta Alemayo, only 16 years old, obliterated her personal best and the meeting record in the 5000 meters with an incredible 14:39.61, nearly 20 seconds faster than the previous record!
🇸🇪 Leo Magnusson set a new meeting record in the 3000-meter steeplechase with 8:21.74.
Other Belgian performances
✅ Florent Mabille finished second in the 400 meters in 45.83, just behind the Netherlands’ Jonas Phijffers (45.72, PB).
✅ Mimoun Abdoul Wahab triumphed in the 400-meter hurdles with 50.02.
✅ Ben Broeders won the pole vault with 5.66m, narrowly missing a Belgian record attempt at 5.86m.
✅ Thomas Carmoy secured victory in the high jump with 2.21m, just missing 2.27m.
With records, emotional comebacks, and impressive performances, Liège once again proved to be a top athletics meeting. Next stop: Paris! 🚀🔥
