The performances of Montpellier triathlete Pierre Le Corre over the last two years have opened the doors to Olympic qualification in Paris. However, he had drawn a line under the event after Tokyo.
He had made up his mind. The Olympic Games at home in 2024 were nothing. “I told myself it was over for me”, Pierre Le Corre convinced himself the day after the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. After five years of hard work to win his Japanese ticket, the Montpellier finally found himself on the sidelines, as a replacement. Frustration doubled.
Then the uncertainty of sport (or magic?) worked. Today he is close to Olympic qualification. “It wasn’t necessarily intended”, he assures. Like Dorian Coninx, Le Corre met the pre-selection criteria in 2023, unlike Vincent Luis and Léo Bergère, the two other behemoths of French triathlon.
A great performance at the Cagliari triathlon on May 25 and he will punch his ticket to Paris. “Normally, that should do it.”he confides, serenely, at 34 years old.
“Even more efficient than before Tokyo”
How did the situation turn out for the original Breton? After Tokyo, Le Corre turned everything upside down. The setting remains the same, since he continues to travel the roads of Pic Saint-Loup and the Cévennes by bike, and he alternates between the Antigone and Christine Caron swimming pools in Castelnau-le-Lez.
But for the rest, everything changes. Coach, approach, methods… And the ambitions lie elsewhere. “I wanted to focus on long distance triathlons. But I still continued with short distances (the Olympic distance) because I had sponsors waiting for me. In the end, I was even more efficient than before Tokyo”he assures.
In competition, “Pierrot” is a hit. In 2022, he becomes European vice-champion in Munich (Bergère 1st, Coninx 3rd) and long-distance world champion. In 2023, he won the Sunderland WTCS and finished 4th in the test event, THE dress rehearsal one year before the Games. “This performance did me good. All the best were there. The circuit suits me well. It could bode something good”slips the person concerned.
So here he is on pole to compete in a second Olympics after that of 2016 in Rio. A real feat for someone who has lived in Montpellier for 17 years. But the pressure is on. Especially since some physical problems handicapped him at the start of the year, as well as some extra-sporting problems, without worrying him. Experience is good, sometimes.
“I didn’t have any pressure last year. This year, it fell on my shoulders. I try not to think too much about the Games. But at the same time, I’m reminded of it all the time. I have to I detach myself from that, that I manage to find lightness Now, I know how to target my objectives If I target the Olympic Games, without telling myself that it is the Games, I will perform well., Pierre Le Corre convinces himself. The recipe is simple. There’s just.
