Summer is coming, but it is still accompanied by a few showers. You only have to listen to Valentin Pottier for a few minutes to be aware of the weather, which has become a topic of conversation among pole vaulters.
“I’ve come to the point of always talking about the rain, laughs the Stade Niortais athlete, but I’m fed up. Since the U23 Mediterranean Games in Egypt fin mai, I did five competitions, all in the rain. »
Unrepresentative conditions
So in Angers, this Sunday June 30 for the French Elite championships, the Niort pole vaulter is dreaming of sun and a light wind. “I’m not getting carried away because a little rain is forecast”he breathes, without summing it all up to the weather conditions.
“In fact, what frustrates me is training all week in the sun, finding good sensations and arriving in competition on the weekend with rain and wind. This does not allow you to express yourself as you would like. The competition is no longer representative of training,” adds Valentin Pottier, author of a good winter, notably with a jump of 5.52 m.
The whole month of June in competition is then at ” to erase “ according to the young man. “It was catastrophic, estimates Valentin Pottier. But I am confident thanks to my training, we must make it happen in competition now. »
“The most important thing is to have fun”
Indeed, Valentin Pottier was able to materialize his good first part of the season with a silver medal in the youth category in Egypt. He will now measure himself against the best French players. “It’s very nice to be able to take part in the most important French competition”underlines the Niortais, entered in the event alongside Thibaut Collet, Baptiste Thiery and Renaud Lavillenie, who will aim for the Olympic minimums in these French championships.
“Even though I do a lot of meetings, it’s still quite rare to be able to jump with all the greats in the discipline, it’s going to push me upwards”hopes the 22-year-old from Niort, for whom the ideal day in Angers would be to pass 5.50 m or 5.60 m.
“The most important thing is to have fun. If it rains, of course it will be lower, he recalls. But if the weather conditions allow me to perform well, I’ll enjoy myself without worrying too much.”
Pole vault competition this Sunday, June 30, starting at 1 p.m.
