France continues its fall in the world hierarchy in men’s team sprint

Fifth in the men’s team sprint, the French team of Sébastien Vigier, Ryan Helal and Melvin Landerneau disappointed again two months after its failure at the Paris Olympic Games. Once formidable, France is no longer one of the great nations in this discipline, to the great dismay of Gregory Baugé, the French speed coach.

Grégory Baugé, what analysis do you make of this result?

It was a unique team in the not easy context after the Olympics. We went on selection tests and we took the best times, so the team that was there was the best possible. Having a world championship so quickly after the Games was not easy, especially since with the Paralympic Games, we were only able to have the Saint-Quentin track available quite late to train. .

It’s a bit hard there it seems?

The goal was to give the best of themselves. We knew we wouldn’t be world champions but we are competitors. They still improved on the first round but it wasn’t enough.

Were there debriefs from the Olympics?

We are in a small group at these Worlds. For the athletes as for us, the failure this summer was not easy.

The goal was not to return to a world championship with ambition. There are things that need to be resolved in depth and we will resolve things after the Worlds.

Next up for the French sprint is Mathilde Gros, Thursday with the start of individual speed, what are we hoping for?

I hope she will be able to give her all and that she will enjoy herself again. I didn’t impose anything on her, it’s a World Cup, nothing will erase the failure of the Olympics, but she wanted to make these World Cups. I expect her to be able to run freely, without saying to herself, I must be world champion at all costs. There she is, finding pleasure again. There was a failure at the Olympics, so it’s worth not taking it lightly, but we’ll see all that after the World Cup.