In twelve months, Erwan Konaté from Amiens won two gold medals at the world junior athletics championships: in Nairobi (Kenya), in August 2021, and in Cali (Colombia) this summer. After having won everything in the junior category, the long jump specialist (personal best at 8.12 m) is one of the great hopes of French athletics for the 2024 Olympics in Paris. He evokes the pressure that weighs on his shoulders, but also the pleasure that guides his career.
What personal assessment do you make of the year 2022?
She was constructive and she allowed me to grow! It has been a complicated year despite my second world junior title in August. I could have done better in terms of performance. Many factors bothered me: all the stress that can come from personal life, sporting expectations, partners, and also from the media.
You hadn’t jumped over 8 meters all season. In the final of the Worlds in Cali, you land at 8.08m to be titled. Is this the mark of champions?
You can jump 8.60 meters all year round and completely miss a competition. It’s important as an athlete to be consistent. I would have liked to do 8 meters before, but I had small blockages that I managed to erase with the help of a mental trainer. I managed to better understand my competition and get the right jump at the right time.
Was it difficult to realize at your young age that you needed help?
It’s never easy. There is always this little music where we say to ourselves: “I know how to manage myself very well. » In fact, we all need help. We worked a few sessions with this mental trainer. It allowed me to understand the reactions that my body could have in competition. I thought : “I’m not going to bite [la planche]I will not bite”… except that the brain has trouble assimilating the negation. He prefers positive turns. I went from “I’m not going to bite” to “I’m going to make a beautiful plank”. I even wrote it on a poster above my bed during the Worlds.
You are double junior world champion. However, during the qualifications for the French junior championships in July, you almost got eliminated from the start, before being titled. Is this a useful reminder?
Yes, I was aiming to make big jumps at these championships. I made some, but they were all bitten. For me, there was also the difficulty of having less competition and I need that to go further.
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