Athletics - New sprint darling Loutoy smashes 100m record |11 July 2014

Joanne Loutoy is the new darling of Seychelles’ track and field athletics with a new 100m record.

Many have tried and failed until Loutoy managed to erase Joanna Houareau’s 11.89 seconds. The feat came on Saturday June 28 at the Vital-sponsored Mauritius National Championship at the Bambous Stadium. Motivated to do well as running alongside her was a Mauritian sprinter who had been training in Jamaica, Loutoy stopped the clock at 11.86 seconds to win the race and also smash the Seychelles record of 11.89 seconds that Joanna Hoareau had been holding.

That record had been part of Seychelles sprinting since 2000 and has been the bane of many an athlete who tried and failed to break it.

"I did not expect the record, but from the start I was aggressive. I was hyped up as I wanted to show the Mauritian sprinter who had been training in Jamaica that I too can run. My target was 11.99 seconds to beat my personal best of 12.14 seconds set in Mauritius in April. In fact, I surprised myself with the new record time of 11.86 seconds. I believe I got my focus right on this day and I ran a strong race,” home-grown speedster Loutoy told Sports Nation.

Seychellois sprinter Loutoy, who competed in the 60 metres event at the 2014 IAAF World Indoor Championships earlier this year, proved she is in a good spell as she went on to win the 200m race in 24.96 seconds which is a personal best. Her previous best was 25.18 seconds.

Joanilla Janvier (12.32 seconds) and Aurélie Alcindor (25.19 seconds) were second to Loutoy in the 100m and 200m races.

With the sprint double under her belt, Loutoy is being tipped as the favourite for the gold medals in the 100m and 200m at next year’s Indian Ocean Island Games in Reunion.

As the Indian Ocean Island Games are one year away, Loutoy, born on December 31, 1992, is focusing on doing well at the forthcoming Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland from July 23-August 3, and the 19th African Senior Athletics Championships in Marrakech, Morocco from August 10-14.

“I will be lining up in the blocks against faster and more experienced sprinters at the Commonwealth Games and the African Senior Athletics Championships.  I will try to stick with the top runners as my aim is to run faster and improve the 100m record because winning a medal at the two outings will be a tall order,” added Loutoy who noted that she has to shift her mind to compete with the top sprinters to get the best out of herself.
Loutoy also holds two other sprints records over 60m and 150m.

In the Special Events Final competition at Stad Popiler on Saturday February 22, 2014, she bettered the women’s senior 60m sprint record to 7.3 seconds after she had improved it to 7.4 seconds the previous weekend (February 14, 2014). Joanna Houareau had held the old record of 7.5 seconds since January 17, 1998.
Also on Saturday February 22, 2014, she set a new senior record of 17.6 seconds in the 150m race to erase from the books the previous record of 18.0 seconds belonging to Houareau since February 17, 2001.

G. G.