Romain Barras

Romain Barras at the 2010 European Athletics Championships

Romain Barras (born August 1, 1980 in Calais ) is a French decathlete . He became European champion in Barcelona in 2010.

Career

2001 Barras reached a fourth place at the U23 European Championships and a fifth place at the Universiade . In 2003 Barras surpassed the 8000 point mark in three competitions, and he completed his best decathlon to date as the winner of the Universiade 2003 in Daegu with 8196 points. At the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004 he reached 8067 points and finished in 13th place.

In 2005 Barras took part in five decathlons and exceeded the 8000 point mark in all. In Angers he became French champion for the first time. At the World Championships in Helsinki in 2005 , he was seventh with 8087 points. In 2006 Barras won the all-around European Cup in front of Attila Zsivóczky in Arles . At the European Championships in Gothenburg in 2006 , he finished eighth with 8093 points.

In 2007 Barras was sixth in the heptathlon at the European Indoor Championships in Birmingham with 5883 points. At the 2007 World Championships in Osaka , he finished seventh with 8262 points. In Beijing at the 2008 Olympic Games , he reached 8253 points and fifth place. After a twelfth place with 8204 points at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, he improved his best performance to 8313 points in June 2010. At the European Championships in Barcelona in 2010 , he led before the final 1500-meter run with five points ahead of the Dutchman Eelco Sintnicolaas . Sintnicolaas ran directly behind Barras during the whole run, in the final sprint on the home straight Barras gained almost two seconds ahead and became European champion with 8453 points.

At a height of 1.93 m, his competition weight is 84 kg.

Best performance in the individual disciplines

discipline	Best value	Year and place
100 m	11.02 s	2003 in Desenzano
Long jump	7.35 m	2005 in Helsinki
Shot put	16.19 m	2010 in Götzis
high jump	2.04 m	2010 in Barcelona
400 m	48.21 s	2006 in Arles
110 m hurdles	14.11 s	2008 in Albi
Discus throw	47.21 m	2004 in Carcassonne
Pole vault	5.05 m	2007 in Niort
Javelin throw	65.84 m	2005 in Götzis
1500 meter run	4: 20.90 min	2009 in Szczecin

His best performance of 8453 points set Barras 2010 at the European Championships in Barcelona.

literature

• Hans van Kuijen: 2009 Annual Combined Events. Helmond 2009
• Peter Matthews (Ed.): Athletics 2007. SportsBooks, Cheltenham 2007, ISBN 978-1899807-49-9 .

Web links

• Website of Romain Barras (French)
• Romain Barras in the database of World Athletics (English)