Tokyo (AFP)
From the qualification won in Reunion to the home sessions in Montpellier, via Torun and Dubai: four major stages marked the preparation of Kevin Mayer for the decathlon of the Tokyo Olympic Games, which begins on Wednesday.
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Qualification in Reunion
Forced to retire from the 2019 Doha Worlds due to injury, Kevin Mayer (29) was obliged to finish a decathlon in the Olympic minimums (8350 points) to be on the trip to Japan.
A competition is planned in the United States in April 2020, but the postponement of the Games due to Covid-19 will upset all the plans of the 2017 world champion.
It is therefore in Saint-Paul, on the island of Reunion, on December 18 and 19, 2020, that a competition was finally mounted especially for the occasion by the French Athletics Federation and the Mayer clan.
The world record holder (9126 points), who has meanwhile separated from his historic trainer Bertrand Valcin, is opening his new structure there, now articulated around his physical trainer Jérôme Simian and Alexandre Bonacorsi, a responsible childhood friend. keep all the athlete's performance data up to date (sessions, sets, repetitions, intensity of effort, etc.).
Kevin Mayer in training in Montpellier, July 14, 2021 Sylvain THOMAS AFP / Archives
Arrived on site three weeks before the deadline, Mayer fulfills his contract perfectly by achieving the 4th score of his career (8552 points), before partying all night with the other combiners.
The time has come for deliverance for the French.
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A double indoors in Torun
After weighing the pros and cons for a long time, Mayer decides to participate in the Euro indoor in Torun (Poland) in March.
Four years after the title won in the heptathlon in Belgrade, along with a continental record (6479 points), the Rio-2016 silver medalist wishes to treat himself to "a repeat before the Olympics".
Kevin Mayer in training in Montpellier, July 14, 2021 Sylvain THOMAS AFP / Archives
He won without surprise (6392 points) and especially filled with confidence after two consecutive failures in a major championship (Euro-2018, World-2019).
"I have been drooling with the championships since 2018 and it's good to come back to the box. It's a step for the Games and all the work that I put in place with my new team is starting to pay off," says he does.
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A getaway to Dubai
In order to acclimatize to the sweltering temperatures of Tokyo, Mayer spends two weeks in Dubai (United Arab Emirates) in June.
The opportunity for him to see that his little glitch in a calf, which appeared a few weeks before, is nothing more than a bad memory.
Kevin Mayer in training in Montpellier, July 14, 2021 Sylvain THOMAS AFP / Archives
"It was a high course in terms of intensity and quantity with harsher conditions than in Tokyo, explains the Frenchman to AFP. We realized that the heat did not cause me any worries at all. ".
"The idea was to escape the daily grind and essentially to see how Kevin could withstand the heat, abounds Alexandre Bonacorsi. In Dubai, it was very hot, between 40 and 50 degrees every day with a high level of humidity. But the program of the sessions remained broadly the same as usual, with however more volume because we were far from the competition. "
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Home training in Montpellier
Apart from the two weeks spent in Dubai, Mayer did most of his preparation in Montpellier at the Philippidès stadium, backed by the local Creps, while taking advantage of the weight room recently built in his house.
"Comfort" essential to its balance.
Kevin Mayer in training in Montpellier, July 14, 2021 Sylvain THOMAS AFP / Archives
"These are small details that make training more bearable from a physical and nervous point of view. In the decathlon, there are ten events to work on. So we go a long way in terms of fatigue", underlines t -he.
This big basketball fan has also installed a basket for his "pleasure", in order to "calm his nervous system".
"I shoot every day and for 45 minutes to an hour, I only think about one thing, to put the ball in the net. I sweat a little without getting tired, it's really relaxing and it feels good ", says the French.
"It's a luxury, admits Alexandre Bonacorsi. He holds his house there and it's a big personal project. It allows you to do your sport at home and to escape with basketball, petanque, the swimming pool. is independent for his bodybuilding at home, he hardly comes to train at Creps anymore. He can do a lot of things on his own at home. "
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