like Léon Marchand, these French sports stars have not yet qualified for the Games

84 days before the start of the Paris Olympic Games, many French athletes have not yet validated their qualification in their discipline, including some former Olympic champions.

The countdown begins. In 84 days, athletes will parade at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. While some are already assured of being there, others must give one last push to be there. Workforce review.

Swimming

A formality on paper, but a necessary point of passage. He may well be the expected French star of these Olympic Games at home, Leon Marchand is still not qualified. As Florent Manaudou, Maxime Grousset and all of his fellow French swimmers. Before thinking about the Paris La Défense Arena, it is towards Chartres where the French championships will take place from June 16 to 21 that minds are turned. French championships which will serve as a framework for the Olympic selections.

The rule is simple to qualify: for each race, finish in one of the first two places in the final by having achieved a time required by the French swimming federation. A demanding time which roughly corresponds to an entry into the semi-finals of a world competition in recent years. And even if for the big French names this stage does not represent a big stress from a chronometric point of view, it is still an obligatory crossing point, where missteps are not authorized. And that we must therefore manage six weeks from the Olympic objective.

Léon Marchand will therefore return to France ten days before the Chartrain meeting. Time to recover from jet lag and the traditional long training course at altitude with his training group, under the leadership of Bob Bowman, planned just before in Colorado. This will be his first competition on French soil since the French championships last year in Rennes. It is in Toulouse that the five-time world champion will prepare for the competition, coached by Nicolas Castel, his coach at the TOEC runners-up. Léon Marchand will take part in the four individual races of his potential Olympic program (200 and 400m 4n, 200m butterfly, 200m breaststroke) and perhaps other complementary events.

Athletics

Kevin Mayer is still thinking about the best option to achieve the minimums (8460 points). An interesting solution considered is the Oyonnax decathlon, on the occasion of the France combined events, on May 18 and 19. But depending on the physical sensations of the world record holder, he may decide to extend the deadline further. The deadline is June 30 after the French Elite Championships, where Mayer will then have one last opportunity to qualify. There are several decathlons all over the world that are possible, but it will not be the European Championships in Rome, for which Kevin Mayer is not qualified.

Renaud Lavillenie has finally been pole vaulting for a few weeks. The 2012 Olympic pole vault champion has just finished training in San Diego, California after months of hiatus due to surgery on his left hamstring. The Clermontois will make his return to home, during a meeting organized on May 22. He must achieve 5m82 to qualify for the Olympics. Lavillenie also checked off the Toulouse meeting on June 22. He will also have one last opportunity during the France Elite on June 29 and 30.

Mélina Robert-Michon, possible standard bearer of the French delegation, is not yet officially qualified. With a peak performance of 62m46, she did not achieve the minimum (64m50). She should achieve this at the start of the summer season. The interclubs on May 12, then meetings in Montreuil and Montgeron, a Diamond League in Oslo to finish, with the European and then French championships. And even if the minimums are not reached, MRM should, barring a cataclysm, be satisfied with the ranking thanks to which it will go to the Olympic Games.

Christophe Lemaitre had the pain of losing his long-time trainer Pierre Carraz, who died at the end of 2022. Since then, he has left his Alps to train in Metz and Nantes, without success. At almost 34 years old, the bronze medalist in the 200m at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games still believes he has his chances of qualifying for the 100m and 200m in Paris. Illusory a priori when we take a look at his performances: 10”83 at best this year over 100m, when in 2023, Lemaître had not run faster than 10”70 in the 100m and 21”31 over 200m. As with the others, there will be Interclubs, a few meetings and the French Elite championships.

As for Jimmy Vicaut, the good times are a little closer. Still European vice-champion in the 4x100m relay in 2022 in Munich with the Blues, Vicaut has suffered a little more since then since he missed the World Championships in Budapest in 2023, and did not even take part in any competition in 2024. Worse , he is not part of the French 4×100 team which flew to the Bahamas for the World Relay Championships, qualifiers for the Paris Olympics.

