Last Saturday, at the Tongyeong Triathlon World Cup in South Korea, Amélie Kretz mentioned that she had the legs to reach the podium. Her medal chance went away when she missed the first cycling peloton by a handful of seconds at the end of the 1.5 kilometer swim.
Posted at 12:26 p.m.
Never mind, the fact that she recorded the third best running time on the 10 kilometer course is proof that she is well and truly back at the top level after posting her second eighth place. in the World Cup in less than two months.
” It will come. The form is there! said the Canadian veteran after a break of a few months to recover from a stress fracture in the neck of a femur. An injury that she describes as “severe” and which took longer to heal than expected.
Kretz was thus sidelined for the first time in three years and she believes that this was mainly due to the race against the clock in which she was engaged to qualify for the Olympic team for the Tokyo Games.
“I didn’t take a long enough rest at the end of (last) season to really recover months before the Games. There was also the stress, both physical and mental, leading up to the Games. »
The 29-year-old returned to competition at the Commonwealth Games in late July, followed by a four-week training block at the National Performance Center in Victoria, British Columbia, with his new trainer, Marc-Antoine Christin.
The time to start reaping the fruits of her labor is not far off, she says.
“I really feel like I’m starting my season, while several girls have been racing since March. […] My objective between now and the end of the season is really just to score points to position myself well for next year in order to arrive in the big races with a good ranking. This would allow me to do all the shopping I want. By maximizing my points this year, I will have more loose next year. »
Sa 104e place in the world rankings currently prevents him from having a good place on the starting pontoon and this had an impact on his race on Saturday. The double Olympian had to swim a little more to get to the first buoy.
“I know I have swimming to be in the first group, but often it’s also a lottery. […] There are girls who swim a lot slower than me and who often make the first group just because they have a good position on the pontoon and they are next to those who swim faster. »
Concern for succession
Amélie Kretz should be at the World Championships in Abu Dhabi at the end of November, just like her compatriot Emy Legault, who has been the Canadian female revelation this season. Legault, 27e in the world rankings, was a silver medalist at the World Cup in Huatulco, Mexico, and tenth at the World Series stop in Hamburg, Germany, in July.
Behind the two Quebecers, Kretz is worried to see that the next generation is not very present.
“There is really a gap between the junior generation and Emy and me. There are not many people and it’s a shame and a little scary for women’s triathlon in Canada at the moment. I think we have a good junior generation, which comes mainly from Quebec, but in Canada, we have a bad reputation for burning out our good juniors quickly. After that, you don’t see them anymore at my age. I hope that they will be better guided and better supervised to progress. »
The one who speaks came very close to getting burned, but she is still there, at 29, where she will try to become the first Canadian female triathlete to take part in three editions of the Olympic Games.
How does she explain her longevity in her sport?
“Maybe it’s thanks to my pig’s face!” she says, laughing. “No, honestly, I would say it’s my passion for the sport. I really feel like I haven’t done what I had to do in the sport yet and I think I still have a lot to give on the performance side. That’s what keeps me motivated to keep going. »