Ruthenian basketball player Leïla Lacan has had a year full of emotions, culminating in her first Olympic Games, during which she was a silver medalist, a selection in the WNBA Draft and a change of club in France.
If there is an Aveyron sportswoman who has had an extraordinary year in 2024, it is Leïla Lacan! In just a few months, she experienced what some would dream of experiencing in a career. But nothing could be more normal for the Ruthenian basketball player, who has made it a habit to go through the stages at high speed since her first steps on the Aveyron courts. Just 20 years old, Leïla Lacan has already played in two professional clubs in France (Angers and Basket Landes), played in the Euroleague, the biggest continental club competition, and was drafted into an American franchise. of the WNBA, and was a silver medalist at the Olympic Games with the French team… in her country. Dizzy !
When it comes time to take stock of Leila Lacan's exceptional year, it is perhaps her first Olympics that we remember above all else. Just a year ago, his participation in the global event held in Paris this summer was far from obvious. Although she already had several selections with Les Bleues and had participated in the last Euro, a knee injury kept her away from the field at the time, for around two months. What about his level of play upon his return? What about her ability to stay ahead of the group of French players in her position in the hierarchy of coach Jean-Aimé Toupane? “What Leïla does is exceptional”delivered the latter to our columns in April… before calling her into a first list of 18 players, then 15, then 12, and here is the Ruthenian at the Games! With the result that we know and a silver medal gleaned at the end of a final lost by nothing against the United States (67-66).
Repro CP – Repro CP
Before this somewhat frustrating outcome, Leïla Lacan had much more joyful relations with Uncle Sam's country this year. And for good reason, she became the first Aveyron player to be drafted in the WNBA, the women's equivalent of the big NBA. Selected in 10th position by the Connecticut Sun, the “combo-guard” chose not to head to the other side of the Atlantic immediately, in order to concentrate on the Olympic Games and on her new club in France, Basket Landes , which she joined in the summer after two seasons spent in Angers. But things could well change next summer, with the arrival in Connecticut of French coach Rachid Meziane, who seems to be counting on her in the short term!
Para-cycling: Millavois Élie De Carvalho also in silver
During the Paris Games, an Aveyron resident distinguished himself in para-cycling. This is Millavois Élie De Carvalho, agent medalist in tandem with pilot Mickaël Guichard, in the time trial event, in category B, specific to visually impaired competitors, on September 4. The duo missed gold by just two seconds, the charm finally slipping into the Dutch purse. A resident of the Toulouse cycling stadium, Élie De Carvalho was then celebrated with other medalists from the pink city, including Léon Marchand and Antoine Dupont, on the Place du Capitole.
France
