Headliner of French athletics, decathlete Kevin Mayer, “confident”, tries Thursday and Friday in San Diego (California) to qualify for the Paris Olympic Games (July 26 – August 11), and to reassure his physical state.
“There are regular tensions in Kevin’s body, we will see the day of the competition, but all the lights are green,” assured his trainer Alexandre Bonacorsi during a press point on Tuesday. After his retirement from the World Championships in Budapest last summer (painful left Achilles tendon), Mayer has not completed a decathlon since his second world title acquired in July 2022 in Eugene (United States).
The world record holder and double Olympic vice-champion is still not qualified for the Paris Games, the goal of a lifetime for the headliner of a French athletics team that has been in difficulty for several years. . “In this Olympic year, Kevin is different, I find him much more serene than in previous years. He can look back more easily on his genes. He is very calm, very serene, whereas one might have expected the opposite, pressure, panic. He has the right approach,” believes Bonacorsi.
In San Diego, Mayer must score at least 8,460 points to qualify. A formality, for an athlete of his caliber, world record holder with 9,126 points in September 2018. The only question concerns his physique, always a sensitive subject for the Frenchman. Mayer had given up on a first qualifying decathlon in Brisbane (Australia) in December, not ready enough due to injuries in the summer of 2023. This winter, he had competed on the edge in a few heptathlon events at the French Championships in room.
“After the French Championships in Miramas he was frustrated. He was tired but wanted to confront. He was not in great shape, that was agreed, that was normal,” assures Bonacorsi. “Kevin is confident, he has completed several months of training without any major brakes, without any physical problems. He has felt himself making steady progress over the last four months since Brisbane. We had time to train on the ten decathlon events with big work cycles.” In the event of failure in San Diego, Mayer would have until June 30 to validate his Olympic qualification.
“We will not take big (physical) risks in San Diego, we will see in real time. There will be plans B, C, D, E, F if necessary, until June 30. In Kevin’s head, if he has to qualify for the French Championships (June 29 and 30) to be calm with his body, he will be able to do it. Getting rid of the minimums in San Diego would, however, be more comfortable for Mayer, with four months to prepare for the Olympics, for him who has not completed two decathlons in the same year since 2016.
“Qualifying is not what he likes the most but he did it in Götzis (Austria) in 2016, in Reunion in 2020 (for Tokyo-2021), he has no choice, he must go,” adds the coach. The competition, a priori without any other international level athlete, promises to be very calm, being scheduled for the week before the real university meeting of the “Aztecs” in San Diego on Saturday. Far from the announced madness of the Paris Games with a full stadium supporting its cause for two days.
