If Belgium shone at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene with a historic record of three medals (one in gold and two in bronze), our French neighbors are looking gloomy. Only the decathlete Kévin Mayer brought back a charm to the Tricolores.
Sunday evening, at the end of the 4X400m final, the French relay, which had finished in a disappointing 7th place, was invited to Nelson Monfort’s microphone on France 2 to explain their poor performance. Kévin Borlée then intervened live to defend the French riders: “If I may, the French Federation should give more consideration [à ses athlètes]. She should let them race individually to gain experience and then they will do great results in the relay.” Before being thanked by its competitors for these words.
The French Federation was strongly criticized during these Worlds for having imposed too high minima on its athletes to be able to participate in this world championship. This was the case for the torchbearers who were not able to line up individually over 400m. A few days earlier, still at the microphone of Nelson Monfort, the 10,000m runner, Jimmy Gressier did not mince words regarding the French Federation.