French skier Nicolas Gestin, 23, became world vice-champion in slalom on Friday in the 2012 Olympic basin at Lee Valley in north London, nine months before the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
Nicolas Gestin had a flawless run in 98 sec 58/100 in the final and failed just over a second behind Slovenian Benjamin Savsek (97.40), reigning Olympic champion. He was ahead of the Italian Paolo Ceccon (98.90) by a few tenths of a second, who completed the podium in third place.
“The good thing is that I have worked all year to produce the navigation on the terminal deadline, I do not fully realize it because it is the money, but I take it with great smile,” commented the céist from Quimperlé.
Qualified for the final with the eighth time in the semi-finals (the first ten advance to the final), the Breton set off at the start of the final and had to wait very long minutes before the podium was delivered.
If it secures France the place for the Olympic Games in 2024, it will still have to fight internally to win the nominative place, with an important test in two weeks in the Vaires-sur-Marne basin (October 5-8) which will host the canoe-kayak events at the Games next year in the east of the Paris region.
“There is Paris coming, we all have that in mind when we get up in the morning. The guy in front is strong, I will be keen to go and get him next year, for sure,” he added.
In passing, he brings an Olympic qualification quota to France in men’s C1. Just like Marjorie Delassus, tenth in the women’s final.
A traditionally strong event for the French team at the Olympic Games, the single-seater canoe slalom has brought France four Olympic titles since 2000 (Tony Estanguet in 2000 in Sydney, 2004 in Athens and 2012 in London, and Denis Gargaud in 2016 in Rio).