“This decathlon is my last chance to qualify for the Games,” assures Kevin Mayer, three days before his entry into the running

Three weeks before the end of the Olympic qualification period, the double world vice-champion has still not validated his ticket for Paris. He will try to win it Monday and Tuesday in Rome.

An Olympic stadium to obtain an Olympic qualification? Still looking for his ticket to the Paris Games, Kevin Mayer will be competing on Monday June 10 and Tuesday June 11 in the decathlon of the European Championships in Rome. He benefited from an invitation from the European Athletics Federation. The double Olympic vice-champion (2016 and 2021) will seek to reach the minimums (8,460 points) or obtain a maximum of points in the world ranking to obtain qualification in this way.

At the end of 2023, he had given up on lining up in Australia, which was still too physically limited. Then, in March, he had to interrupt his attempt to qualify during a decathlon in San Diego (United States) after being injured. This time, in Rome, the 32-year-old Frenchman said he was ready “physically and mentally” to qualify for the fourth Olympic Games of his career, during a press briefing organized on Friday June 7.

“With my experience and my body today, the minimums are not a problem.”

Kevin Mayer, decathlete

at a press conference

Kevin Mayer’s last full decathlon dates back to that of Eugene, at the 2022 Worlds, where he won the title. With only a few French indoor events in mid-February as benchmarks and the aborted decathlon in the United States, the combination does not “don’t really know what (he has) in his legs”. “Je I feel good in training. I also know that I am preparing thoroughly for the Olympics. Nervously, I can’t be in two places at once. So I’m not in Olympic shape like I could be at the Games. Mbut I’m very fit”, reassured the athlete, who indicated that he had lost four kilos since his American trip. “I want to see if it can take off a little on the jumps.”

Asked about the possibility of a new attempt after the Italian stage, the Frenchman was direct: “In my head, this is my last chance to qualify. I don’t want to struggle behind, assured Kevin Mayer. It seems that I am not a pro for Olympic qualifications. In 2012, I stopped seven decathlons.”

If the decathlete does not a priori consider relaunching on a new attempt, the headliner of the French team has still slipped only in the event of “zero to height”he would appear in another competition. “I’m not going to give up like that.” With the minimums in his sights, Kevin Mayer on the other hand assures that he is not chasing a European title, a medal which he has never won.

But in front of the resounding decathlon with 8,961 points achieved by the young German Leo Neugebauer, during the American university championship on Friday, the Frenchman admits that his legs are itchy. “There are guys pushing behind. It makes my legs tingly. But I repeat to myself every five seconds that what counts are the minimums. I’m going to have to slow me down throughout this decathlon. Because as much as I am capable of doing a decathlon at 200%, I am not capable of doing two in the year at 200%.” And 200% fitness, Kevin Mayer has ticked off August 2 and 3 to reach it… if he qualifies.