If there’s a time to score points and lift your spirits, it’s the last weekend of May for the French triathlon team. This Saturday the Blues will take part in the WTCS stage (Triathlon World Championship Series) from Cagliari in Italy, the last major Olympic distance event before the Games.
First of all, this is the last race before the closing of the Olympic rankings and before the announcement of the official selection (3 men and 3 women) for Paris 2024. It will take place on June 5 at 14:00, the French Triathlon Federation announced this week.
A stage in which Dorian Koninx, the 2023 world champion in this discipline, will not be able to take part. The victim of a bad fall in Yokohama, Japan two weeks ago during the first race of the season, Grenoblois suffered a double fracture of his right arm (wrist and elbow) and had to undergo surgery. He was able to resume training, particularly on a home cycling trainer, but is logically not ready to compete in the race.
Beaugrand and Le Corre will be able to confirm their selection for the Olympic Games if they finish in the top six.
Other tricolors will also try to play leading roles, including Leo Berger, who took 4th place in Japan, despite the fact that he also fell on his bicycle. The 2022 world champion, who admitted on social media that he did not have ideal preparation due to pain after a fall and an intestinal virus, will face two of the circuit’s leaders. Britain’s Alex Yee, second at the Tokyo Olympics, and New Zealand’s Hayden Wild, third at the last Games, are returning to the circuit. Vincent Luis, ninth in Yokohama after a difficult 2023, will have to take a big hit to show he has his place in the selection.
Pierre Le Corre, already pre-qualified for the Games thanks to his performances in 2023, can secure qualification this Saturday if he finishes in the top six. The Montpellier native returns to Sardinia after recovering from a neck injury suffered in the winter.
The same challenge for the women will be faced by Cassandra Beaugrand, who finished second at the test competition in Paris last summer and has already passed the preliminary selection. “I’ve been training well, so I can’t wait to see what this season brings,” she said in a video posted by one of her sponsors and broadcast on social media this Friday.
She will be well surrounded by blues as Leonie Perio and Emma Lombardi will be present on the starting line. Her teammates had a great start to the season, finishing 1st and 3rd respectively at the WTCS in Yokohama, a historic result for the French team. A priori, unless there is a serious physical problem, these three should be present at the Olympic Games. We meet them at the start from 11 am this Saturday, the men will leave at 15:15.
Source: Le Parisien
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