Stoppage for Cyréna Samba-Mayela. European champion in the 100m hurdles at the beginning of June in Rome and a real chance of a medal for French athletics at the 2024 Paris Games, the 23-year-old hurdler is suffering from Covid-19. His participation in the French Championships is therefore uncertain.
“Back from the United States (where she has been training since the start of the 2023 school year), Cyréna arrived sick in Paris. An antigen test revealed that she was positive for Covid-19. Consequently, her participation in the French Championships is currently uncertain,” the athlete’s entourage wrote on social media on Friday. “In accordance with the regulations, we will travel to Angers on Saturday morning, where the federation doctor will decide on Cyréna’s ability to participate.”
Early in the afternoon, a few hours before the start of the Angers competition, the high performance director of the French Athletics Federation (FFA), Romain Barras, was enigmatic about the case of Samba-Mayela, who will become the spearhead of French athletics in 2024.
“Take no risks” before the Games
“She will run if she can run. But she will come this weekend,” Barras had declared. “All athletes who want to participate in the Olympic Games must go to Angers for, if they have been injured, an assessment by the French team doctor.” This is the case, for example, of cross-country skier Jimmy Gressier, who has a painful Achilles tendon but who is required to show up to confirm his Olympic qualification.
For Samba-Mayela, who not only achieved the Olympic minimums but above all signed the best world performance of the year (12″31) in the 100m hurdles, not running in Angers, with the agreement of the medical staff, would not postpone not in question his selection for Paris. But a withdrawal would inevitably raise questions about his state of form less than a month before the Olympics, where his European title and his amazing time allow him to dream of Olympic gold.
“We are doing everything we can to take no risks, either for Cyrena’s health or that of the other participants and the public,” adds her entourage.
