Can relays save French sprinting? – Technologist

At first glance, the French sprinting scene looks rather bleak. At the beginning of the summer, the “old” stars stepped aside. At the end of June, 34-year-old Christophe Lemaitre announced his retirement. Also in decline, Jimmy Vicaut was not selected for the Olympic Games. This is the first time since London 2012 that an Olympic adventure has taken place without one of the two French prodigies.

In another “first” since the 1932 Olympics, France did not field a single sprinter in the flagship athletics event, the men’s 100m. While 20-year-old Jeff Erius had achieved the minimum Olympic levels, his solid time of 9.98 seconds, which he reached on July 19, in the southern French town of Albi, at the French under-23 championships, was clocked three weeks too late.

On the track at the Stade de France venue, Pablo Matéo neither made it past the first round nor the second-chance round of the 200m events. Ryan Zézé, a repechage winner, failed to make the semi-finals. In the women’s category, Gémima Joseph was eliminated in the first round of the 100m and in the semi-finals of the 200m events. No Frenchwoman has run under 11 seconds on the track since Muriel Hurtis, in 2002.

Yet amid this gloomy picture, there may be a glimmer of hope with the women’s and men’s 4×100m events. Because relays, with their strange combination of handing over a baton while sprinting at 30 km/h, are not just a matter of adding up individual times. It’s all about finding the right balance and building a team in a sporting discipline renowned for its egos. It’s also a question of opportunism, at events in which disqualifications are not uncommon and can occasionally lead to a podium finish.

For over two years now, Richard Cursaz, who was appointed to take charge of the men’s relay team following the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, has been working hard to, as he put it, “prepare to seize an opportunity.” His goal is, “of course,” a podium finish, although he was well aware that all the planets would have to align in his favor.

Quite a challenge

Over the past two years, the coach, faced with the “end of a generation,” has made “the bet of putting his trust in young people.” He is convinced that the relay has been going in “the right direction.” Recent results would appear to support his view. Despite the absence of the former top athletes, the French team’s third place, behind the US and Canada, at the World Athletics Relays, in the Bahamas in May, not only qualified them for the Olympics, but also gave them some confidence.

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