15th March 2012 03:42
France's Pascal Martinot-Lagarde has already been hailed as the future of European hurdling after he won the 110m hurdles at the 2010 World Junior Championships in Canada and he confirmed that impression with a 60m hurdles bronze medal at the World Indoor Championships in Istanbul last Sunday.
Martinot-Lagarde is still only 20, which means that he will also be eligible for the 2013 European Athletics U23 Championships, which will be held in the Finnish city of Tampere, but first he has his sights set on challenging Europe's best men over the barriers at the 2012 European Athletics Championships.
'I'm looking forward to the European Athletics Championships. I'm aware that I don't have much experience of big championships despite what I did here (in Istanbul) so I think I want to do it very much,' the exuberant Martinot-Lagarde told European Athletics.
'In fact, I think all the French team want to do it. I know that the European Championships will be a tough competition for me. There will be the defending champion Andy Turner (from Great Britain), Russia's Konstantin Shabanov; he only finished fifth here but I have seen him run much better, and many other good hurdlers will be in Helsinki. Maybe my friend Ladji Doucouré.'
Martinot-Lagarde revealed that his path often crosses with the 2005 World Championships gold medallist, and the second fastest European ever with a French record of 12.97 to his name since his halcyon year in 2005, because they are often in the same place at the same time in Paris despite being part of different training groups.
'We get on well, he has been a big inspiration and has given me a lot of good advice,' revealed Martinot-Lagarde.
Performing the ultimate act of leise-majesté and taking Doucouré record is not on Martinot-Lagarde's agenda just yet but he still has set himself some big targets for the summer.
In addition to doing well in Helsinki and, of course, at the Olympic Games in London, he wants to run faster than any European since Doucouré seven years ago.
'This summer I want to run 13.20,' added Martinot-Lagarde.
For a man whose current best is 13.74, that represents a massive step forward but he has already shown that he is capable of that sort of time this winter.
He reduced his indoor 60m hurdles best to 7.53 and shown his appetite for the big occasion by doing it when it counts, in the final of a major championship.