2023-08-03 22:08:43
A bad surprise. A fiasco even. Les Bleues were eliminated in the first round of the Worlds team speed tournament this Thursday in Glasgow, Scotland. This setback is problematic in view of the Olympics, in a year in Paris. Mathilde Gros, reigning individual speed world champion, Marie-Divine Kouamé, crowned in the 500m in 2022, and Julie Michaux only achieved the ninth time on this first day of the “Super Worlds” in Scotland. By completing the three laps in 47’628, they finished more than a second and a half behind Great Britain, the fastest time.
“It’s a disappointment of course. These are the last World Championships before the Olympics, it was important to score points against our opponents, commented Grégory Baugé, the sprint coach of the France team. It’s annoying too. These Worlds are indeed an important step on the way to Olympic qualification at the end of a complex process over two years.
To compete in the Games at home next year, the tricolor trio must join the World Top 8. “The qualification is over two years, explains Baugé. There remains one European Championship and three rounds of the Nations Cup to score points next year. The coach still says he is “optimistic” about the presence of the trio in Paris 2024.
Poor relative of the French track, the women’s speed team is in reconstruction after years of dormancy. She failed to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and had already been eliminated in the first round of the 2022 World Cup in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines where the Paris Games will take place. “Our fault is that we are a young team compared to our opponents, regrets Grégory Baugé. But it’s a pity. We couldn’t get close to our record of 47′’1, even though I insisted on it. It is our habit for the moment to start the tournament like this. »
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