Ronald Pognon

Ronald Pognon (born 16 November 1982) is a French sprint athlete. He originally specialized in the 200 metres, but later shifted to the shorter sprint distances. He was formerly the European record holder for the 60 metres indoors and is the first Frenchman to go under 10 seconds at the 100 metres.

Early career As a junior athlete he participated at the 2000 World Junior Championships, winning a silver medal in the 4 × 100 metres relay. He also competed individually in the 200 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 the 2002 European Championships. At the 2002 European Championships he also finished fourth in 4 × 100 m relay with teammates David Patros, Issa-Aimé Nthépé and Jérôme Éyana.

He then shifted focus to the 100 metres. He reached the semifinals in this event at both the 2003 World Championships and the 2004 Olympic Games. At the Olympics he also competed in the relay, 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 town Castres.

Breakthrough In 2005 he started the season by setting a French indoor record in the 60 metres, with 6.45 seconds on 2 March in Karlsruhe. He won the silver medal in the same event at the 2005 European Indoor Championships.

He competed at the 2005 World Championships in both 100 and 200 metres, but did not reach the final; however, in the 4 × 100 m relay he won a gold medal together with teammates Ladji Doucouré, Eddy De Lépine and Lueyi Dovy. He rounded off the season by finishing fifth in the 2005 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 the Rieti 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) and Jason Gardener (9.98).

Statistics As of 2 April 2014

Personal bests All information from IAAF Profile