French Olympian grabs share of indoor M40 hurdles record
Karl Smith of the United States, via Jamaica, is a legend of masters hurdling — the first under 14 seconds for the M40 highs. But he lost that record to David Ashford. Now he’s apparently sharing another — to a Frenchman. The Koops’ Web site reports that Vincent Clarico ran the 60-meter indoor hurdles in 7.96 at the Meeting du Val d’oisea on Feb. 10. Vincent turned 40 on January 8, according to his IAAF bio. Karl’s M40 world indoor record of 7.96 was set in March 2000.
Vincent has a PR in the 110 open hurdles of 13.41, set in 1997, and a 2004 best of 13.80, so he’s legit. He competed in three IAAF world championships (1993, 1995 and 1997), with a best finish of sixth in the Athens semifinals in 1997.
But don’t tsk-tsk that. He had a tough heat:
1. Colin Jackson (Britain) 13.24;
2. Allen Johnson (U.S.) 13.31;
3. Igor Kovac (Slovakia) 13.38;
4. Terry Reese (U.S.) 13.45;
5. Robin Korving (Netherlands) 13.51;
6. Vincent Clarico (France) 13.53;
7. Andrei Kislykh (Russia) 13.78
Also found his results from the 1996 Olympics:
110 Hurdles Semifinals (Top 4 each heat advance)
Heat 1-
1, Allen Johnson, Chapel Hill, N.C., 13.10.
2, Colin Jackson, Britain, 13.17.
3, Emilio Valle, Cuba, 13.18.
4, Kyle Vander-Kuyp, Australia, 13.38.
5, Krzysztof Mehlich, Poland, 13.55.
6, George Boroi, Romania, 13.57.
7, Sven Pieters, Belgium, 13.59.
8, Erik Kaiser, Germany, 13.59.
9, Li Tong, China, 13.60.
Heat 2-
1, Florian Schwarthoff, Germany, 13.13.
2, Eugene Swift, Richmond, Calif., 13.21.
3, Mark Crear, Valencia, Calif., 13.22.
4, Erick Batte, Cuba, 13.26.
5, Vincent Clarico, France, 13.43.
6, Robert Foster, Jamaica, 13.49.
7, Igors Kazanovs, Latvia, 14.13.
8, Johan Lisabeth, Belgium, DNF.
So he just missed making the finals at Atlanta!
Just missed Karl’s M40 record, too. That should be remedied soon. He’s entered at the Linz world masters indoor championships in March.
