The faces follow and resemble each other, twisted by the effort.
The bodies are soaked as if they were coming out of the swimming event (1.5 km) but they have just completed cycling (40 km) before concluding with the running (10 km).
The trickle of air that swept over Tokyo lowered the temperature a bit but did not make the atmosphere any lighter.
During the grueling end of the race, the triathletes watered themselves copiously.
The French broke down in the last third of a race which crowned Norwegian Kristian Blummenfelt (ahead of Briton Alex Yee at 11 '' and New Zealander Hayden Wilde at 20 '').
The French, who had very high ambitions, were unable to fulfill the expected role.
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Very disappointed, Vincent Luis, 13th at 1'20 (Dorian Coninx finished 17th at 1'44 '', Léo Bergère taking 21st place at 2'16 '') took a long time to digest his poor performance before coming to relive this funny day which started with a false start, a boat having bothered several competitors:
“It was a strange race.
A false start, I think this is the first time in my career that I have one.
I saw a boat nearby waving to me, I thought it was because we were going too far to the right and I saw the boat come up in front of us, I said to myself 'there is a problem' '.
These are things that shouldn't happen at the Games.
I struggled to get back into action behind… The second start was complicated.
I thought I would make the difference earlier, it took me almost 600m to find myself in front.
We had to adapt to the conditions and situations, there are about ten who did it better than me. ”
The Games, there is a date, you have to be ready, I was not ...
Vincent Luis
And to continue the triptych of which he quickly lost the thread:
“It was not the day that I expected. From the start, I felt that I was not that great. I was not at the level it took to win an Olympic medal. It was a dense race, hard from start to finish. It was not the state of form I was hoping for for the Games. The Games, there is a date, you have to be ready, I was not… ”
A tear in a calf at the beginning of June disrupted his preparation, depriving him of benchmarks:
“It derailed a few weeks ago… it called into question the number of races on the calendar, it cuts confidence.
It was not ideal, we did our best.
In a race like today, there was no room for error, a small percent less that is obvious. ”
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Without looking for excuses, the double world champion admitted that he was not disturbed by the conditions which worried the actors:
“The water was not very hot compared to what we expected, by bike it was fine. , we drive quite fast, there is a lot of wind. But on foot, it goes up very quickly, I was at 39.8 °, they won't let me enter the Village with that. I lacked freshness. I was missing a speed. I managed my race knowing that I was not able to do a medal. I felt it from the start of the run, when you get off the bike you feel when the legs respond and I knew that I was going to have to manage, that I was not going to be able to take risks and animate the race. The medalists were the strongest of the day. ”
Less dejected than in Rio (7th), Vincent Luis quickly made an appointment:
“Paris, it's in three years, it's going very quickly. We may have a new format that suits me better than the short distance. We have to stay the course. ”
It remains for the French triathletes, defeated, the mixed relay.
