Frenchwoman Mathilde Gros during keirin qualifications at the Glasgow World Championships (Scotland), August 5, 2023. OLI SCARFF / AFP
“In Paris last year, we felt like we had wings. » World speed champion, in October 2022, on the velodrome of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, Mathilde Gros fell from her pedestal, Tuesday August 8, at the Worlds in Glasgow (Scotland). Eliminated in the quarter-finals by the German Lea Sophie Friedrich, the 24-year-old Provençale embodies the inability of French cyclists to confirm the results obtained at the last cycling world championships. “It’s not at all the same atmosphere here. We feel the difference. Running at home, it galvanizes”she told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Tuesday.
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Hard to fault him. On the French tracks, the Blues had gleaned seven medals, including three in gold (3ᵉ best nation). Above all, the tricolor selection confirmed real progress – France was the 4th nation in 2021 in Roubaix (6 medals, including 2 in gold) and the 6th in Berlin in 2020 (5 medals, 1 in gold). One year before the Paris Olympic Games, which will take place on the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines velodrome, the results are less rosy: 5 medals (2 silver and 3 bronze) but no title obtained in Glasgow.
For the first time since 2018, France does not bring back a track title. “We hoped for better, it’s a slap, commented, to AFP, the national sprint coach, Grégory Baugé, who hopes that she will remobilize her troops. The objective remains the same, it is to win the Games. » Revelation of the French team at the 2022 Worlds, Taky Marie-Divine Kouamé was stripped of his title in the 500 meters (10th qualifying time). Among the men, Melvin Landerneau, reigning world vice-champion in the kilometer, was taken out in the qualifications for the event.
A bright spot from para-cycling
On the other hand, Benjamin Thomas, reigning world champion on the American (with Donavan Grondin), held his rank in the omnium by winning silver, the place he already occupied in 2022. In team speed, Florian Grengbo, Rayan Helal and Sébastien Vigier did better than last year by taking bronze. The women’s team pursuit (Marion Borras, Valentine Fortin, Clara Copponi, Marie Le Net and Victoire Berteau) and the American women’s (Clara Copponi and Victoire Berteau) each brought home a bronze medal, bringing the total to 5 medals .
Rare are the Blues to have shone during these “Super Worlds”, a sort of general rehearsal bringing together all the disciplines of cycling one year from the Games – the mixed time trial team (Bruno Armirail, Rémi Cavagna, Bryan Coquard , Audrey Cordon-Ragot, Cedrine Kerbaol and Juliette Labous) still managed to win silver. Among the favorites in BMX freestyle, Anthony Jeanjean, third in qualifying, fell during his two passages in the final and did not manage to clinch the world title. On the road, either, the French did not weigh on the race, won by the phenomenon Mathieu van der Poel – grandson of Raymond Poulidor, but current for the Netherlands.
Read also (2022): Track cycling world championships that look like a dress rehearsal for Paris 2024
In Scotland, the tricolor thinning came from para-cycling on track. Carried by the four medals (including three titles) of Alexandre Léauté, the Blues won 14 medals, including 7 gold. One year before the Paralympic Games (August 28-September 8), France finished second in the nations ranking behind England (30 medals, including 18 titles).
victim of sound “new favorite status” and a “a number of physical glitches” upstream of the competition, Mathilde Gros prefers to retain the positive of the tricolor counter-performance, while the Olympic Games are looming in Paris: “Rather than staying on a cloud like last year, we will remobilize immediately. If the opponents forget us, so much the better. That way, in Paris, we’ll show them that we’re at home. » They have one year left to regain their wings.