the blue wave conquering Rome
[ad_1]
In June, in the pool of the Duna Arena in Budapest (Hungary), a blue wave took shape during the world swimming championships. With eight medals, including two gold, the French team, which had known a low tide at the Tokyo Olympics in the summer of 2021 (a single medal, in silver), had proved that it could hope – again – to compete with the great nations of this sport.
From Thursday August 11, during the European championships, which take place in Rome (until August 21), French swimmers are determined to show that this June wave was not just a ripple. If the management of the France team is cautious when discussing the objectives of medals, the ambition is however to do as well, if not better than the performance signed at the Worlds.
“We don’t have in mind the number of medals to be achieved “, assures Jacco Verhaeren, the Dutchman who was appointed director of the French teams after the Tokyo Olympics in order to restore momentum to tricolor swimming.
“It’s still a tough competition”
“Expectations are always the samecontinues the one who had led the Pieter van den Hoogenband phenomenon in the 2000s. It’s about improving swimming and setting the best time of the season in a major championship. In Rome we will be on a whole different level [qu’aux Mondiaux], with less competitiveness, but it is still a tough competition”.
One of the first difficulties will be to (re) swim in competition, just over a month after the end of the Worlds. The sequence is unique. The Blues had to compose so as not to lose the rhythm.
“The complexity was to maintain the form of the swimmers, but there was no new preparation”explains Michel Chrétien, trainer at the National Institute of Sport, Expertise and Performance (INSEP), in Paris.
The program has adjusted. Four days of rest, a return to INSEP and a week of cohesion in Vichy (Allier) to train and work on team dynamics. For now, all the lights are green: the tests showed that they had kept their level of performance », assures the technician.
So, inevitably, everyone hopes to stay in Rome on the same dynamic as in Budapest. “If so, it suggests a few podiums for some”comments Michel Chrétien.
Youth in the spotlight
Led by Maxime Grousset and Marie Wattel, the Blues will however have to deal with the absence of three potential providers of medals. Florent Manaudou (silver medalist in Tokyo in the 50m freestyle) and Mélanie Hénique (vice-world champion in Budapest in the 50m butterfly) have decided to skip it, as has Léon Marchand, double world champion in the 200 and 400 meter medley, vice-world champion in the 200 meter butterfly.
You have 47.52% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.
[ad_2]
Source link
