On July 12, as Kevin Mayer quietly continued his preparation for the World Championships in Athletics in Budapest, he was clear on his priority: the 2024 Summer Olympics (OG). be a brake on Paris. From the moment I feel tension during the decathlon, I might stop when I would have usually continued, he explained to Le Monde. I don’t want to start the next preparation again with a debt. And even before, if I feel any tension, there will be discussions…”
A development with premonitory airs. For two weeks, the decathlon world champion has been suffering from the left Achilles tendon. On Friday August 25, pain forced him to give up defending his title after two events. He will not line up, from 12:20 p.m., in the shot put, the third of the ten labors of Hercules.
“I had a very difficult fortnight but I wasn’t giving up. I’m more tired than usual so much we worked to try to cure this pain, he explained after the announcement of his abandonment. I could have gone further, I would not have finished the decathlon and with a big injury. It would have been like Doha [in 2019], maybe worse. I was inhibited, I was not performing well. »
Then he projected himself on the sequel: “We must admit defeat, set off again for Paris next year. In July, he was already insisting on the importance of this meeting. “It’s going to be special. I will never endanger Paris, he insisted. If I arrive in full physical possession there, I know that I have a good chance of having all the weapons to be the best. »
Leader of the Blues in athletics
The prospect of imagining Kevin Mayer climbing the top step of an Olympic podium for the first time, after two second places in Rio and Tokyo, is enough to comfort any follower of an endearing, sensitive and cornerstone of a French athletics that depends so much on its performance.
Without him, the Blues would have left empty-handed the last two major international competitions: the 2021 Olympics, where Kevin Mayer was Olympic vice-champion and the only member of the tricolor delegation to stand on the podium; the world championships in Eugene (Oregon) in 2022, where he won gold and was, again, the only French medalist.
In Budapest, the French team was more than ever in this situation of dependence vis-à-vis its champion. Without its leader, it could be that it returns this time completely empty-handed. A situation she has not experienced since the 1983 and 1993 World Championships. Even if some hopes still rest on Rénelle Lamote in the 800 meters and perhaps the 4 x 400 m and 4 x 100 m relays, such a result would create some chaos one year from the home Games.
Tuesday, three days before his scheduled entry into the running, the decathlete from Drôme wanted to warn, at a press conference: “When my chances of finishing are below 50% success, I talk about my injuries. When it’s the other way around, I don’t talk about it. When I know it can be negative, I warn my followers. “Not yet defeatist, the tall blond then talks about time until the first start, Friday morning, and possible strap test to relieve his tendon. “It can do it,” he thinks, still calling himself “optimistic.”
There was no question for him of reliving the post-Doha 2019. During these world championships, he had pushed his body too far during a decathlon which he had not been able to achieve. finish, victim of a crack in the tendon of Achilles and a tear. An experience that left its mark. “I had taken until February to start running again. I never want it to happen to me before Paris,” he said.
In Hungary, he started his competition timidly with a time of 10.79 over 100 meters, his personal best dates from 2019 in 10.50 seconds. His coach Alexandre Bonacorsi was hardly reassured, explaining, behind the scenes, that his athlete and childhood friend was bothered by the pain.
In the long jump, the disturbance of the world record holder seemed even more obvious. On several occasions, Mayer grimaced and hobbled out of the sandbox. Reduced, he managed 7.25m, 15 centimeters from his best performance of the season and even further from the best decathletes in this second event.
The Drôme bet, only 16th in the standings, seemed at that time more and more compromised. And a few minutes later, the bad feeling was confirmed: Kevin Mayer left it at that. He wasn’t even able to make it through that first day.
Learn to deal with pain
Before he entered the race, the choice was clear, and he was not in favor of these 2023 world championships. “If I had to miss a competition, I choose Budapest. I know that I can last in time. I have the tools to last and still be world champion later, “he relativized. Especially since it has already been twice, in London in 2017 and in Eugene in 2022. There was no miracle on the Nemzeti Atlétikai Központ, the sports arena in the Hungarian capital.
In July, Kevin Mayer had drawn up an inventory of his state of health: “My left Achilles tendon bothered me at the end of March. We managed it well and I don’t have any more pain. In Paris [during the meeting triathlon at the Charléty stadium], I had a little tension in the hamstring that we have been managing a lot since. “He also explained his relationship to these pains which are part of his vocation as a decathlete, with which one must learn to deal, and to his way of managing his body, at 31, to last over time.
“I need a lot less technical practice than before, I have a good technical command of the events. We do more according to physical tensions, he developed. My athletic preparation isn’t crazy because I haven’t done a lot of athletics. On the other hand, my physical preparation is really good. I did everything to avoid tension and I took no risks. I have more physical than last year. »
Kevin Mayer was unable to demonstrate this in Budapest. Pain and perhaps wisdom prevailed. Who will still think of this missed meeting if he triumphs in a year at the Stade de France? It’s up to him to find the right formula to present himself in great shape in Paris.