00:00It looked like France might actually win a medal, but as their final runner received the baton,
00:05she was trapped behind the other passing runners. She pushed around them as fast as she could,
00:10but she fell woefully far behind the leading pack, and it seemed unlikely that they would
00:15have any chance to redeem themselves. Going into the finals of the 400m relay at the European
00:20Athletics Championships, Great Britain was the favourite to win, with Russia and Ukraine expected
00:26to be pushing for podium spots too. France had been performing well, and there was still hope that
00:31if they kept it up in the finals, they may even make the podium, but they certainly didn't seem
00:35to have the speed to contend for gold. As the race began, France was off to a solid start,
00:40staying in the centre of the pack and keeping up with the favourites. As the baton reached their
00:44second runner, Muriel Hurtis, she managed to claw the French team up to third place, sitting right
00:49on the tail of Russia and Ukraine. She even pushed her way into second for a brief moment until the
00:55Great Britain runner came storming into the lead. As the third runner, Agnes Raharele took the baton,
01:00she battled for third place with the Ukrainian runner, but she couldn't keep up, and she fell
01:05back to fourth. It still wasn't over for France, there was still about 500m left of the race.
01:10Agnes was holding strong, and she kept up with the pace of the favourites. However, as Floria Guay
01:15received the baton and tried to head into the inside lane, she found herself dodging the other
01:20team's third runners, leaving her well behind the favourites. On paper, with a trailing gap this
01:26large, she didn't even have the ability to be in contention for a medal. Even if she matched her
01:31previous personal best, that still wouldn't be enough. The French commentators lost hope.
01:43The British commentator was also dismissive of Floria's chances of winning. Floria Wye looking a
01:50little bit tired at the moment, looking as though France are now out of the battle for the medals.
01:54That was until the runners came up to the final turn, and what Floria would later describe in
01:59interviews as an animalistic urge overcame her, and she began hunting down the leading pack.
02:05The gap slowly began to close, and as Floria's home country watched on, a glimmer of hope started
02:12to appear. Floria caught up to Russia. It was neck-and-neck between her and Great Britain, and then...
02:22As Floria reached the finish line, she leaned forward as far as she could, but after she crossed the line,
02:30she snapped out of her deep, concentrative trance. Seemingly stunned and unaware of what just happened,
02:37Floria looked at her teammates, and they reaffirmed what she was having a hard time believing.
02:42Floria had not only run the fastest time of the day, she'd beaten her own personal best by nearly two
02:49whole seconds, and France won the gold medal.
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