Marie-Pierre Duros

Born in Saint-Brieuc,[2] she competed in running competitions at a young age and won her first international medal at the 1985 European Athletics Junior Championships, taking the 1500 metres silver medal behind Ana Padurean (who won the world junior title a year later).[3] She made her first impression at senior level two years later by winning the 3000 metres title at the French Athletics Championships – her run of 8:56.18 minutes was the first time a woman had dipped under nine minutes at the competition.[4] Her senior global debut followed at the 1987 World Championships in Athletics a month later and she placed 14th overall in the event.[5] She ended that year with a win at the Cross Du Figaro.[6]

Duros won her first senior medal at the 1988 IAAF World Cross Country Championships. In an Annette Sergent-led team, she helped the French women to the bronze team medals through her eleventh-place finish in the women's long race.[7] On the track she repeated her win at the national championships and gained selection for France at the 1988 Summer Olympics.[4] However, her first Olympic appearance was not a successful one, as she failed to finish in the 3000 metres heats.[2]

Duros returned to grass at the beginning of 1989 and was the winner at the Cross Ouest-France.[8] Her finish in the senior race at the 1989 IAAF World Cross Country Championships was lower than the previous year's (she ended in 32nd place), but a strong French team topped by world champion Sergent, Martine Fays and Maria Lelut took the silver medals in the team competition.[9] Individual success came on the track as she came third in the 3000 m at the Athletissima meeting before going on to set a new French record of 8:38.97 minutes for the distance in Nice.[10] This mark stood as the national record for nearly a decade and placed her third in the world rankings that year, behind Paula Ivan and Yvonne Murray.[11][12] In addition to this, she had middle-distance success with a national title over 1500 m and a win over that distance at the European Cup "B" Final.[1]

A outing at the 1990 European Athletics Championships saw her pass the 3000 m heats, but fail to finish the distance in the final.[13] This was her only appearance at the European event. She had a win at the Cross Du Figaro in December that year.[6] Another French record came for Duros in February 1991, when she ran an indoor 3000 m best of 8:53.94 minutes.[11] She won the French cross country title at the start of March and this proved good preparation for the 1991 IAAF World Indoor Championships held the weekend after.[14] Duros outran the competition and won the world indoor title for the 3000 m in an improved French indoor record time of 8:50.69 minutes.[5][11] She was France's first ever gold medallist at the competition proper (Gérard Lelièvre won at the precursor 1985 IAAF World Indoor Games).[15] In the outdoor season she won the French title and also won at the DN Galan in Stockholm – her time of 8:40.76 minutes ranked her eighth globally that year.[4][16] She failed to carry this form into the final at the 1991 World Championships in Athletics, however, coming last in the final by a margin of over 15 seconds.[17] She had her third and final career win at the Cross Du Figaro at the end of the year.[6]

The 1992 season was her last as a contender at international level. She came 29th at the 1992 IAAF World Cross Country Championships (the declining French women were ninth in the team rankings).[18] She won a fourth and final national title over 3000 m,[4] and a run of 8:40.38 minutes in Nice (the second fastest of her career) placed her sixth in the year's world rankings.[16] This brought her selection for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. There she opened with one of her best international performances by running a time of 8:42.32 minutes to qualify as the fastest of the heats stage. She did not replicate this in the final and dropped out before completing 3000 m (her second consecutive Olympic failure to finish). She was also entered in the 1500 m competition and had the best time of her career for that distance in the heats (4:10.14 minutes). She was well off this pace in the semi-finals, finishing dead last in her race.[2]

Duros did not compete at a high level after that point with the sole exception of the first ever global 5000 metres held at the 1995 World Championships in Athletics. Aged 28, this was her last major competition and she was the second slowest finisher in the race.[19]

She is now married to fellow runner Pierre Toudret and supports younger athletes through UA Langueux, a local running club.[20]