It is clearly not the start of the day that we had imagined for our French in Tokyo.
With chances of medals in the 10 km open water and 110 m hurdles, swimmer Marc-Antoine Olivier and hurdlers Pascal Martinot-Lagarde and Aurel Manga left empty-handed.
On the decathlon, Kevin Mayer did not really reassure the first two events but still approached the podium.
We summarize the essentials of the night in Tokyo for you.
Mayer, still 4th, close to the podium
We left him yesterday after a rather odd day. Injured in the back, the record holder in the decathlon had missed his shot put and the long jump before going almost to seek his personal best in the high jump. A cry of rage and anti-inflammatory drugs that seemed to have put him back on the right track. This Thursday, the Frenchman did not really take the hoped-for start. With a 110m hurdles in 13''90, far from his record in 13''54, the decathlete followed with a discus throw of the same ilk in 48.08 m (record at 52.38 m).
🇫🇷 Kevin Mayer made a mark at 48.08 m, far from his best performance.
The Frenchman is still getting closer to the podium and is now 108 points behind Pierce Lepage, 3rd # Tokyo2020 #Olympic Games
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- francetvsport (@francetvsport) August 5, 2021
After seven events, Kevin Mayer remains 4th in the decathlon at 6,157 points.
The French athlete is only 108 points behind 3rd place for Canadian Pierce Lepage, and 202 points for virtual silver medalist Ashley Moloney.
In front, Damian Warner takes the lead with 6,610 points.
Next discipline favorable to the French with the pole vault.
His two competitors on the podium stopped at 5 m, while the Olympic runner-up from Rio has already passed 5.10 m.
The medal is in the viewfinder.
For Martinot-Lagarde and Manga, the bar was too high
Two French people in the 110m hurdles final… And no medals. Second in his semi-final, Aurel Manga finished far behind in last place in 13''38, his worst time since arriving in Tokyo. In 13''16, Pascal Martinot-Lagarde finished in 5th place despite his best time of the season. “It's not a bad race. I don't know how I managed to make this time but I'm still disappointed, ”lamented the Rio chocolate medalist in 2016. With the best reaction time of the eight finalists,“ PML ”was in the race for the medal before failing just 6 hundredths from the podium.
🇯🇲 Hansle Parchment created a sensation by beating Grant Holloway in the 110m hurdles final.
Ronald Levy completes the podium.
🇫🇷 Pascal Martinot-Lagarde and Aurel Manga finish 5th and 8th respectively # Tokyo2020
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- francetvsport (@francetvsport) August 5, 2021
Too much competition also for Melvin Raffin.
Behind the Portuguese Pichardo at 17.98m, it would have taken an incredible performance from the Frenchman in the triple jump final to get a medal.
The French did not even validate the slightest jump with three buffs.
A dotted zero, of course, synonymous with last place.
Note in this final, the first Olympic medal in the history of Burkina-Faso with Hugues Fabrice Zango in bronze.
The disappointment Marc-Antoine Olivier in open water
The French swimmer was aiming for gold, he left empty-handed from the Tokyo Olympics.
Marc-Antoine Olivier broke down on the last lap of the 10 km open water, finishing 6th, while he was on the virtual podium for the entire first part of the race.
The reason for this failure may be the refusal to refuel on several occasions.
Bronze medalist in Rio, silver at the World Championships in 2019, Philippe Lucas's protégé was one of the favorites of the event.
🇫🇷 No medal for Marc-Antoine Olivier.
The Frenchman broke down on the last lap and finished in 6th place.
German Florian Wellbrock wins gold ahead of Kristof Rasovsky and Gregorio Paltrinieri # Tokyo2020
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- francetvsport (@francetvsport) August 4, 2021
“Everything was green for me to have a great race.
6th… For me it's shameful, ”said the French swimmer, dismayed after his poor result.
Another committed Frenchman, David Aubry has given up.
Matheron in skate and kayakers far from the score… The other results
For the first Olympic final in the “Park” at the Olympic Games, Vincent Matheron, 4th in qualifying, applied for a place on the podium.
3 rounds missed later, the Frenchman finished in 7th place with a catastrophic score of 42.33 points, very far from the 94.04 of Australian gold medalist Keegan Palmer.
The 22-year-old Marseillais simply fell during his three attempts.
🛹🥺 No medal for the skateboarder 🇫🇷 Vincent Matheron in Park!
He failed to complete only one of his three runs in the final #Olympic Games # Tokyo2020
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- francetvsport (@francetvsport) August 5, 2021
At the Olympic Stadium, the women's and men's 4x100 relays did not have the same fate.
In the women's category, Carolle Zahi, Orlann Ombissa-Dzangue, Gemima Joseph, Cynthia Leduc made it to the final, on time with a time of 42''68, their best mark of the season.
For their male counterparts, the repechage on time did not work.
In 38′'18, Mouhamadou Fall, Jimmy Vicaut, Mickaël Zézé and Ryan Zézé only finished 4th in their race despite their “season best”.
Simply insufficient.
On the canoe-kayak side, Manon Hostens and Maxime Beaumont have never existed in their respective semi-finals of the K1 500 m, and the K1 200 m. With a time of 1′57 ″ 394, the Frenchwoman took only the 6th and penultimate place of her 1/2. The same goes for his male counterpart. Beaumont also finished 6th in his race, almost 4 tenths from qualifying in the final. The 39-year-old tricolor was aiming for a charm after his silver medal in Rio. Missed.
