Noureddine Smaïl (born 6 February 1987) is an

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

n-born French athlete who specialises in

middle Middle or The Middle may refer to: * Centre (geometry), the point equally distant from the outer limits. Places * Middle (sheading), a subdivision of the Isle of Man * Middle Bay (disambiguation) * Middle Brook (disambiguation) * Middle Creek ...

and long-distance tracks as well as cross country. Born in Relizane, Algeria, Smaïl moved to France at a young age and began competing for his adopted country in 2006, taking part in the 2006 European Cross Country Championships (finishing 11th in the junior race), and the

2006 World Junior Championships in Athletics The 2006 World Junior Championships in Athletics is the 2006 version of the World Junior Championships in Athletics. It was held from 15 August to 20 August at the Chaoyang Sports Centre in Beijing, the capital of the People's Republic of China ...

(reaching the 5000 m final). The 2007 season saw significant improvement as he took the 5000 m gold at the

2007 European Athletics U23 Championships The 6th European Athletics U23 Championships were held between 12 and 15 July 2007 in the Gyulai István Athletic Stadium in Debrecen, Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpath ...

. His progress stalled however in the following year, as he only managed 64th place in the U23 section of the

2008 European Cross Country Championships The 15th European Cross Country Championships were held at Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and langu ...

. Smaïl enjoyed U23 success in 2009 as he won the 5000 m silver medal at the

2009 European Athletics U23 Championships The 7th European Athletics U23 Championships were held between 16 and 19 July 2009 in the S. Darius and S. Girėnas Stadium in Kaunas, Lithuania. Complete results and medal winners were published. Men's results Women's results Medal table ...

and took the individual and team gold in the U23 race at the 2009 European Cross Country Championships. He also made progress in the senior ranks, reaching the 5000 m final at the

2009 European Team Championships The first European Athletics Team Championships took place on 20 and 21 June 2009. The track and field athletics tournament run by European Athletics was the successor of the old European Cup (athletics), European Cup competition which was held a ...

and competing in his first major European senior championships: the

2009 European Athletics Indoor Championships The 2009 European Athletics Indoor Championships was held in Turin, Italy, from Friday, 6 March to Sunday, 8 March 2009. The championships took place at the Oval Lingotto indoor arena

Personal bests

* 800 m : 1:54.56 (2004) * 1000 m : 2:24.33 (2007) * 1500 m : 3:47.6 (2006) * 3000 m : 7:53.34 (2009) * 5000 m : 13:38.22 (2008) * 10 km : 32:38 (2005) * 10 km : 28:56.57 (2014) track * 3000 m steeplechase : 9:01.96 (2006)

Competition record

*He is also a two-time French champion in the 5000 m

References

External links

*
Profile from French Athletics Association
__NOTOC__ {{DEFAULTSORT:Smail, Noureddine 1987 births Living people Algerian emigrants to France French male middle-distance runners French male long-distance runners French male steeplechase runners People from Relizane Sportspeople from Relizane Province 21st-century French sportsmen