Torun (Poland) (AFP)

Three and a half years have passed since his world title over 800 m but Pierre-Ambroise Bosse has never regained the state of grace of that magical night of August 2017 in London.

Abandoned by the sponsors but with a new coach, he hopes to relaunch his career at the dawn of this Olympic season.

Winter and the gym have never been his cup of tea but the 28-year-old Frenchman needs to run so badly that he has decided to take the plunge to line up at the Euro indoor in Torun where he is is qualified on Friday for the semi-finals scheduled for Saturday.

In 2021, PAB is starting from scratch with the desire to erase a long period of wandering that took him away from the top of the bill.

Injuries, incessant changes of coach and a fine of 1000 euros in 2019 after a violent brawl: Bosse has experienced more setbacks than laurels in recent years, his main feat being a 3rd place at the European Championships in 2018 in Berlin.

At the 2019 Worlds in Doha, the presence in the hotel des Bleus of a hypnotist, invited by the French, had also triggered a big controversy and tarnished his image a little more.

Proof of a seriously declining rating, Bosse even lost its equipment supplier (Puma) at the end of 2020, in a very complicated economic context due to the health crisis.

But promised, sworn: the Nantes resident believes he is back on the right track.

Its indoor results attest to this.

On February 24, he broke his personal indoor record (1 min 45 sec 95), four days after taking 2nd place in the French Championships behind Benjamin Robert.

- "Winter as a bonus" -

"I don't necessarily like the indoor events but I take this winter season as a bonus, he says. It's a first experience for me. I am a runner with great gear, I have great strides and my qualities are the long acceleration. Which is impossible to do indoors. I will try to find tactical aspects, go overtaking a little faster and that could help me on a 400m track. "

"This winter, there is no specific objective, the idea is to compete in order to get back in the mood, find some benchmarks, even if it means losing, explains his trainer Philippe Dupont. solutions so that he no longer gets injured, with a lot of re-athleticism. This bodes well for being able to continue this summer on a longer preparation phase. "

Bosse, who landed in Torun with the 7th European time of the year, admits that he is still looking for benchmark times but he claims to have "regained our level in training".

"I've had some ups and downs lately but I'm in a high phase before summer and the most important thing is that I run painlessly. At the moment, everything is fine," says- he does.

- Takeover -

To regain control of his career, Bosse separated at the end of 2019 from his coach Alain Lignier to join the group led by Philippe Dupont.

A choice that allowed this free electron, who had taken the habit of training alone, to "re-socialize".

"He has a very strong personality but there is a good fusion between us, it works well, according to the technician. He also needed renewal, things a little different. A coach-athlete relationship takes time to develop. up but it's going well. "

"He is quite complementary with the athletes with whom he trains, he adds. They bring him a little difficulty in the sectors in which he is fragile and he, in exchange, he brings his qualities. in a group it is always a driving force for an athlete. "

Philippe Dupont admits: "the road to a return to its best level is not easy".

But he wants to be rather optimistic for the future.

"He had two years of famine with small injuries, the Covid. But if at the physical level, he finds an integrity, as it seems to be in place today, it is completely reasonable that he could return to the level he had in 2016-2017. Torun is only a step, "analyzes the former mentor of Mahiedine Mekhissi.

© 2021 AFP