On the eve of the end of the World Para-Athletics Championships, the Blues did not bring another medal to France on Sunday, and will have “details to correct” to hope for better at the Games.
Following the elimination of the French during the 4×100 m relay on Sunday morning, the time was not yet in the sporting record. But while France occupies 55th place in the medal table (four bronze medals) before the last day on Monday, it is clear that there will be work to do just over a year from the Games.
And for good reason, “we are world champion in 5th place!”, Noted Guy Ontanon, performance manager of the France team, referring to the 11 times his team reached this ranking, which is obviously not synonymous with neither a medal nor a quota for the Games. “It’s not enough, we can’t be satisfied with something like that. I did not come for that”, he added, he who has been in office since August 2022.
Guy Ontanon praised “a team that lives well and a supportive staff”, but also knows that it will be necessary “to learn from everything that has happened” sportingly and to correct “details to be better”.
This Sunday was a new white day for the France team. After Angelina Lanza’s 6th place in the T47 long jump (athletes amputated or assimilated with an upper limb) in the morning, Antoine Praud could not do better than a 10th place in the 1500m T46 final.
“A bit of a disappointment, I came to play a Top 8,” conceded the young 19-year-old half-back. “When it accelerated, I completely stalled. Hard in breathing, hard in the legs… necessarily it gives a somewhat complicated race.
Same results for Vitolio Kavaka in the shot put final in the F57 category, bringing together wheelchair athletes. More comfortable in javelin throwing (where he finished 5th), the Frenchman nevertheless shattered his personal best with a throw at 13.32 m. He placed 8th. Alice Métais and Nantenin Keita managed to secure their place in the final of the 400m T13 (visual impairment not requiring a guide in the race) in the morning.
On the other hand, it’s over for Julien Casoli and Thibault Daurat in the 800 m T54 (wheelchair races). The two French did not qualify for the final. “With the coach, we will work well, do everything to be there at the Games. The objective is to redo a final at the Games.