Naomi Van Den Broeck achieved her personal best time in the 400m hurdles during the first day of the Belgian athletics championships on Saturday at the King Baudouin stadium. With a time of 55.00, the Belgian Cheetah flirts with the minimum for the Paris Olympics, by 15/100ths of a second.
Naomi Van Den Broeck, 28, already has a minimum in her pocket for the 400m and the 4X400m relay. She would have liked to do the same over 400m hurdles, having settled on the distance at the beginning of May.
With 55.00 on the clock, she achieved the 4th Belgian time in history, now ahead of Elodie Ouedraogo. Hanne Claes, assured of her Olympics, ran in 55.46. Pauline Couckuyt, who could also see Paris via the world rankings, set a time of 55.51 during the series. The final is on the program on Sunday.
On the flat track lap, Helena Ponette achieved the best time of the series in 52.41. She was ahead of Camille Laus in 2nd in 53.01.
In the 100m, Delphine Nkansa was credited with the best time in the series on Saturday in 11.41, ahead of the surprising Elise Mehuys (11.46). Rani Rosius is 3rd (11.51).
For the men, the straight saw Simon Verherstraeten post a heat time of 10.31, despite a headwind of 1.6 m per second. Last week he set his personal best time in 10.10.
The 100m finals are still on the program on Saturday evening.
