Tadej Pogacar and the intractable Rugby Blues, Armand Duplantis always higher… The sports recap of the weekend
Pole vaulter Armand Duplantis took to the skies once again, during a weekend full of emotions. The French women’s XV made short work of the Welsh, while the Lyonnaises ended up defeating PSG in the Champions League. On the steep roads of Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the ogre Tadej Pogacar left only crumbs to his opponents. On the other hand, it is the soup of grimaces on the side of Chinese swimming, with suspicions of doping which come at a bad time a few months before the Paris Olympic Games.
The outdoor season has only just started and Armand Duplantis is already in Olympic form. The Swede improved the pole vault world record for the eighth time in his career, passing 6.24 meters in Xiamen for the Diamond League. Duplantis showed insolent ease, succeeding in his jump with a comfortable margin and on the first attempt. The meeting in China was conducive to performances, with the French record in the 100m hurdles signed Cyréna Samba-Mayela, in 12.55.
Victory, offensive bonus and no points conceded. The Blues had an (almost) full match against the Welsh (40-0) on Sunday in Cardiff, on the penultimate day of the Six Nations Tournament. By barely holding the ball, the players of the French XV scored six tries, most of them in counter-attack phases. Black spots that will have to be erased before the “final” against England on April 27, the Blue conceded three yellow cards and lacked precision in touch.
The day before, their English rivals crushed the Irish (88-10). The Scottish women took the upper hand, at the end of the match, over the Italians (17-10) in Parma.
An investigation of New York Times and German television media ARD revealed on Saturday the positive tests of 23 Chinese swimmers before the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, without them having been suspended. Some of the athletes, who tested positive for trimetazidine following “food contamination” according to the Chinese anti-doping agency, obtained medals in Tokyo without the World Anti-Doping Agency having carried out an investigation of its own. “We demand that all the light be shed, that the procedures be the same for everyone and that they be applied” reacted the president of the French Swimming Federation, Gilles Sezionale, to the Sports department of Radio France.
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