2023-12-29 20:00:13
Dorian Coninx during the European Triathlon Championships, in Munich (Germany), August 14, 2022. ANDREJ ISAKOVIC / AFP
At the end of September, Dorian Coninx was crowned triathlon world champion after an incredible scenario, in Pontevedra (Spain), during the grand final of the World Triathlon Championship Series circuit. A month earlier, the 29-year-old from Isère finished 3rd in Paris in the test event of the Olympic Games (JO) course. These performances allowed him to validate his pre-selection for the 2024 Olympics. To validate his ticket, he will have to, by then, “simply” rank among the first three in a sprint format stage (750 meters of swimming, 20 kilometers of cycling and 5 kilometers of running) or in the first six of an Olympic format stage (1,500 meters of swimming, 40 kilometers of cycling, 10 kilometers of running).
Read also: Frenchman Dorian Coninx snatches the title of triathlon world champion
You succeed your compatriots Léo Bergère (2022) and Vincent Luis (2019 and 2020), crowned world champions before you. How would you summarize your season?
It was an extraordinary season. It represents a big personal accomplishment, in the sense that I had two identified objectives, which I had written down in a notebook, and this is the first time in my career where I fulfilled them perfectly. Namely: pass the pre-selection criteria for the Olympic Games and get onto a world podium. It wasn’t even being world champion!
You were only 5th in the general classification at the start of the final event in Pontevedra before beating everyone to the post: is this title a little hold-up?
The way it happened, it was a hold-up, because I didn’t believe it. Not that I didn’t believe in my ability to win, but I didn’t think we could manage to relegate the one at the top of the standings beyond 9th place [le Britannique Alex Yee, finalement 30e] and whoever was 2nd beyond 7th place [le Néo-Zélandais Hayden Wilde, 10e].
But we have five races on the calendar [le classement se joue sur les quatre meilleurs résultats de la saison cumulés à ceux de la grande finale, mieux dotée], everyone knows the rules of the game, I have nothing to envy of my rivals. I deserved this victory and I went for it. Being world champion means that I managed to be consistent in all the races. However, all my career, I chased a certain consistency that I could not achieve, it was really my biggest weak point.
The scenario of the grand finale, you would never have imagined it?
To everyone who asked me the question, I answered: “Maybe I can come 3rd, world champion, it’s impossible…” I wanted to have fun in this race, to win it, and when I took aware that my opponents were far away, I wasn’t lucid enough to do the calculations, but I said to myself: “Go ahead, you might not have the opportunity 36 times, don’t miss out! Do the best sprint you’ve ever done, go in front, and you’ll see afterwards if it worked or not. »
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