“Stop English! », a coxless four Olympic mission that turned into a medal hope within a year

hasExpress your feelings! Decided at the end of the Tokyo Games, the formation of the coxless four (editor’s note: four men with one oar each) experienced strife and turmoil until it finally found its magic system in Cajoubon a year ago. Paired up in this Short Boat Championship, Dio Rayot and Benoit Brunet…

hasExpress your feelings! Decided at the end of the Tokyo Games, the formation of the coxless four (editor’s note: four men with one oar each) experienced strife and turmoil until it finally found its magic system in Cajoubon a year ago. Competing as a pair in this short boat championship, Téo Rayet and Benoît Brunet won ahead of the Durlan duo, sailing together to victory.

“Last year, we only thought about qualifying for the Games, we kept our heads in our hands,” recalls Dio Rayet, 24, a licensee at Sport Nautique de Bergerac. We were always going out, even taking physical risks. It worked with bronze at the European Championships and qualified for 6th place at Worlds in September 2023. But the pressure to qualify was so strong that we were physically and mentally exhausted at times. »

The quartet comes in at another level. “This year, we were able to implement a calm strategy, more training but with less risk. This winter we gave a big body size and we are going to a technical phase,” explains the child (33) of Pellegrew.

“We accumulate kilometers together in order to have very low parasitic or negative movements against the boat and high automation,” explains Guillaume Durlan (27 years old) from Bordeaux. We get to the point of fine-tuning small details like wasting the least amount of energy on the return movement, looking for a cleaner, better gesture. »

Details for medal

During a recent training session in Portugal, “the biomechanic of the French team told us: ‘Well, in terms of watts you’re at the same level as everyone else, which puts you in the final. Now, it’s the technique we have to work on to actually get on the podium.'” There are sensors everywhere in the boat and on each of us that tell us everything that happens on the surface, we superimpose our individual curves, and we actually see the effect of our actions on the glide, the balance. We try to create the least loss of momentum. »

Two weeks after Cajabon, the European Championship will face their challenge. “The aim is to make the top 2, which means gaining one place compared to last year,” Dio declares. It means that we will have advanced in the world hierarchy. In 2023, the British No. 1, the world champions, the Netherlands 2nd and 4th in the world, USA and New Zealand skated, 2nd and 3rd, then Australia 5th, us 6th. »

“The goal is to get closer to English, the reference,” affirms Guillaume. If we succeed, we will be right. They are not inaccessible, we know we can go and get them. “The goal is to get a medal at the Olympics,” says Raitt. We are a young team with room for improvement. We have another year together and we can expect great things. »

will continue

At Cajoubon, in the French Short Boat Championships, four pairs of pairs and doubles each. So, the two pairs medalists in Tokyo, Gironde’s Mathieu Androdias and his friend Hugo Boucheron (gold), Claire Bowe and Laura Tarantola (silver), and Hugo Fury and Ferdinand Ludwig (two) have yet to qualify for Paris. light weight pair).