Tamgho, Lemaitre lead French charge at Euro indoors

Jumper Teddy Tamgho and sprinter Christophe Lemaitre will spearhead French medal hopes at the European athletics indoor championships from which a host of big names will be missing, notably Jessica Ennis and Yelena Isinbayeva.

Tamgho, the 21-year-old who was a shock winner of the world indoor triple jump title last year in Doha in a then-world record 17.90m, will not, however, be up against British arch-rival Phillips Idowu.

Idowu, the reigning European and world outdoor champion, has decided to skip the sell-out meet in Bercy, east Paris, with an eye on the August 27-September 4 world outdoors in Daegu, South Korea.

Tamgho meanwhile will compete not only in the triple jump, in which he improved his world record by 1cm at last month’s national champs, but also the long jump, and insists he will not be there to make up the numbers.

“If I’m going to do it, it’s not to finish 10th. Even if I’m a way off being number one, the competition could be won with a 7.90m,” he said of a long jump distance of which he is more than capable of attaining.

Tamgho faces a punishing early-season line-up, with qualifiers for the long jump and triple jump today, and then finals for each event tomorrow and on Sunday respectively.

Home support will also be braying for Lemaitre, who won triple gold in last summer’s European outdoor championships in Barcelona and will again likely face his main competition from Briton Dwain Chambers, defending European and world indoor champion.

But Lemaitre has had a sluggish start to his indoor season, finally improving to a best of 6.58sec to win the French title last week.

“I’m not far off Dwain Chambers in terms of times (the Briton having clocked 6.57sec this season) so that could even mean a gold medal,” said Lemaitre.

His winning display in the French championships “proved that I’m competitive for Bercy. The disappointment of previous meets drove me mad. I’ve re-found myself, and (a medal) has become something I can envisage”.

Contenders for a podium place will likely include Lemaitre’s team-mate Martial Mbandjock, Britons Joel Fearon and Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, Italian Emanuele Di Gregorio, and German duo Christian Blum and Tobias Unger.

Other world class events include the men’s 3,000m, when in-form Briton Mohammed Farah will seek to defend his title.

And the 38-strong German team are aiming for at least three golds, and count among their number European leaders in Katja Demut (women’s triple jump), Christina Schwanitz and Ralf Bartels (women and men’s shot), and eight others in the top three.

But the championships, featuring 630 athletes from 45 countries, have been hit by the withdrawal of a host of big names.

Ennis, Britain’s world and European heptathlon champion, withdrew from the pentathlon because of an ankle injury, while a similar injury has forced French favourite Mehdi Baala out of the men’s 1500m.

Double Olympic and world women’s pole vault champion Isinbayeva pulled out after contracting a viral infection, her coaches saying she wanted to risk nothing before the Daegu worlds.