Fans of the Blues will have to be on time this Sunday 7 July. Indeed, just after the doors open at 13:15 hours, the triathlon (non-Wanda Diamond League ranking) will kick off proceedings, starting with the shot put event. The latter competition will serve as a wonderful platform for the European bronze medallist Makenson Gletty, who has posted a particularly brilliant performance in this discipline, as well as double Olympic medallist Kevin Mayer. A last-minute sign-up, Mayer will line up for this one event before deciding on the rest of his programme for the afternoon, according to how he feels on the day (the triathlon also comprises a 110 m hurdles event and a long jump competition). “I’m particularly fond of this meeting and I’m eager to rediscover the Charléty Stadium, admits the world record holder in the decathlon. It’s a competition where I’ve enjoyed a lot of success! I’m able to transcend myself thanks to the support of the spectators, who push me to bring my A’ game.”
Also boasting European champions, Gabriel Tual (800 m) and Alice Finot (3,000 m steeplechase), other medallists from Rome, Auriana Lazraq Khlass (signed up for the long jump), Rose Loga (hammer throw) and Gémima Joseph (100 m), headline acts like Thibaut Collet (pole vault) and Sasha Zhoya (110 m hurdles), as well as legends like Renaud Lavillenie (pole vault) and Mélina Robert-Michon (discus), who will doubtless receive a memorable welcome from the Paris crowds, the arena in France’s capital will definitely have an electric blue vibe.
Indeed, the French Athletics Federation (FFA) has an abundance of entertainment lined up, which will ensure the expected audience of nearly 20,000 spectators can show their support for the athletes who make up the French team on the road to the Olympics. Invited to dress up in blue at the stadium, the public will witness the grand unfurling of a giant athletics shirt on the track, shortly before 16:00 hours. At the end of the meeting, hot on the heels of the women’s 1,500 m at 18:00 hours, all the French athletes present in Charléty, either as competitors or spectators, will head out onto the track to pay tribute to the crowd and receive a well-deserved standing ovation with the amazing backdrop of a pyrotechnical extravaganza. To set the tone, the ‘carré bleu’, a device run by Paris 2024 and already tested during the winter’s Indoor Meeting de Paris at the AccorArena, will guarantee that its 200 supporters are running on all cylinders to inject some high-octane energy into the stadium.
The Meeting de Paris will also give its young members their due with La Fête des Clubs by Kinder Joy of Moving, a celebration of its athletics clubs that will take place in the run-up to the meeting. Three-thousand three-hundred children will take part in the entertainment, the main thrust of which will be a series of relay races midway through the day and a memorable lap of honour at 14:25 hours. The youngsters will then take their places in the grandstands to witness the champions in action in a symbolic ‘handing over of the baton’ to reflect the spirit of this 2024 edition. This celebration of the clubs will be the culmination of a whole year of support given to the Federation by Kinder in a bid to assist athletics clubs across the country with getting children more involved in sport.
