“A disappointment of course”: the French were eliminated in the first round of the team speed tournament at the Track Cycling Worlds on Thursday in Glasgow, a “pesky” setback a year before the Paris Olympics. Mathilde Gros, reigning individual speed world champion, Marie-Divine Kouamé, crowned in the 500m in 2022, and Julie Michaux only achieved the ninth time on this first day of the “Super Worlds” in Scotland. By completing the three laps in 47.628, they finished more than a second and a half behind Great Britain, the fastest time.
“It’s a disappointment of course. These are the last World Championships before the Olympics, it was important to score points against our opponents,” commented Grégory Baugé, sprint coach for the France team. “It’s annoying too,” he added, because these Worlds are an important step on the road to Olympic qualification after a complex two-year process. To compete in the Games at home next year, the tricolor trio must join the World Top 8.
“The qualification is over two years. There remains a European Championship and three rounds of the Nations Cup to score points next year”, assured Baugé who remains “optimistic” about the presence of the trio in Paris 2024, otherwise “I will not even be come to see you”.
Poor relative of the French track, the women’s speed team is in reconstruction after years of dormancy. She failed to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and had already been eliminated in the first round of the 2022 World Cup in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines where the Paris Games will take place. “Our fault is that we are a young team compared to our opponents. But it’s a pity. We couldn’t come close to our record of 47.1, even though I insisted on it. It is in our habits for the moment to start the tournament like that”, regretted Grégory Baugé.
