Marie-Pierre Duros

Marie-Pierre Duros (born 7 June 1967) is a French former middle- and long-distance runner who specialised in the 3000 metres. Her personal best of 8:38.97 minutes for the event is a former French record, which lasted from 1989 to 1999. She was a two-time Olympian (1988 and 1992) and three times participant at the World Championships in Athletics (1987, 1991, 1995).

Marie-Pierre Duros
Medal record
Women's athletics
Representing  France
IAAF World Indoor Championships
1991 Seville3000 m

Her greatest achievement was a gold medal 1991 IAAF World Indoor Championships, where she became France's first champion of the competition's history. She also won medals in cross country running with the French women's team, taking bronze at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in 1988 and silver the following year. She was a six-time national champion: four times over 3000 m and once over 1500 metres and cross country.[1]

Career

Early career

Born in Saint-Brieuc,[2] she competed in running competitions at a young age and won her first international medal at the 1985 European Athletics Junior Championships, taking the 1500 metres silver medal behind Ana Padurean (who won the world junior title a year later).[3] She made her first impression at senior level two years later by winning the 3000 metres title at the French Athletics Championships – her run of 8:56.18 minutes was the first time a woman had dipped under nine minutes at the competition.[4] Her senior global debut followed at the 1987 World Championships in Athletics a month later and she placed 14th overall in the event.[5] She ended that year with a win at the Cross Du Figaro.[6]

First senior medals

Duros won her first senior medal at the 1988 IAAF World Cross Country Championships. In an Annette Sergent-led team, she helped the French women to the bronze team medals through her eleventh-place finish in the women's long race.[7] On the track she repeated her win at the national championships and gained selection for France at the 1988 Summer Olympics.[4] However, her first Olympic appearance was not a successful one, as she failed to finish in the 3000 metres heats.[2]

Duros returned to grass at the beginning of 1989 and was the winner at the Cross Ouest-France.[8] Her finish in the senior race at the 1989 IAAF World Cross Country Championships was lower than the previous year's (she ended in 32nd place), but a strong French team topped by world champion Sergent, Martine Fays and Maria Lelut took the silver medals in the team competition.[9] Individual success came on the track as she came third in the 3000 m at the Athletissima meeting before going on to set a new French record of 8:38.97 minutes for the distance in Nice.[10] This mark stood as the national record for nearly a decade and placed her third in the world rankings that year, behind Paula Ivan and Yvonne Murray.[11][12] In addition to this, she had middle-distance success with a national title over 1500 m and a win over that distance at the European Cup "B" Final.[1]

World indoor champion and 1992 Olympics

A outing at the 1990 European Athletics Championships saw her pass the 3000 m heats, but fail to finish the distance in the final.[13] This was her only appearance at the European event. She had a win at the Cross Du Figaro in December that year.[6] Another French record came for Duros in February 1991, when she ran an indoor 3000 m best of 8:53.94 minutes.[11] She won the French cross country title at the start of March and this proved good preparation for the 1991 IAAF World Indoor Championships held the weekend after.[14] Duros outran the competition and won the world indoor title for the 3000 m in an improved French indoor record time of 8:50.69 minutes.[5][11] She was France's first ever gold medallist at the competition proper (Gérard Lelièvre won at the precursor 1985 IAAF World Indoor Games).[15] In the outdoor season she won the French title and also won at the DN Galan in Stockholm – her time of 8:40.76 minutes ranked her eighth globally that year.[4][16] She failed to carry this form into the final at the 1991 World Championships in Athletics, however, coming last in the final by a margin of over 15 seconds.[17] She had her third and final career win at the Cross Du Figaro at the end of the year.[6]

The 1992 season was her last as a contender at international level. She came 29th at the 1992 IAAF World Cross Country Championships (the declining French women were ninth in the team rankings).[18] She won a fourth and final national title over 3000 m,[4] and a run of 8:40.38 minutes in Nice (the second fastest of her career) placed her sixth in the year's world rankings.[16] This brought her selection for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. There she opened with one of her best international performances by running a time of 8:42.32 minutes to qualify as the fastest of the heats stage. She did not replicate this in the final and dropped out before completing 3000 m (her second consecutive Olympic failure to finish). She was also entered in the 1500 m competition and had the best time of her career for that distance in the heats (4:10.14 minutes). She was well off this pace in the semi-finals, finishing dead last in her race.[2]

