France has built a collection of icons in athletics, but one of the greatest is Christine Arron who stormed to 100m and 4x100m gold at the Budapest 1998 European Athletics Championships.
In the lead-up to Birmingham 2026, taking place from 10-16 August, we are looking back at 26 Magical0 Moments from the European Athletics Championships, including Arron’s dominant performances to take a double gold.
The background
It had been 36 years since France took gold in the men’s 100m, and a Frenchwoman had never taken the European title.
But the last two editions of the championships they were far from struggling for medals, with three golds and 10 overall medals in 1990, and then four golds with nine total medals in 1994.
Prior to 1998, Arron had not taken an individual global medal, but had been part of the 4x100m that took bronze at the 1997 World Athletics Championships in Greece behind USA and Jamaica.
In fact it wasn’t until 1997 that Arron started to dabble also in the 100m on the major stages, having previously focused on the 200m.
But at those world championships in Greece, she ran in the 100m rather than 200m and placed fourth with 11.05, with USA later-disgraced Marion Jones taking gold.
That year, 1997, alone she had lowered her 100m PB from 11.77 from 1992 to 11.03, instantly putting herself among the best in the world at just 23-years-old.
Remarkably though, Arron opened her outdoor season in 1998 with 10.95, breaking the magic 11 second mark for the very first time.
She went on to run sub-11 six more times before the European Athletics Championships that year, solidifying herself as a strong favourite to medal.
But she would have to face the reigning champion, Irina Privalova of Russia, though she had not yet ran as fast as Arron that year, clocking a best of 11.04 before heading to Budapest.
What happened?
On the first day of the championships, Arron eased through the motions to comfortably win her heat in 11.12, the third fastest time from the heats.
Then the next day she returned for the semi-finals, again winning her race but this time with less ease though still comfortably with 10.81, with Ukraine’s Zhanna Pintusevich taking second behind her in 11.00.
After the second semi-final, won by Greece’s Katerina Thanou in 10.92, it was confirmed that Arron was the fastest qualifier while the defending champion, Privalova, qualified fourth fastest with 11.02.
When it came time for the final, Arron found her way to lane five and settled steadily into her blocks. Home favourite, Thanou, separated the Frenchwoman from the Russian she was attempting to dethrone.
The gun goes, and by 10m Privalova had already shot out to take the lead. It seemed that at 50m the Russian had done it, she would successfully defend her title.
But Arron’s incredible top end speed swept her past her competitors, and eventually Privalova with perfect timing to shock her for the win in 10.73.
Not only that, she had broken the championship and European record on her way to gold.
Though her championships weren’t over yet, as she would return for the 4x100m as the only European team to have taken a 4x100m medal at the world championships the year prior.
But in the final, France were behind Germany and Russia during the final handover. Privalova seizing her opportunity to defeat Arron this time, stormed away once more.
Seconds later though, Arron was back on Privalova’s shoulder and in similar fashion to the 100m final she sept past to take gold.
Although this time, the German team also stunned the Russians on the line bumping Privalova into third.
The aftermath
France took two more medals at the 1998 championships, silver in the men’s 4x100m and bronze from Jean Galfione in the pole vault.
However in the following editions of the championships France would become a powerhouse, a legacy built on the success of Arron.
In 1999 she would also be part of 4x100m team who upgraded their world bronze to a silver medal, notably beating relay greats Jamaica and USA.
Then in 2002 she gave birth to her first child, before returning to the track.
She also went on to take silver in the 100m at the 2003 and 2005 World Athletics Championships, as well as bronze in the 200m in 2005 and 100m in 2007.
Arron also anchored the French team to an iconic gold at the 2003 World Athletics Championships in front of a home crowd at the Stade de France.
The following year she would return to Greece for the 2004 Olympics were she would take gold in the 4x100m for her only Olympic medal of her career.
Though despite global success, it wouldn’t be until 2010 that she would find herself back on a European podium, where she took silver with the 4x100m team.
Then in 2012 she announced her retirement from athletics at 39-years-old as she wished to have a second child, insisting it was not because she felt too old or had lost motivation. She bowed out with one of the greatest careers of any French sprinter in history.