And the “less than 50%” became 0%. Reduced by pain in the left Achilles tendon, Kevin Mayer had expressed, three days ago, his skepticism about his chances of going to the end of his decathlon at the World Championships in Budapest. A pessimism now confirmed in the acts since the Frenchman decided to say stop after only two contested events in the Hungarian capital. “Abandoning a decathlon is very difficult,” he confided to the microphone of France Television. “Every jump from the length I felt like it was over but I love this sport so much. I have no regrets, I give everything I have because I have a deep love for what I do, even if it’s difficult, even if I’m not Superman but just a simple human being sometimes caught up by his body. But I will do anything to be Superman in a year at the Olympics.”
Paris 2024, inevitably, was at the heart of his concerns, he who made it his absolute priority for the end of his career at 31 (he will be 32 at the time of the Games in eleven months). Out of the question for him to force, as he was able to do in the past, especially in Doha during the 2019 World Championships where he pushed the machine to the pole vault, the 8th event of the decathlon disputed the second day. A resilience and self-sacrifice that he had paid dearly for not being able to compete in another decathlon before December 2020. This time, to avoid a possible long period of healing-convalescence which would have greatly disrupted his preparation for Paris 2024, Kevin Mayer put his thumbs up in the long jump. The second of his ten works on the program.
A logical choice given his performance in the 100m – 10.79 – and over the length – 7.25m -, far from his usual standards, which meant that he was already more than 200 points behind in the other favorite for the world title, the Canadian Damian Warner. With the prize list which is his and the significant risk of aggravating his injury, there was therefore no longer any interest for the world record holder to continue this decathlon to hope at best to win a bronze medal. Even if, let’s face it, it would have been good for a France collective closer than ever to leave without the slightest podium in Budapest. One year from the Games, the balance sheet, inevitably, will be worrying and catastrophic.
But to his personal disappointment, Kevin Mayer was far from his collective considerations: “With the decathlon, we are experiencing incredible moments, positively or negatively,” he said. “My last 15 days have been very hard. I worked eight hours a day trying to be ready. I could have gone further in this decathlon, but I was really risking a big injury. I was inhibited, I wasn’t performing well. At some point, you have to admit defeat, take what there is to take and start again with a view to Paris 2024. It has not happened this year. Better today than a year from now.” A lucid observation, which however leaves athletics orphan of its only medal-winning gondola head.
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