Duros did not compete at a high level after that point with the sole exception of the first ever global 5000 metres held at the 1995 World Championships in Athletics. Aged 28, this was her last major competition and she was the second slowest finisher in the race.[19]

She is now married to fellow runner Pierre Toudret and supports younger athletes through UA Langueux, a local running club.[20]

Personal bests

National titles

International competitions
YearCompetitionVenuePositionEventNotes
1985 European Junior Championships Cottbus, East Germany 2nd 1500 metres
1987 World Championships Rome, Italy 14th 3000 metres
1988 World Cross Country Championships Auckland, New Zealand 11th Senior race
3rd Senior team
Olympic Games Seoul, South Korea — 3000 metres DNF (heat)
1989 World Cross Country Championships Stavanger, Norway 32nd Senior race
2nd Senior team
1990 European Championships Split, Yugoslavia — 3000 metresDNF (final)
1991 World Indoor Championships Seville, Spain 1st 3000 metres
1991 World Championships Tokyo, Japan 15th 3000 metres
1992 World Cross Country Championships Boston, United States 29th Senior race
9th Senior team
Olympic Games Barcelona, Spain 13th (semis) 1500 metres
— 3000 metres DNF (final)
1995 World Championships Gothenburg, Sweden 40th (heats) 5000 metres

References
  1. French Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2014-10-14.
  2. Marie-Pierre Duros. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2014-10-14.
  3. European Junior Championships 1985. World Junior Athletics History. Retrieved on 2014-10-14.
  4. National Outdoor 5000m Championships for France. Association of Road Racing Statisticians (2014-07-13). Retrieved on 2014-10-14.
  5. Marie-Pierre Duros. IAAF. Retrieved on 2014-10-14.
  6. Cross du Figaro. Association of Road Racing Statisticians (2012-03-09). Retrieved on 2014-10-14.
  7. IAAF World Cross Country Championships - 6.0km CC Women - Auckland Elleslie Date: Saturday, March 26, 1988. Athchamps (2007-09-08). Retrieved on 2014-10-14.
  8. Cross Ouest-France. ARRS (2013-01-21). Retrieved on 2014-10-14.
  9. IAAF World Cross Country Championships - 6.0km CC Women - Stavanger Scanvest Date: Sunday, March 19, 1989. AthChamps (2007-02-15). Retrieved on 2014-10-14.
  10. Marie-Pierre Duros. Tilastopaja. Retrieved on 2014-10-14.
  11. Michiels, Paul (2014-04-23). FRA Record Progressions- Track. ARRS. Retrieved on 2014-10-14.
  12. Yearlists of 1989 (Women). Apulanta. Retrieved on 2014-10-14.
  13. European Athletics Championships Zürich 2014 - STATISTICS HANDBOOK. European Athletics Association (pp. 451-460). Retrieved on 2014-10-14.
  14. National Crosscountry Champions for France. ARRS (2014-04-27). Retrieved on 2014-10-14.
  15. World Indoor Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2014-10-14.
  16. Marie-Pierre Duros. Track and Field Brinkster. Retrieved on 2014-10-14.
  17. Women 3000m World Championship 1991 Tokyo (JPN) - Monday 26.08 Archived 2011-08-24 at the Wayback Machine. Todor. Retrieved on 2014-10-14.
  18. IAAF World Cross Country Championships - 6.4km CC Women - Boston White Stadium, Franklin Park Date: Saturday, March 21, 1992. Athchamps (2007-09-08). Retrieved on 2014-10-14.
  19. Women 5000m World Championship 1995 Goteborg (SWE) - Saturday 12.08 Archived 2011-10-06 at the Wayback Machine. Todor. Retrieved on 2014-10-14.
  20. Marie-Pierre Duros « Ma victoire en 1989 reste indélébile » (in French). Ouest France (2011-01-06). Retrieved on 2014-10-14.
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