Samuel Vessat produced the breakthrough performance of the weekend at the French Championships in Albi on Sunday (26).
The 24-year-old, who only took up the sport seriously last year having been a collegiate-level basketball player in the United States, won his national 400m title in 44.24 to smash Leslie Djhone’s long-standing French record of 44.46.
Vessat also moves to fourth on the European all-time list behind Brits Matthew Hudson-Smith (43.44) and Charles Dobson (44.14) and 2024 European champion Alexander Doom from Belgium (44.15). His time would have been a European record as recently as 2023.
"I don’t understand it! The goal was to repeat the work on fatigue in preparation for the European Championships, where there will be high-intensity races. The strategy was to start strong and finish without fading. That’s behind me now. The objective is simply to be the best version of myself, that’s all.
"I was coming off two seasons in the United States [on the collegiate circuit] so naturally, there was a huge amount of fatigue in my legs," said Vessat.
With the 2026 European Athletics Championships in Birmingham a fortnight away, Vessat is the second-fastest European over 400m this year behind Hudson-Smith (44.09) who is aiming for his third individual European title on his home track.
And France, who won a surprise silver medal in the 4x400m at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, will be in contention for another podium finish in the relay in Birmingham next month.
Behind Vessat, Muhammad Abdallah Kounta and Yann Spillmann also both broke the 45 second-barrier in the final, clocking 44.55 and 44.92 respectively.
Other highlights on the last day of the French Championships included Just Kwaou-Mathey winning the 110m hurdles in 13.34 and Thibaut Collet winning the pole vault title with a 5.87m clearance ahead of his brother Mathieu who cleared 5.82m.
Three-time European silver medallist Renelle Lamote also out-battled Clara Liberman for the women's 800m title, 1:58.80 to 1:58.82.
European all-time 400m list
43.44 – Matthew Hudson-Smith (GBR) – Paris 2024
44.14 – Charles Dobson (GBR) – London 2025
44.15 – Alexander Doom (BEL) – Rome 2024
44.24 – Samuel Vessat (FRA) – Albi 2026
44.33 – Thomas Schönlebe (GDR) – Rome 1987
44.36 – Iwan Thomas (GBR) – Birmingham 1997
44.37 – Roger Black (GBR) – Lausanne 1996
44.37 – Mark Richardson (GBR) – Oslo 1998
44.39 – Håvard Bentdal Ingvaldsen (NOR) – Budapest 2023
44.43 – Jonathan Borlée (BEL) – London 2012
Photo courtesy of @gwenlaad / @smjdagency / @stadion_actu