Olympic champion, double world champion, Knight of the Legion of Honor… Shall we continue? At 24, Dorian Foulon already has a more than nice track record. And the paracyclist is only at the beginning of his reign, since he has only one desire: to collect the medals at the Paralympic Games in Paris, in 2024, in front of all his relatives. Master of the individual pursuit, he also aims to get on the box during road events.
But one of Dorian Foulon’s main objectives is also to one day win a major amateur race among the able-bodied. Yes, because the man, born with a club foot which causes him to lose a loss of power in his left leg of around 50%, has long been used to running among the able-bodied. And, eventually, we could even see it at the Olympic and Paralympic Games. A machine, we told you.
With five medals, and two titles, at the Worlds in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, you have taken your marks for the Olympic Games, which will take place in the same velodrome…
Yes, it went really well, even better than I imagined. It was a bit of a life-size rehearsal a year and a half before the Games. It was also the first time that my loved ones could go to a major competition, I took my bearings, like all my opponents, but above all gaining the mental advantage over them. It was a bit of an unforgettable week, I didn’t understand everything that was going on, because I hadn’t anticipated all these results.
Is there extra pressure when you’re undefeated in individual pursuit?
Since my first world champion title, in 2020, I have never been beaten. It is true that it is a pressure. Already, during the Worlds in Paris, I had it because I was world champion, Olympic champion, world record holder in the discipline, I was at home. So I was eagerly awaited. Of course it’s hard to manage, but I’m lucky to be well supervised and I put things into perspective. I take pleasure above all and I try to minimize the event. A chase is a bit like you against yourself, even if you have an opponent in front of you, you are fighting against the clock. As I have benchmarks, I still have a little lead over my opponents, even if, today, I am a target. Their goal is to beat me. Mine is to push my own limits to aim for the top and try to beat my world record.
Are you focused on the track a year and a half before the Games?
In fact, at the world cycling championships, which will take place in Scotland at the end of August, there will be all the disciplines which will be grouped together in the same place, whether valid or disabled, track or road. So, me, I will have the track the first week, and the road, the second. It’s the same format as the Games, so another life-size rehearsal. My goal is to stay at the same level on the track, while trying to come and get podiums, even the most beautiful of medals, on the road.
How do you reconcile the two?
It’s all about management. In a more or less normal season, the track is in winter, and from February to September, it is the road. As, with the Games, everything is grouped together, the preparation is quite complex. But, today, you have to know that the pursuit, which is over 4 km, is very close to the time trial, even if it’s not the same time of effort and some things change, you can still work both. On the other hand, in a discipline like road racing where there will be a much longer distance, it requires in-depth work, so it encroaches a little on both.
What is your medal objective for the Paris Games?
At the Paralympic Games, there will not be the same number of medals as at the world championships. There will be the pursuit and the kilometer, that’s all. The kilometer, I don’t really know yet if I will do it, because there are specialists. And, if I medal at the Worlds, it’s because a specialist was missing. Is it really worth doing this event with little chance of medals and encroaching on the road, accumulating fatigue? My objective is really the individual pursuit, to keep my title, to try to go for gold in the time trial on the road and to seek a podium in the road race. So my ambitious goal is three medals.
Do you manage to project yourself on these Games in Paris?
It’s something huge. Already, to participate in the Games is the project of a lifetime, and not everyone can achieve it. So, as an athlete, to have the opportunity to participate in Games within your country, it’s something incredible, and that’s why I don’t want to miss them, because it happens every hundred years. I’m going to be in my prime at that time, so I’m putting a little pressure on myself, but everything is there for me to perform.
I experienced the Tokyo Games without my relatives and my staff, so it was very hard to live with. So I can’t wait to return the favor and experience these emotions alongside them in Paris. We will have a crowd of spectators and we, Paralympic athletes, we don’t often have the chance to experience that. Even for Worlds, it’s almost empty. There, I know it won’t be empty, and it will boost me. »
Can you already imagine yourself singing La Marseillaise after a title in pursuit?
