This Sunday, September 1st, the 34-year-old athlete, accompanied by his guide Jeffrey Lami, came second in his race. A huge disappointment for the man who arrived in Paris as the big favorite for the distance.
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Patatra. It’s a failure for Timothée Adolphe and his guide Jeffrey Lami. Expected as the big favorites of the 400m final (T11) this Sunday at the Stade au France, the two men did not manage to do better than a second place, cracking in the final straight and letting the Venezuelan Santos Gonzalez cross the finish line in the lead. “In our category where we race in pairs, there are many rules that can be disqualifying. We worked every day to avoid repeating the mistakes we made in the past,” Jeff said in the corridors of the Stade de France on Saturday after the semi-final. These mistakes had made Adolphe’s first Games, in Rio, “a disaster.” In 2021 in Tokyo, the silver in the 100m did not allow them to completely overcome the disappointment of the disqualification in the 400m. In Paris, the duo did everything well according to the rules, it was sportingly that it was lacking. Despite a better time than the day before in the series (50′’75), the duo remains far from their European record set in June at the Charléty stadium (50′’03).
On Saturday, both in his midday heat and his semi-final in the evening, the world number 1 over the distance seemed extremely easy, and each time got up a few strides from the finish to keep as much as possible under his feet for the final. “We wanted to try to leave as few feathers as possible on the track today,” said the athlete in the mixed zone. With three races in two days, he recalled the primordial importance of recovery: “Even if we don’t send everything, it’s still a 400m, with the lactic acid rising each time.” And despite this restraint, the Adolphe-Lami duo, in flashy orange shoes, achieved the best time in the semi-finals.
A few weeks ago, the duo detailed the important work carried out in training to perfect this final straight, which was still lacking, and which cost the duo victory this Sunday. “We have a new strategy, now I’m the one who adapts to his stride to make sure he finishes races better,” said his guide Jeff. The secret to success in training: run 500m, to “to take it better” in the words of Adolphe. An improvement carried out under the direction of Dimitri Démonière, former French sprinter, his new coach at Insep since 2022. But which was not enough during this 400 m. “We lost synchronization in the last few meters and I think that’s what penalized us,” debriefed at the microphone of Nelson Monfort while Jeffrey Lami was still hot. “We didn’t manage to sleep much with the adrenaline,” said Adolphe for his part, regretting the two races to be completed in the same day the day before. “In the hearts of the public, you are a gold medalist” was sliding the unshakeable interviewer to try to erase the duo’s disappointment. In fact, it was only on the second step of the podium that they climbed this Sunday. Timothée Adolphe, this time with the guide Charles Renard, will try to make up for it in the 100 m for his series on Wednesday.
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