Paris 2024 Olympics: “They’re floating by sight for now”… Triathlon Blues finally returns to Japan

“Blue” triathletes are seriously preparing for the start of the Olympic season. More than two months after the cancellation of the first round of the WTCS (World Triathlon Championship Series, the top level competition) scheduled for Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates), the French team has scheduled a meeting in Japan this Saturday.

In Yokohama, Dorian Koninx, Vincent Louis, Emma Lombardi and their teammates will compete in a short-distance triathlon (1500m swim, 40km bike and 10km run), a format similar to the one in which they will compete. this summer near the Pont Alexandre III in Paris, swimming in the Seine.

With less than three months until the Paris Olympics, the expectations and stakes are enormous. “This race is very important for the French,” explains Stephanie Gros, head of the French Olympic team. (…) This will allow our athletes to position themselves on the world stage. While they float in plain sight. »

Seven months without competition for Dorian Koninx

“It’s been almost seven months since I last ran, so I’m really looking forward to seeing what it’s going to be like, to see what kind of shape I’m in, where my level is compared to others,” says Dorian Coninx , world champion 2023. Currently selected for the Olympics, Grenoblois will be able to finally confirm their qualification if they finish in the top 6 this Saturday (departure at 6am French time). “The preparation went very well, in the last two months I was really able to do a lot of concrete work and the results were excellent,” he evaluates.

Arriving a week before the race, Dorian Coninx, like Leonie Periot, Leo Berger and Tom Richard, first spent a few days west of Yokohama, in the “Japanese countryside” of Chiba Prefecture. “The goal was to acclimatize and recover from jet lag,” Koninks explains. The climate is more humid, it can be hot and it can rain. »

Due to this, Cassandra Beaugrand and Pierre Le Corre (who had just recovered from an arc injury) missed this Japanese stage. They too have already passed the preliminary selection and are due to return to the WTCS track in Cagliari (Italy) on May 25th.

Lombardi can dream of his first victory

For other triathletes, this stage is an opportunity to score big points, in particular for Vincent Louis and Leo Berger, world champions in 2019 and 2020 for the first, in 2022 for the second, and who failed to meet the Olympic criteria. last year. Let us remind you that France has only three starting numbers for the race in Paris.

Among the women, the favorite for this Saturday’s women’s race (start at 3:15 French time) will be Emma Lombardi, who finished 4th in the test event. Number one bib on the back, the 23-year-old Frenchwoman, ranked third in the world rankings in 2023, is now one of the leaders in the women’s race.

This Saturday she, who already has three WTCS podiums, can take the first victory of her career on the world circuit and, above all, impress the minds of the selectors. “This is one of the last two competitions before the end of the rankings and selection,” insists Stephanie Gros.

To compensate for the cancellation of the first meeting of the year, the student from the Faculty of Economics and Management took part in the European Cup in Melilla, Spain in mid-April and won. This Saturday’s race should confirm her rise in power.