Doha: French sprinter Pascale Martinot-Lagarde and Russian track and field athlete Sergey Shubenkov have become the latest stars to back Doha’s bid to host the 2019 IAAF World Championships.
The young French and Russian 110m hurdlers believe that Doha is the right choice to host the event in order to build for the future of global athletics.
Martinot-Lagarde, 22, and Shubenkov, 23, have already achieved a lot in their young careers. The Frenchman is a ferocious young talent who has dominated the Diamond League circuit this year. The 2010 World Junior Champion won this year’s Diamond Race title last month by defeating 2013 World Champion David Oliver, who came in second, and Shubenkov who stood third.
Shubenkov’s global breakthrough came at the World Championships in Moscow last year with a bronze medal in front of a home crowd — his country’s first ever World Championship medal in hurdles. He also has two European titles to his name and is the first ever European Champion in the history of Russian high hurdles.
Having competed in front of a home crowd at a World Championship, Shubenkov understands the value of home support and the impact that hosting the event can have on a country. Since his bronze medal last year, there has been a spike in the popularity of hurdling in Russia with a huge increase in the number of hurdlers at last year’s Russian Championships.
Shubenkov feels that it is important for new regions to have the same opportunity so that more young people are inspired by athletics. This, combined with his experience of competing in Doha following a second place finish at this year’s Diamond League meeting, means that he thinks Doha is the right choice for the 2019 World Championships in Athletics.
Shubenkov said: “I won a bronze medal at the World Championships in Moscow last year in front of a home crowd. The following week, my coach’s hurdling class had a huge increase in its intake. I am proud that I inspired more young Russians to take up hurdling. The Middle East has never hosted the World Championships before and 60 per cent of this region’s population is under the age of 30. This brings a fantastic opportunity to showcase athletics and introduce a new generation to track and field. I am supporting Doha 2019 because I believe that it would inspire a whole new region to participate in athletics.”
Martinot-Lagarde’s successful 2014 Diamond League started in Doha following a silver medal at this year’s World Indoor Championships. The Doha Diamond league brought him his first Diamond League points of his season, ensuring that the city would always stick in his memory. However, it is his first-hand experience of Doha’s world-class facilities and high standard of service for athletes that are the reasons behind his support for Doha’s 2019 bid.
“An athlete competing in one of the most important competitions of their lives likes to think of nothing else other than giving the performance of their lives. My experience of competing in Doha shows that they have thought of everything. The transport is very good, I loved the food, the facilities are fantastic, everything is very easy to access, the weather was perfect and the crowd was brilliant. I am supporting Doha 2019 because I know they will guarantee a successful World Championships,” Martinot-Lagarde said.
Speaking about the support of Shubenkov and Martinot-Lagarde, the President of the Qatar Athletics Association, Dahlan Jumaan Al Hamad, said: “Sergey Shubenkov and Pascal Martinot-Lagarde are extremely talented young athletes who are ensuring that high hurdling and athletics has many exciting years ahead. We are honoured to have their support for the Doha 2019 bid and we are delighted that they recognise the opportunities that Doha will bring to the world of athletics. Hosting the World Championships in Athletics in the Middle East for the first time ever will create a platform for athletics to reach new fans, new participants and new partners. It will inspire a new generation, a new region and a new culture to choose athletics as their number one sport.
“These athletes are likely to be at the prime of their careers in 2019 and a showdown between them could be one of the highlights of the World Championships. We are pleased that they have chosen Doha as their preferred venue to compete in one of the most important competitions of their lives. Doha offers guaranteed success thanks to our world-class facilities, our proven track record of hosting international athletics and sports events and our high standard of service for athletes, officials, spectators and the media.”
As well as hosting the annual Diamond League meeting, Doha hosted the 2010 World Indoor Championships. If Qatar’s capital hosts the 2019 IAAF World Championships, the event will be held at the Khalifa Stadium, which also hosted the 2006 Asian Games and is the centrepiece of Aspire Zone, a complex containing a large number of world-class sports stadia that regularly hosts major sports events as well as state-of-the-art facilities for sports medicine, research and education.
Doha is competing against bids from Eugene, USA, and Barcelona, Spain. Each city submitted their candidature files on September 25 and will receive a visit from the IAAF Evaluation Commission in October.
The final decision will be taken by the IAAF Council at its Monaco meeting in November.
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