Back off to better blow up ? French decathlete Kevin Mayer, one of the best chances of a French medal for the Paris Games, announced on Wednesday that he would ultimately not participate in the event scheduled for Brisbane (Australia) this weekend, as a precaution. , and that he was pushing back his goal of Olympic qualification for the Olympics to the end of March.
“It was the first option, the most comfortable, but also the most reckless, because I went out [des Mondiaux] from Budapest [fin août] hurt “explained the double Olympic silver medalist, during a videoconference in Brisbane, where he has been training for several weeks.
The abandonment of Mayer, 31, caught by a painful Achilles tendon, during the decathlon of the World Championships in Budapest, had prevented him from achieving the Olympic minimums, in this case a total of 8,460 points.
“A little premature to do high-intensity hurdles”
The double world decathlon champion spoke on Wednesday of the residue of discomfort in a hip tendon dating from Budapest, after being “badly fallen to length”. “We did the last test [mardi] to the hedges. I didn’t have any pain, but there was a lot of apprehension. Clearly, there is no huge alert,” but “it’s a little premature to do high-intensity hurdles”he explained. “I would not have been reasonable if I had done the decathlon, it would have taken another month or two, we will give it to each other. It is the choice of reason”Mayer continued.
His route to Paris will take a new detour, in San Diego, California, at the end of March (21 to 23). “Honestly, it’s quite comfortable to say that I’m three months old. And March is very early in the season, it will have no impact on the Olympics themselves. I am quite calm with this choice” instead of “rush to the first decathlon that arrives”he estimated.
His last completed decathlon dates back to July 2022, at the World Championships in Eugene (Oregon, United States), the scene of his second world champion title, after that of 2017, in London.