We can still imagine it a little, in the evening, when you are thinking. But, if that happens, I don’t know if I’ll be able to sing it. Already being alone, on the other side of the world, it was difficult to finish it, there, it would be something unforgettable. But I do everything to get there and achieve my dreams. Hard work always pays off.
You will also run with the able-bodied. What does this bring you?
Basically, I was born with a club foot, and I started with a valid course, I had no knowledge of this disabled sport environment. So, until cadet, I was with the able-bodied, with results. And that’s how I was spotted, how I was told about the Tokyo project, with the integration into the para-cycling hopefuls pole. I always wanted, and had the ambition, to go professional, because it was my childhood dream. I turned my disability into a strength. So, when I’m with the able-bodied, it puts me “in difficulty”, but it also allows me to push my limits and continue to progress with a higher level. That’s why I want to run with the able-bodied, it’s my choice. I had the chance to participate in the Tour de l’Avenir in 2019, which is a mini Tour de France, and I was the first Paralympic to do so. But in my category, some foreigners are professionals in able-bodied Continental (3rd category).
Do you still have the ambition to sign pro in a valid team?
This was the case last year, after Tokyo, because I wanted to devote myself to able-bodied people. Except that I had several problems in my life as an athlete, with six very complicated months, so I could not express my full potential. And, today, my goal is Paris 2024 and I don’t want to miss it. After Paris, why not, but the professionals who perform well among the able-bodied are younger and younger. And me, I’ll be 26, and it’s getting a bit old to turn pro. But I don’t close any doors. And I will continue to run among the able-bodied. My dream is always to win a big amateur race. I have already made top 5, you always have to believe in it.
In the able-bodied peloton, what is the reaction of the runners when they see you?
When I was younger, the look was a bit complicated. Some told me that I was not handicapped because I beat them. So there was a period when I wanted to hide my handicap. And when I started to perform in disabled sport, from 2016-2017, people started to understand and became aware of this handicap. And there, I was entitled to reflections of the kind: “Fortunately you don’t have two legs like us, otherwise you would blow us up. The look has changed, and I’m indirectly proud of that. So people are quite admiring of that.
You will run among the able-bodied on the road, is the gap too big for you to do the same on the track?
Today, I am in the French top 8 in individual pursuit among the able-bodied. And I have this somewhat secret ambition to do the team pursuit. I already had the chance to do an internship with the France team a year ago and, today, they follow me, I can interest them. Paris is too close, but why not in Los Angeles, if I’m still performing well and there are places opening up, my ambition would be to take part in the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. There is this possibility, I work for, I would have to reduce my time to be able to integrate this collective.
With the operations you had at birth, does it work to recover power in your left leg?
I did a lot of proprioceptions, already for a question of balance. Afterwards, working on one leg, it happens to me, but I will never be able to bridge this difference between the two legs. I can’t even lower it. As I practiced, the difference between the two legs got bigger. The problem of the relievers means that I will never be able to compensate for this handicap.
There is a specific work to work the maximum number of muscles. I am followed at this level, I also have a podiatric follow-up to have shoes made to measure, molded to my foot by a craftsman, because I have five sizes of difference between the two feet. I have a whole setting with shims. If I sit on a bike like a traditional cyclist, my knee goes completely outside, so does the pelvis. »
What structure accompanies you today?
I joined the para-cycling hope center, a structure of the French Handisport Federation. I stayed there until Tokyo. Now, I am in a pole in the Basque Country, in a top region for cycling, in a house rented by the Federation, where I was also able to follow my studies at the same time. Now I am also in the Army of Champions, in the Joinville battalion and I am lucky to be able to be paid and to be discharged 100% for the practice of my sport. And, lately, I joined teams, like the EDF team to prepare myself as well as possible. These are private partners who will support me and finance me in particular preparatory courses abroad, which are numerous.