Audrey Leduc | “I’m ready for 2028,” says the sprinter

Audrey Leduc has already resumed the “competition”. The best sprinter in the country even took up the middle distance, lining up for the 2 km of Courons Gatineau, a new popular road running and walking event for which she is the official spokesperson, on September 28.

Even if her participation was “symbolic”, the local heroine covered the full distance… with her foot on the brake, alternating between walking and running. “I jogged on my heels, but not all the way,” summarized Leduc a few days later.

The 25-year-old athlete was very cautious because she was still recovering. She actually wore an orthopedic boot to chase away the last symptoms of an injury which occurred less than a month before her Olympic Games, where she took part in three events in early August.

The pain in his right foot appeared in a completely ordinary way. “I was shopping for sofas,” she giggled.

A magnetic resonance imaging later, she learned the precise nature of her illness: a “stress reaction of the sesamoids”, two small bones located near the big toe.

“My understanding is that it can turn into a stress fracture if you’re not careful and you keep running on it,” she explained.

Anti-inflammatories and painkillers allowed him to travel to Paris without any pain or worry. “The beauty of it is that the spikes we wear these days are quite cushioned. While I was running, I didn’t feel it. It’s really more when decelerating or in regular running movements, such as jogging, that I would have felt it more. »

In short, she assures that this injury, now healed, had no impact on her performances at the Stade de France.

As a precaution, she wore an orthopedic boot which she tried to hide as best she could, removing it for example for an awards ceremony at the recent Gemini gala. His treatment, now complete, simply postponed his return to running training by two weeks.

“Before that, I went cycling and did weight training, it changed almost nothing. When I touch it, I don’t feel it anymore. There, I make a gradual return. It’s not quite my usual generalized physical preparation, but it’s not the end of the world. The Worlds are not until next September, a year from now. »

Return to Paris

Audrey Leduc hit hard at the start of the 100m competition at the Paris Games: 10.95 seconds, the sixth time in the first round, a hundredth better than her Canadian record which had propelled her to the forefront nationally three months earlier.

The Quebecer could dream of a final. A technical failure at the start during the semi-finals the next day, however, cost him his chance. She failed by three hundredths with a time of 11.10 seconds.

Looking back, she believes she was surprised by the speed with which the competitors alongside her took action.

“It can’t be a disappointment because it’s the second race I’ve done [à un tel niveau]the first where I was surrounded by people so quickly, she analyzed. It takes practice in this kind of environment and I haven’t had much of it. »

In the cumulative ranking, she finished 12^e level, tied with two rivals. “There was a high with the 10.95 and I would have liked to continue on that wave. I am a competitive girl, I would have liked to offer a final to people, to offer it to myself too. It’s still something that tickles me. »

“Not able” to see his 200m again…

The next morning, despite fatigue, the MBA student took another step forward by qualifying for the semi-finals of the 200m (20.88 seconds). However, she was surprised by the responsiveness of the purple track at the Stade de France, which disrupted her trajectory in the curve. Adaptation to new spikes has likely amplified the problem.

She regrets not having returned to her old shoes in the semi-final, where she improved her time by two tenths (22.68 seconds) despite an even more difficult turn. “The exit from the curve was rotten,” she decided. She is convinced that without this technical problem, she would have beaten her national mark of 22.38 seconds, which would have sent her to the final. To this day, she has not seen her two 200m races in Paris again. “Quite honestly, I’m not capable. »

Leduc did not feel sorry for herself: three teammates counted on her for the 4 x 100 m relay, which she had the honor of finishing. At his first experience at the London Diamond League, two weeks earlier, the witness had never attended due to a referral problem with Marie-Éloïse Leclair.

“I wanted to prove that I was capable of occupying that position,” Leduc remembered. Yes, I am the fastest in Canada, but my goal was to show that I was there for the team and capable of finishing strong. »

As in the individual event, she was smoking hot, crossing the 100m in 10.04 seconds to lead Canada to a first Olympic final since 2016. The quartet completed by Sade McCreath and Jacqueline Madogo managed a national record of 42, 50 seconds. The same runners placed sixth in the final, with a slightly slower time (42.69 seconds), but in more complicated conditions (rain and interior corridor, therefore tighter turns).

Enough to fuel their ambitions for next year, they who were able to celebrate the men’s historic gold half an hour later. “What we have done is already exceptional and if we all continue to improve individually, we have even more chances of getting closer to the podium,” assured Leduc. If we have good exchanges, good chemistry, everything is possible, we saw it with the guys. »

In search of consistency

After a week of vacation in Barcelona, ​​Audrey Leduc felt physically able to restart the machine, but she was aware of needing more time to recharge her batteries emotionally. With her foot needing to heal, she therefore refused a first individual invitation for a Diamond League circuit competition in Poland.

She already has her eyes on the next Olympic cycle. “I’m ready for 2028,” she announced. It seems like my entire journey was done step by step, and we didn’t skip any at these Games: no final, no medals. »

After an autumn dedicated to training in Montreal, she will resume indoor competitions at the beginning of 2025. “Unless there is a change”, she will not wear the colors of the Rouge et Or of Laval University this season.

Among her goals, she wants to improve her personal mark of 7.21 seconds in the 60 m. “I haven’t set a time, but the Canadian record [7,02 s]that could be cool! » She plans to participate in the World Championships in Nanjing [du 21 au 23 mars]in China, a first visit for her to Asia.

She will then turn to the World Relay Championships in Guangzhou (May 10 and 11) and Diamond League meetings in Europe, a priority of her coach Fabrice Akué.

The highlight of his year will be his first outdoor World Championships, in Tokyo, in September. She already holds the automatic qualification standard in the 100m.

“The season is going to be a little different in the sense that I have to last until September. I will have a few more training blocks during the summer because you don’t want to arrive exhausted for your most important competition. »

Leduc obviously wants to beat his times, but above all aims for consistency from one meeting to the next, like last season. “The objective is to be within 10 seconds more often and, of course, to get down to 10.80, if we are able. »

For the rest, she has an MBA to complete by December and expects to soon sign a major sponsorship contract with an equipment manufacturer which will undoubtedly take her to the Los Angeles Games in 2028.