At 33, the Frenchman Pierre Le Corre is part of the gratin of the world triathlon, and has just won his first victory on a stage of the World Triathlon Championship Series (WTCS) in Sunderland (UK). “I’m happy to finally be able to do it. I manage it better today with experience and maturity. It might have been more complicated to grasp if I had arrived there younger. There, I live it very well “.
It lines up next week on the test event in Paris, a year before the Games on the Olympic course and is aiming for a top 3 there, synonymous with qualification for the 2024 Olympics. next week, it’s to obtain the qualification”, he confides to 20 minutes. And even if the quality of the water of the Seine is a very palpable apprehension, Pierre Le Corre prefers to concentrate the effervescence which rises a year from the Games at home.
Three weeks before test event Olympic Games in Paris, you win a victory over the WTCS (World Triathlon Championship Series), what does it mean to you?
Yes I waited a bit but at least I know what it costs to get there, to win a stage on the world circuit. I feel good, I’m getting in shape. And this victory obviously bodes well for the test event. Even if the competition is fierce and in triathlon, from one week to the next, anything can happen. Either way, I’m going with confidence.
Is this your first competition in the French capital?
I have already participated in the division 1 grand prix, almost in the same place in the Seine, about ten years ago. Coming back to it still generates apprehension, so don’t kid yourself. The Seine is far from being turquoise sea water. Both times after swimming there at the time, I had been vomiting at the end of the run and had a bloated stomach for several days. But that was over ten years ago.
Since then, there have been many announcements made by politicians assuring that it would be much cleaner and cleaned, depolluted. I am waiting to see. But it is sure that on this test event in the S, with the same course as for the Olympic competition an audience and encouragement on a home event.iathlon; editor’s note), where it had rained a lot before the competition. The rainwater had flowed into the river, which itself flowed into the inlet where we swam. It could also happen in Paris, as was the case for the open water World Cup stage in early August.
How do you manage this constant uncertainty about water quality as a top triathlete?
Most of the time, we are lucky to have great racing sites, which are by the sea, in summer vacation spots, on the shores of lakes with rather clean water. And then, there are about a third of the races that take place in the big cities and there, the swimming part is very different: we don’t even see our arms, it’s blurry. And then sometimes, even seeing the samples and the analyzes where everything is OK, it is a little hard to believe.
There’s not much to do except take probiotics, chlorine tablets. For example, for the test event in Paris, we are going to swallow chlorine tablets. It is not an obligation but in view of recent analyzes of the Seine, I think it is better to take some. Afterwards, the problem is that there is always a delay between the analyzes and the results. So I will trust the analyzes but I will remain apprehensive. I’m used to going there, not asking myself too many questions during the competition. We are sufficiently taken by the pressure of the race and then we adapt, it’s part of our sport.
How do you approach this test event ? Like a rehearsal for 2024? Are you leaving with the favorite tag?
Let’s say I have a place among the favorites, that’s for sure. I am one of the few triathletes who can win or at least get on the podium in Paris next week. And arriving at a competition at home in this costume is so good, there are more expectations, more excitement. I feel it, especially from my family and friends. They dream of a good performance at home.
More than a rehearsal, I aim above all for Olympic qualification. Before rehearsing, you have to be qualified and for the moment, this is not the case. So I’m more focused on this competition as a one-shot : I’m going there to be as efficient as possible, to pass the Olympic qualification criteria, that is to say to take one of the first three places in this test event. And if I take part in the Paris Games in 2024, I would have the advantage of having spotted the route beforehand and of having already tested it. In the viewfinder, it is the Olympic qualifier. For this edition, there is no discretionary criteria.
Is there a particular flavor to competing in Paris in triathlon?
It’s quite nice to have the Eiffel Tower in background but I think I’m more attached to a good triathlon in Quiberon or La Baule. Paris is not a good place for triathlons because there are too many dangers: cobblestones, pieces of glass, pollution, water quality, etc… Besides, we French people don’t We don’t even have the advantage of this competition at home: with the traffic, it’s impossible to recognize the course upstream. The road must be closed to train safely.
What makes the difference, however, is knowing that the Games will be in Paris. The excitement created is enormous and in fact it is this reason that increases the excitement around the test eventwith the same course as for the Olympic competition, an audience and encouragement on a home event.
Do we have an extra soul to get this qualification when we lived the last Games, as a substitute?
Let’s just say it relieves me of some pressure. I did Rio, I was a substitute in Tokyo so I know both scenarios. I’m more laid back. If I have the chance to be part of the French team for the Paris Olympics, I am ready to live a very exciting pre-Olympic year, with many media requests, sponsors, to make the most of it because that only happens once in a lifetime. To qualify for 2024, I take it as an opportunity to seize, but if I don’t succeed, it won’t change my life.