New blood at Bleues. Still and always. Whatever the context – it is one of his habits – the coach of the French women’s handball team, Olivier Krumbholz does not hesitate to throw young players into the deep end. This is again the case for the World Cup, which is currently taking place in Spain.
At 25 and 22, respectively, Alicia Toublanc and Lucie Granier are living their first major international meeting. Without complex, the two pocket wings (1.68 m and 1.67 m) make a promising start to the competition, bringing freshness to the Blue in a sector of play where they lacked some impact.
Brick by brick, Olivier Krumbholz is expanding his bench, already one of the richest in this world tournament, with the ulterior motive of building a competitive team for the Olympic Games (Olympics) in Paris in 2024, his last big goal. During the three matches of the preliminary round, the France team is one of those who have made the most rotations. “The quality of our bench is our great strength. This is what allows us to finish the matches strong ”, insists the coach.
Such “wealth” allowed the France team to manage the post-Olympic period relatively calmly, the tournament in Tokyo having been very trying, leaving traces in bodies and minds. So much so that, in addition to the retirements taken by some of the historic players, several executives asked to be exempted from international meetings for four months.
Aware of the wear and tear of his troops, Olivier Krumbholz agreed that these executives would not participate at the start of the qualifying campaign for Euro 2022. Without them, the two matches played in October against the Czech Republic and Ukraine would be ended in victories, and in particular allowed Alicia Toublanc and Lucie Granier to start with Les Bleues.
This flexibility in the management of the team seems to pay today because the executives were able to rest and the Blue ones can count on their new recruits, when other teams accumulate the injuries: at the end of the preliminary round, the team of France has three convincing victories (against Angola, Slovenia and Montenegro).
The Krumbholz method
Flexibility and firmness, a summary of the Krumbholz method? In almost twenty years at the head of the France team, only interrupted between 2013 and 2016 by his dismissal after the failure at the London Olympics, Olivier Krumbholz has known everything. His record is eloquent: Olympic champion in Tokyo (2021), world champion (2003 and 2017), European champion (2018) and seven other international podiums.
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