Pascal Martinot-Lagarde had to end his winter season because of a tear in his right adductor. The hurdler with 12 international medals has not yet communicated about his summer return but he intends to qualify for the Olympic Games after missing the 2023 Worlds in Hungary. Faced with very dense competition, embodied by Sasha Zhoya, Wilhem Belocian and Just Kwaou Mathey, he can take advantage of the latter’s serious Achilles tendon injury to validate one of the three tricolor tickets for the Stade de France. Last season, PML, French record holder but now 32 years old, had to give up in front of the youth. This time the door is open. It remains to validate a time under 13”27, well within the ropes of Martinot-Lagarde in full possession of his means.

Tennis

To qualify for the Olympic Games in tennis, you must in principle be among the 60 best players in the Olympic rankings. A specific ranking which brings together the points gleaned between Roland-Garros 2023 and Roland-Garros 2024. In other words, the listing will be official after the Parisian Grand Slam (May 20-June 9).

On the men’s side, the French are very well placed. Ugo Humbert is 15th, Adrian Mannarino 18th, Gaël Monfils thanks to good recent performances, rose to 32nd place in the Olympic race, Arthur Son 41st. Finally Arthur Cazaux, still recovering, is in 64th place. For the Olympic tennis tournament, each nation has a maximum of four quotas, this could be a bottleneck for the United States or Italy, who have more than four players in the pipeline. The cut could therefore be extended beyond 60th place.

Furthermore, in the French ranks, the 5th place in this “Olympic race” could allow qualification for the Games as Adrian Mannarino announced last summer, he does not see himself playing the Games on clay at Roland-Garros, given his average performance on earth and his disenchantment with this surface. It will be necessary to monitor whether the announcement is confirmed in practice in the coming weeks. Among the boys, a notable absence will leave a void: Richard Gasquet. At 37 years old, the Biterrois is only the 13th Frenchman in the Olympic Race (495 pts), far from the 972 units of Arthur Fils

In the women’s table, only three French players have qualified: Caroline Garcia (20th), Clara Burel (41st) and Diane Parry (62nd). Same rule as for the men’s draw: four quotas per nation. There are currently nine Americans and eight Czechs in the top 60 of this Olympic ranking. This will provide leeway for last-minute qualifiers. A fourth French player is in search of this precious sesame: Océane Dodin. It is in 70th place in this ranking, this place will have to be confirmed at least in the coming weeks to see Paris 2024.

Team sports

If the French team sports teams will be there as host country, the identity of the selected athletes remains to be defined. If Anthony Dupont prepares for the rugby sevens tournament, the fate of Kylian Mbappé, Antoine Griezmann Or Olivier Giroud is in the hands of Thierry Henry, who can call up to three players over 23 years old.

Cycling

France has a quota of four riders for the road event, for both women and men, and two for the time trial. If the list of girls will be revealed on June 22 after the French championships, Thomas Voeckler should announce his selection during the Tour de France (June 29-July 21). Julian Alaphilippe will he be part of it? At 32, Alaf’ – who will compete in his first Giro starting this Saturday – is at a crossroads in his career, having already chosen to skip the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021.

Judo

The 14 judokas qualified for the Olympics are known, and some, like Audrey Tcheumeo, will watch the competition in front of their screen. Competing with Madeleine Malonga in the under 78 kg category, the five-time European champion responded on the tatami by seeking a new continental crown on April 27. A title that will not take away his disappointment at not participating in the Games.

Fencing

Great medal chance for women’s foil, Ysaora Thibus has been temporarily sidelined since the end of February due to a positive doping test for ostarine. The 2022 world champion preferred to forego the analysis of the B sample to allow the procedure to be accelerated. Less than three months before the Olympics, Ysaora Thibus still does not know if she will be able to participate in the Games, knowing that she is still waiting for a hearing. According to the regulations of the International Fencing Federation, she risks up to four years of suspension.

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