Surprise outcomes all across the programme, and particularly in the middle distance events, provided some of the highlights at the Elite Indoor Miramas Meeting, a World Athletics Indoor Tour silver meeting, on Friday (30) evening.
Dumas shocks Guillemot in the 800m
Going into the women's 800m it was expected that European indoor 1500m champion Agathe Guillemot, and French indoor record-holder Clara Liberman, the European indoor 800m silver medallist, would be battling for the win.
But with 200 metres to go Charlotte Dumas surged past Liberman, with a light jostle as she passed, before easing past her other countrywoman Guillemot, who could not respond, to take the win with a meeting record and outright lifetime best of 2:00.26.
Guillemot controlled the race until those final moments and despite not having enough to get a hold of the win, she did clock a PB of 2:00.30, comfortably faster than what she ran over this distance in January last year, with Liberman third in 2:01.69.
Another upset came in the men’s 1500m with the reigning European indoor 800m champion Samuel Chapple being outran by 22-year-old European U23 finalist Anas Lagtiy Chaoudar.
Kenya’s Collins Kibiwott Koech took off with incredible speed but Lagtiy Chaoudar and Chapple soon eased past him as he drifted down through the pack.
But as Chapple sat poised on the Frenchman’s shoulder, his kick never came and Lagtiy Chaoudar pushed on to narrowly hold off the Dutch record-holder for victory in 3:36.64 by 0.01, a French indoor U23 record.
Simonelli and Glave falter in the sprints
Making his first appearance in the hurdles in 2026, Italy's Lorenzo Simonelli seemed far from comfortable after clashing into the second hurdle in his heat and placing joint fifth over the two finals with 7.70.
The 2024 European 110m hurdles champion was the star name going into the event but was outshone on this occasion with youngsters Franco Le Roux from South Africa and France's European U23 bronze medallist Erwann Cinna taking first and second place in 7.60 and 7.61 respectively.
Meanwhile, following his statement 6.51 60m win in Stockholm over Kishane Thompson and Jeremiah Azu, 2024 European 100m bronze medallist Romell Glave carried the unfamiliar weight of expectation into the French town.
The Brit pulled through his heat with 6.68, narrowly making it to the 'A' final and despite his great start he appeared to lack his incredible closing speed as he had to settle for sixth in 6.65 in a race won by Lo Johnson from the United States in 6.57.
However the real surprise came from Kenya's Ferdinand Omanyala, who is a constantly competitive face on the global stage, when he failed to qualify for the 'A' final, placing last in the 'B' final in 6.86.
Alaysha Johnson held off the European charge in the women's 60m hurdles, running 7.98 to take another win for the United States in Miramas in ahead of a tight field behind her.
There was strong French depth with Sacha Alessandrini running 8.01 for second, Laeticia Bapte in third with 8.06 with Melissa Benfatah, 2025 Tampere European Athletics U20 Championships silver medallist, and Mathilde Guillaume in joint fifth with 8.29.
Italy’s Elisa Maria Di Lazzaro took fourth with 8.16 in the final, after running 8.13 in the heats, to open her season.
Meeting records fall in the pole vault
Another meeting record fell in the men’s pole vault, with USA’s Cole Walsh jumping 5.76m on his third attempt.
Spain’s Juan Luis Bravo and Italy’s Matteo Oliveri placed joint second with 5.56m while Artur Coll of Spain, France’s Valentin Lavillenie and Portugal’s Pedro Buaro all tied for fourth with 5.41m.
The women’s event also saw Italy’s Elisa Molinarolo break the meeting record with a jump of 4.48m in her fourth competition of the season ahead of the French duo of Berenice Petit and Marie Zalawa who cleared 4.38m and 4.28m respectively, a lifetime best for the latter.
Senegal's Amath Faye also equalled the world lead of 16.79m and add 10 centimetre to his PB in the fourth round of the triple jump, ahead of Algeria’s Yasser Mohammed Triki (16.70m) and Brazil’s Almir Dos Santos (16.52m).