 Pognon in 2010 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nationality |  France | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1982-11-16)16 November 1982 (age 42) Le Lamentin, Martinique | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 83 kg (183 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Running | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Event(s) | 100 metres,200 metres | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personalbest(s) | 100m: 9.98 s (Lausanne 2005) 200m: 20.27 s (Rieti 2005) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Ronald Pognon (born 16 November 1982) is a French sprint athlete.[1] He originally specialized in the200 metres, but later shifted to the shorter sprint distances. He was formerly theEuropean record holder for the60 metres indoors[2] and is the first Frenchman to gounder 10 seconds at the100 metres.[3]
As a junior athlete he participated at the2000 World Junior Championships, winning a silver medal in the4 x 100 metres relay. He also competed individually in the200 metres, without reaching the final. His personal best 200 m result at that time was 21.25 seconds, whereas his personal best 100 m result was 10.50 seconds. Two years later he had improved to 20.65 and 10.24 seconds respectively, and reached the 200 m semifinals at the2002 European Championships. At the 2002 European Championships he also finished fourth in 4 × 100 m relay with teammatesDavid Patros,Issa-Aimé Nthépé andJérôme Éyana.[4]
He then shifted focus to the 100 metres. He reached the semifinals in this event at both the2003 World Championships and the2004 Olympic Games. At the Olympics he also competed in therelay, but failed to reach the final with the French team. He lowered his personal best time to 10.13 seconds in 2003 and 10.11 in 2004, both times in the townCastres.
In 2005 he started the season by setting a French indoor record in the60 metres, with 6.45 seconds on 2 March inKarlsruhe. He won the silver medal in the same event at the2005 European Indoor Championships.
He competed at the2005 World Championships in both100 and200 metres, but did not reach the final; however, in the4 × 100 m relay he won a gold medal together with teammatesLadji Doucouré,Eddy De Lépine andLueyi Dovy. He rounded off the season by finishing fifth in the2005 World Athletics Final. He also set personal best times in both 100 and 200 metres that season. 9.99 seconds in the Lausanne Super Grand Prix in July, and 20.27 seconds in theRieti Grand Prix in August. He became the first Frenchman to go under 10 seconds, and only four Europeans had run faster:Francis Obikwelu (9.86),Linford Christie (9.87),Dwain Chambers (9.97) andJason Gardener (9.98).[3]
In 2006 he finished sixth at the2006 World Indoor Championships, fourth at the2006 European Championships and sixth at the2006 World Athletics Final, the latter in a season's best time of 10.10 seconds. At the European Championships he helped win a bronze medal in the relay, behind Great Britain and Poland, together with an entirely new team:Oudéré Kankarafou, Pognon,Fabrice Calligny andDavid Alerte. At the end of the season, Pognon was selected for the2006 World Cup, finishing fifth in the 100 metres.
The 2007 season saw Pognon win a bronze medal in 60 metres at the2007 European Indoor Championships. He had run the 60 metres in 6.55 seconds, better than the year before. However, during the outdoor season he did not compete. He returned to competition in 2008, running only 6.68 in the 60 m indoors but managing 10.13 seconds in July inRethimno to qualify for theOlympic Games inBeijing. Competing in the100 metres event, he placed third in his heat behindTyrone Edgar andDarvis Patton in a time of 10.26 seconds. He qualified for the second round in which he improved his time to 10.21 seconds; however, he was unable to qualify for the semifinals as he finished in fourth place.[1] He did not participate in the4 × 100 m relay, although France did field a team.
At the 2012 Summer Olympics, he was part of the French 4 × 100 m relay team that went on to finish 3rd in the final, winning the bronze medal.[5]
| Date | Event | Venue | Time (seconds) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19 February 2005 | 50 metres | Liévin,France | 5.67 |
| 13 February 2005 | 60 metres | Karlsruhe,Germany | 6.45 |
| 5 July 2005 | 100 metres | Lausanne,Switzerland | 9.99 |
| 28 August 2005 | 200 metres | Rieti,Italy | 20.27 |
