Samuel Vessat: From the Basketball Court to the French 400-Metre Record

Birmingham – 11.08.2026: Samuel Vessat is experiencing the most significant summer of his young career so far at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham. The 24-year-old Frenchman is competing as the national record holder in the 400 metres. He ran his personal best of 44.24 seconds on 26 July at the French Championships in Albi. In doing so, he replaced Leslie Djhone as the holder of the French record.

The European Championships began on 10 August and run until 16 August. The men’s 400-metre semi-final is scheduled for Tuesday, 11 August, with the final following on Wednesday, 12 August. Vessat will face Europe’s established quarter-milers, although he himself has only been training consistently for the one-lap event for a short time.

His development has been unusually rapid. According to the French Athletics Federation, Vessat only began serious performance-oriented training two years ago. Previously, his sporting interest focused primarily on basketball; athletics long served merely as preparation for the next season. Within just a few competitions, supplementary sprint training developed into an international prospect.

In addition to the French championship title, the race in Albi brought Vessat the national record. His 44.24 seconds were 22 hundredths of a second below Djhone’s previous mark. Muhammad Abdallah Kounta finished second in 44.55 seconds, while Yann Spillmann was third in 44.92 seconds. The three results also demonstrate the current depth of French 400-metre sprinting and expand the options for the 4×400-metre relay.

Vessat had already set a national mark during the indoor season. On 14 March, he ran 45.30 seconds over 400 metres on the short track in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The French federation lists the performance as a national record. His outdoor time from Albi is also recorded by World Athletics as the French record and his personal best.

Vessat competes for the Saint-Denis Emotion club and studies at Purdue University in Indiana. In the United States, he benefits from a university scholarship and regular competitions at a high college level. His club and coach Alioune Ndiaye also remain part of his sporting structure in France. The combination of both training environments has shaped his rise during the 2026 season.

According to the French federation, Vessat is the fourth-fastest European in history over this distance. In Birmingham, he must now confirm his personal best across several rounds. His 44.24 seconds from Albi are the solid benchmark of this summer.