Frenchman Cédric Joly clinched the title of world champion in single-seater canoe slalom at the age of 24 on Saturday in La Seu d'Urgell, Spain, less than a year from the Tokyo Olympics.
With a clear round in 90 sec 84, he was ahead of Spain's Ander Elosegi of 51 / 100th (91.35) and Slovenian Luka Bozic of 1 sec 08 (91.92). Two other Frenchmen had climbed into this world finals: Denis Gargaud, Olympic champion in title and only 5th (94.28), and Martin Thomas, 8th (97.41). "It's been an incredible race, I've never had such an audience, I've had a complicated season, and when I qualified for the final I cried, it's just happiness," commented the new world champion, moved to tears.
Tokyo ticket is not insured
The native of Sarlat-la-Canéda, in the Dordogne, who studied at Sciences-Po Rennes, however, did not secure his ticket for the Olympics 2020 in Tokyo, because of the huge internal competition in France, because he There is only one representative per country at the Games. For the selection for Tokyo, the French federation has put in place a process taking into account the two best results on the three stages of world cup in 2019, as well as the Worlds to establish a national ranking.
Thomas, who has been the most consistent of these four competitions, finished only third French at La Seu d'Urgell. For Denis Gargaud, the defense of his Olympic title promises to be complicated, he who knew as Joly a start of the season season complicated.
The decision of the federation is expected after the Worlds, but if it considers that none of the three céistes is detached, it reserves the right to extend the qualification process. The C1 is one of the great French specialties since since 1992, a Frenchman has always been on the podium at the Olympics, apart from the 2008 edition in Beijing, with notably the triple Olympic champion Tony Estanguet (2000, 2004, 2012) , present in Spain and congratulated Cédric Joly in a video posted on social networks. In the ladies kayak single seater, no French took part in the final, the 12th place Camille Prigent however ensuring the Olympic quota for this boat to France.