He had not hung a bib since August 2023. Decathlon world record holder Kevin Mayer did not finish his 60 meters, Saturday February 17, during the French indoor athletics championships, in Miramas (Bouches-du -Rhône). He had to stop his effort before the finish, due to a “strain in the ischio”.
Double world champion, twice Olympic silver medalist, Kevin Mayer is competing in his first competition on Saturday since the World Championships in Budapest, where he retired due to a painful Achilles tendon. Engaged in the heptathlon, he was to take part in four of the seven events this weekend.
During the first of them – the 60 m, therefore – he slowed down after around forty meters. “I’m working a lot at the moment and I stupidly sprained myself a little on Wednesday while walking in a holehe explained. I come here in training and I told myself that even if I only did 40 meters, it would be 40 meters in the legs. »
Not yet qualified for the Games
It’s just a soreness. “But since it’s the ischium that has already broken three times in my career, when I have a stiffness, it’s difficult to go all out”, he clarified. Kevin Mayer is expected to compete later in the weightlifting competition and, on Sunday, in the pole vault. On the other hand, he should not start the 60m hurdles as initially planned.
The 32-year-old athlete has not completed a decathlon since his world title in July 2022, and has therefore not, for the moment, achieved the minimums required for the Olympic Games. He had once thought of going to Australia to do so, but preferred to postpone the deadline until the end of March in San Diego, in the United States.