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PRESS RELEASE 22 August 2013

Valence, the duelling site for Tamgho, Taylor, Barrett and Lalova...

With a little more than a week to go till the event itself, the DécaNation 2013 is taking shape. And it’s looking good. The six national teams (, United States, Russia, Germany, Italy and ), plus the two multinational teams (the Balkans and the Nordic countries), have lifted a large part of the veil with regard the composition of their delegation for Valence, in France’s Drôme department. The results are proving to be explosive

True to its original concept, the competition is favouring the one on one battle between athletes. As such, for this eighth edition, on Saturday 31 August, it will be offering at least four top-level duels between some of the recent heroes of the World Championship in .

In the men’s , Teddy Tamgho will be up against Teddy TAMGHO Christian Taylor. The first to burst onto the screen at the Loujniki stadium, by securing the World title, he pulled off a stratospheric performance of 18.04m. The second, World Champion in 2011 in and Olympic Champion the following year in , has remained at the foot of the podium, in 4th place (17.20m). The DécaNation 2013 is giving them the rare opportunity to vie against each other in a different sport, the long jump. The Frenchman holds a personal Christian TAYLOR best of 8.01 m, which he set indoors in 2011, while the American cleared a jump of 8.19m, outdoors in 2010. A thrilling battle guaranteed.

Meantime the 110m hurdles will have the air of a revenge match from the Worlds. The American team will be showcasing Ryan Wilson, silver medallist in Moscow and the author of a 13’’08 time this season. The Russian team will respond with one of its Brigetta BARRETT leading lights, Sergey Shubenlov, the Russian revelation at the lors du DécaNation 2012 Worlds and bronze medallist with a time of 13’’24 at just 22 years of age. This duel may well be umpired by Frenchman Thomas Martinot-Lagarde, who was 7th in the World Championship finals in Moscow and ran 13’’26 at the Meeting Areva in early July. An appetizing prospect.

The duel programmed for the women’s 100m will involve a generation clash. On the one hand, the unique Balkan line-up will be putting forward the 29 year old Bulgarian, Ivet Lalova, 4th in the in Athens back in 2004, who made 10’’04 this season. On the other, competing for France, the 19 year old youngster, Stella Akakpo, European Junior champion in the 100m this year, whose performance down the home straight in the last relay of the 4x100m final at the Worlds in Moscow, commanded admiration from all the spectators. Appealing watching.

Mirroring the rest of the season, the women’s promises to be a trial of strength between the United States and Russia. Among the American contingent, the current Stella AKAKPO number 1, Brigetta Barrett, silver medallist in Moscow, is leading the world ranking 2013 with a jump of 2.04m. With regard the Russians, 20 year old Maria Kuchina, 3rd last year in the Junior Worlds, is progressing very well this year, as is demonstrated by her personal best of 1.98m, set in June in Gateshead. Keep your eyes heavenwards!

On the fringes of these duels, the DécaNation 2013 is also offering the audience in Valence the chance to celebrate two other French medallists from the World Championships, Renaud Lavillenie, competing in the pole vault competition with his younger brother Valentin (non-point-scoring), and Mahiedine MekhissiBenabbad. However, the native of Reims will be leaving the 3,000m steeplechase to one side for once, as he takes part in the 1,500m. Evidence, if it were needed, that there’s always something happening at the DécaNation.

Photo credit: DPPI

Composition of the French team(pdf format: click here)

Women Men

100m AKAKPO Stella 100m BIRON Emmanuel 400m GUEI Floria 400m ANNE Mame-ibra 800m MOH Clarisse 800m CARVALHO Florian MEKHISSI BENABBAD 1500m 1500m BEUVIERE Sandra Mahiedine MARTINOT-LAGARDE 100m hurdles BILLAUD Cindy 110m hurdles Thomas Steeplechase CHACHIGNON Mathilde Steeplechase KOWAL Yoann High jump SKOTNIK Melanie Pole vault LAVILLENIE Renaud Long jump LESUEUR Eloyse Long jump TAMGHO Teddy Shot put CERIVAL Jessica Shot put DAUPHIN Tumatai Hammer TAVERNIER Alexandra Hammer BIGOT Quentin Ivet Lalova

DécaNation 2013: Saturday 31 August, from 3pm at the Stade Georges Pompidou, Route de Romans, 26000 Valence, France.

Concept: Each of the eight competing teams showcase their best athlete (man and woman) in each of the following events: 100m, 400m, 800m, 1,500m, 100/110m hurdles, 3,000m steeplechase, long jump, high jump (w), pole vault (m), hammer and shot put. The winner secures nine points, the athlete in second place seven points and so on through until the athlete in eighth place, who earns a single point. Each of the competing teams must comprise a group of twenty athletes, ten men and ten women.

List of delegations: Balkans (Albania, Armenia, Bosnia- Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Moldavia, Montenegro, Romania, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey), Germany, Nordic Countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway), Russia, USA, France, Italy and Cuba.

The programme in detail: click here Event website: click here Ticket office: click here Access to the stadium: click here Visuels en téléchargement Volunteer recruitment: click here

Journalists wishing to obtain accreditation for the DécaNation 2013 are invited to fill in the online form available on the French Athletics Federation’s website, HERE

Press contact Agence Blanco Negro [email protected] (T) +33(0)1 47 72 81 41/(M) +33(0)6 34 18 66 54