Laurent Hernu

Laurent Hernu (born August 22, 1976 in Creil ) is a French decathlete .

Hernu started athletics at the age of eleven and was initially trained by his father, a former javelin thrower and all -rounder. On the side, he played numerous other sports such as soccer and karate before he concentrated on athletics. Since he did not want to limit himself to a single discipline, he chose a career as an all-rounder. Hernu was a total of nine times French champion, three times in the decathlon (2000, 2002, 2003) and six times in a row in the heptathlon in the hall (2000-2005). He completed his first Olympic participation in 2000 in Sydney , where he finished 19th in the decathlon. At the 2001 World Athletics Championships in Edmonton, he was eighth and seventh at the 2002 European Athletics Championships in Munich.

Hernu had his strongest season in 2003. At the World Championships in Paris , he finished fifth. He also won the Décastar in Talence and came third in the IAAF World Combined Events Challenge . At the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, he finished seventh. He achieved the same placement in the heptathlon at the European Athletics Indoor Championships in 2005 in Madrid.

Laurent Hernu is 1.91 m tall and has a competition weight of 89 kg. He started for the Stade Nogent-sur-Oise AC and the VGA Compiègne . He shows particularly good performance in the running and jumping area, but reveals weaknesses in the throwing disciplines.

Top performances

Open air:

• Decathlon: 8280 points, 6/7. August 2001, Edmonton
• 100 m : 10.93 s, 5th June 2004, Arles
• 400 m : 48.62 s, September 25, 2004, Talence
• 1500 m : 4: 24.35 min, August 24, 2004, Athens
• 110 m hurdles : 14.01 s, August 7, 2001, Edmonton
• High jump : 2.10 m, September 29, 2000, Talence
• Pole vault : 5.15 m, September 16, 2001, Talence
• Long jump : 7.56 m, September 20, 2003, Talence
• Shot put : 14.90 m, September 13, 2008, Talence
• Discus throw : 48.32 m, 23 May 2004, Nogent-sur-Oise
• Javelin throw: 60.14 m, September 16, 2001, Talence

Hall:

• Heptathlon: 6190 points, February 28th / January 1st March 2003, Aubière
• 60 m : 7.11 s, February 28, 2003, Aubière
• 1000 m : 2: 41.83 min, March 16, 2003, Birmingham
• 60 m hurdles: 8.01 s, March 1, 2003, Aubière
• High jump: 2.07 m, February 14, 1998, Bordeaux
• Pole vault: 5.10 m, February 13, 2003, Nogent-sur-Oise
• Long jump: 7.49 m, February 28, 2003, Aubière
• Shot put: 14.59 m, February 9, 2002, Vienna

Web links

• Laurent Hernu in the database of World Athletics (English)
• Laurent Hernu in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Athlete portrait by Laurent Hernu on the French Athletics Federation website