At the Worlds in Fukuoka (Japan), while Léon Marchand takes all the light, Damien Joly continues to swim, in the shadows. “The middle distance is less spectacular than sprinting, so less media coverage,” sums up the 800m and 1,500m freestyle specialist. It’s not easy to find a place. And this, despite the thirteen national titles he won in his flagship events between 2013 and 2023.

The start of the world swimming championships does not plead in its favor. Despite a personal best in the 800m freestyle series (7 min 47 s 44), Tuesday July 25, Damien Joly did not qualify for the final. Above all, he hoped for better at a distance that he continues to work. ” I am disgusted. I’m disappointed because I don’t have the world level. Coming here, I thought I was really better. »

And for good reason. The athlete had a 2022 season that he described as “exceptional” and during which he won his first two international medals. Second in the 1,500m at the Short Course World Championships in Melbourne (Australia) in December 2022, and a French record at the key (14 min 19 s 62), the 31-year-old swimmer, leader of the tricolor swimmers over these distances, continues to improve over time.

A new personal organization

“It’s a great reward after all these years of work,” he says. We didn’t do all this for nothing. Despite my age, I continue to progress, which is very motivating. A few months earlier, on August 16, 2022, at the European Long Course Championships in Rome, Damien Joly had won bronze in the 1,500m, “a medal he was not hoping for”.

A change in dimension that was accompanied by a new personal organization. In 2022, Damien Joly made the decision to leave to train with the Italian Stefano Morini, in Livorno. Since 2017, this hard worker had been preparing under the orders of Philippe Lucas, in Martigues (Bouches-du-Rhône), in his native region. “I didn’t feel like continuing for another two years [before the start of the Olympics] with Philippe Lucas, he concedes. I had gone around [his method] and I was at the maximum of what I could do. »

Alongside Stefano Morini, a trainer he knew during training courses, Damien Joly finds pleasure and results. No more high-intensity sessions – he swims 10 kilometers less per week – the technician emphasizes weight training and variations in pace. “With Philippe Lucas, I was at full speed all the time and I was very tired”, admits the one who now meets in training the 2017 world champion in the 800m, the Italian Gabriele Detti.

This working method is not necessarily “easier”, believes Damien Joly, who assumes his choice: “It was the right time to change the environment. I have acquired sufficient maturity to know which sessions to invest in and to better manage my recovery. Double champion of France last June in Rennes in the 800m and 1,500m, the swimmer remains the national benchmark for middle-distance swimming. The 800m final – a distance that still suffers from a lack of prestige – was one of the toughest in the history of French swimming, with seven swimmers under 7:54. “If I was able to participate in the craze for the middle distance, I’m happy,” says Joly.

During the French championships, the native of Ollioules (Var) said his admiration for several young swimmers who could take over. Among them, Pacome Bricout, 18, double bronze medalist in Rennes (800m and 1,500m), whom Joly met when he passed his sports instructor certificate in swimming. “I trained him in Antibes,” he recalls. He already had qualities but he has improved a lot in the last two years. »

Tuesday, for his first Worlds, Damien Joly felt very alone against the best swimmers in the world. He was the only tricolor representative – as in the only Olympic final in which he participated, over 1,500 m, in Rio, in 2016. A configuration he has encountered throughout his career and which he easily justifies : “In France, we are a little behind. We have fewer coaches specializing in the middle distance than elsewhere, “especially China, Australia or Italy.

A systemic weakness which explains the starving results of France at the international level. Apart from Laure Manaudou, Olympic (in 2004 in Athens) and world (in 2007 in Melbourne) vice-champion in the 800m, only David Aubry has achieved a feat over this distance (3? at the Worlds in Gwangju, South Korea). South, in 2019). The latter also left France for Italy in September 2022 and will compete in the 1,500m in Fukuoka (the heats, semi-finals and final will take place on July 29 and 30).

Paris 2024, “ultimate objective”

For Damien Joly, the Worlds will be used to assess his progress, after a year of work with Stefano Morini and in view of the Olympic Games. “It’s not easy to change everything,” he says. I don’t want to go too far, but I don’t think I’ve ever been faster over 1500m. The Varois hopes to be at his best at Paris 2024, the “ultimate objective” of his end of career. “My previous medals are incredible memories, but the Games remain above all else. »

Before dreaming of the Olympics, Damien Joly will already have to win his ticket. In 2021, with a time of 14:59 in the 1,500m, he missed qualifying for Tokyo 2021 by just two seconds. “It was very difficult to digest, especially since I had achieved the minima of the international federation, but not those of the French federation”, which were more demanding. This time, the Frenchman will have one more chance of a medal because the men’s 800m has also become an Olympic event, since Tokyo. “I did everything I could to succeed, whether in my head or in training. I am always looking for medals and titles. »

An ambition that will be easier to envisage with a good performance in the 1,500m freestyle in Fukuoka. The series of this event will take place on the night of Friday to Saturday (Paris time). “There, I have no choice, I have to be in the final. It is not possible otherwise. »