The Girondins Thomas Boudat and Lucile Tessariol silver medalists at the European Championships

Beautiful evening for Girondin sport, which won two silver medals, one hour apart, this Tuesday evening, between the Munich exhibition center and the Foro Italico swimming pool in Rome. It was Langonnais cyclist Thomas Boudat who first won the silver medal at the madison, in duet with Donavan Grondin. Before Merignac swimmer Lucile Tessariol also took second place with the French team in the 4×200 meter freestyle relay.

In Munich, the Langonnais cyclist Thomas Boudat first won silver in the spectacular madison (or American) event where the pairs of cyclists take turns and launch themselves, grabbing each other by the hand to give each other more speed. They must complete 250 laps of the track, and earn points during sprints every 10 laps. Thomas Boudat and Reunionese Donavan Grondin (91 points) were beaten by the Germans, Roger Kluge and Theo Reinhardt (101 points) but are well ahead of Belgium, third with 58 points.

“We had a good race, the Germans were very strong, they were pushed by their public. We have nothing to be ashamed of our race”, reacted Boudat, who was also competing in his first race with his partner. The end of a great week for the Langonnais, already crowned European champion in team pursuit (with another Girondin Quentin Lafargue), even if he had not played in the final. He also took part in the road race, where his teammate Arnaud Démare finished 2nd. On the track, the Blues have won 15 medals, a record that bodes well before the Worlds at home in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (October 12-16).

Tessariol, medalist at 18

An hour later, it was in Rome, where the European Swimming Championships are held, that Lucile Tessariol also won a silver medal with the French team in the mixed 4×200 meter freestyle (Hadrien Salvan, Wissam -Amazigh Yebba and Charlotte Bonnet). The Blues took second place behind the British (7.28.16) and ahead of the Italians (7.31.85). In the lead before the last length, the swimmer from Mérignac broke down in the last meters against Briton Freya Anderson, bronze medalist in the 100m.

But at 18, she won her first major international medal. She too had a great week, having participated in the gold medal of the 4x100m mixed relay, even if she did not swim in the final. Lucile Tessariol also participated in two other finals, with the women’s 4x100m and women’s 4x200m relays (6th each time). After a first participation in the Olympic Games last year, the one who now trains at Insep is gaining momentum in the perspective of Paris-2024.