The French athlete announced on Friday his intention to compete in the Brisbane decathlon in mid-December, to obtain his ticket for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
Expected among the main stars of the French contingent to compete in the Paris Olympic Games next summer, Kevin Mayer has still not obtained his qualification, and is preparing to reach the necessary minimums. He announced, Friday November 10, the date of his next decathlon. “There is a decathlon in Brisbane, Australia that I should do if all goes well, on December 16 and 17. It’s a great meeting with perfect conditions,” the double Olympic silver medalist confided on France 3 during the program “Aux Jeux Citoyens”.
“I’m leaving in a few days to get used to the jet lag and to recover from the flight”, he continued. A strategic choice for Kevin Mayer. “The more preparation I have without a decathlon before the Games, the more chance I have of arriving with 100% of my physical means. I want to do the minimums as soon as possible”, concluded the 31-year-old Frenchman, who had to abandon the decathlon at the last World Athletics Championships in Budapest in August, due to pain in his Achilles tendon.
By videoconference, the decathlete returned to these pains. “After a month, the pain in the Achilles tendon was superficial, today it is non-existent. There are other small tensions to resolve, but everything is gradually getting back in order. I started again training, there are events where things go really well, others where I have to go more slowly to be sure not to create pain again. Sprinting in particular, I go step by step, describes -he. For now, I’m just doing ten meter sprints”developed Kévin Mayer.
Several backup plans
However, he leaves the door open to a change of mind regarding his participation in the Brisbane decathlon, depending on his feelings. “We didn’t want to organize a decathlon (ad hoc, like for his Olympic qualification in Reunion in 2020), we wanted to give me the opportunity to do or not to do. When we organize, it’s more difficult of all cancel at the last moment. There, whether I do it or not, it will take place, it leaves freedom of mind, he explains. If there is a little tension, if I feel that I am not enough ready to do a decathlon, we can just do an internship in Australia and then we’ll do a decathlon later.”
Even in this hypothesis, the double Olympic silver medalist (2016 and 2021) already has a plan B, “in February in New Zealand“, and even a plan C, “early April in San Diego”in California.
2023-11-11 07:50:06
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