World Rowing Championships: for Boucheron life and qualification for the Games without Androdias

This is not ideal preparation a year before the Paris 2024 Games. Olympic title holders in the sculls will not be able to row together this week during the World Rowing Championships. Blame the infection that Mathieu Androdias infected and from which he did not recover enough.

“Unfortunately, we had to deal with Mathieu’s passage through the medical box, which suspended him from training and competition for several weeks,” confirms Sebastien Vieldan, national technical director of the French Rowing Federation.

“Mathieu resumed work a month ago, so in terms of health, things are pretty good,” continues Hugo Boucheron. But it was too early to find the physical level that would allow him to send to the big world championship. We wanted to keep him so he could attack again next season.” Thus, at the World Championships organized in Belgrade in Serbia, the native of Lyon will be associated with 29-year-old Valentin Onfray, a world bronze medalist in another category in 2018.

“Valentine exemplarily helps us”

“There is density in the French collective,” Sebastien Vieilledan assures. This year, Valentin did not manage to find his personal project. We were lucky with his arrival, he helps us in an exemplary way. This is a luxury that gives us a certain margin, and we do not jeopardize the gradual promotion of Mathieu to a high level due to this need for qualifications. We keep time under control and, even without our own standard team, we are holding on to ensure that this quota for the Games.

Already in 2022, the start of the season in Tokyo turned out to be difficult for the sacred duo. “After the return of the Games, it became difficult for me to find desire, energy,” Hugo Boucheron wrote on social networks in March. (…) I work with competent people to get me out of a little post-Olympic depression. The word “depression” is not a bad word, it’s just a condition that needs to be treated. But these two men bounced back and won gold at the World Championships in September.

Top 11 are required to qualify for the Games

This time the task will be more difficult and, first of all, we will talk about the selection quota for the Games. To do this, Hugo Boucheron and Valentin Onfroy will have to finish in the top 11 of the competition. “Checking this box already would be good. This would allow us to start this year more calmly,” says Hugo Boucheron. The rest will be a bonus.

But despite these few adventures, Hugo Boucheron assures him, he “didn’t spend too much time thinking.” And he adds: “I refocused on myself, on what I can do to bring as much as possible to the group so that everyone wants to row with me. I made a great contribution to training, to the hygiene of life and tried to progress as much as possible physically and psychologically on my part.

Hugo Boucheron and Valentin Onfroy, already linked with Lucerne at the World Cup in early July, finished in an honorable eighth place. What can we say about the Olympic champion, who clearly has Paris 2024 in mind. “I really want to go there to blow everyone up,” he smiles. But there is still a lot of work ahead.” The first step towards the Games will open this Sunday’s playoffs.