Qualifying for the K1 200m sprint starts this Wednesday morning at the Tokyo Olympics.
Silver medalist over this distance five years ago in Rio, Maxime Beaumont is still there, with the aim of climbing the step above.
Before setting off, the Boulonnais details what is going on in his head and his body during the different phases of this sprint of more than thirty seconds.
From our special correspondent in Tokyo,
Maxime Beaumont did not experience the preparation he imagined. After a winter spent working hard, during which he felt for the first time in a long time the breath of the other members of the French kayak team on his back, the Rio silver medalist in K1 200 had to hard to recover. "I was starting to doubt, to say to myself thin, I want to be Olympic champion and I am not capable of being the best French… I was psyching a little", he admits.
Despite everything coming out the winner of the national selections, he then feared losing everything with the throw-in of Olympic tickets in the World Cup.
No cuts, therefore, and mental and physical wear and tear from which he is struggling to recover.
At the beginning of July, before flying to Tokyo, he still had some technical adjustments to make.
But the sensations were there.
The opportunity to ask him what it feels, exactly, during an effort as violent as a sprint in a kayak.
The Boulonnais, at the start of the series this Wednesday, dissects for us all the phases of a race which, in the end, only lasts a little more than 35 seconds.
Before leaving
“I try to focus only on what I control.
I designed a document on which I wrote down all the phases of the 200 meters, with everything I have to do, at each moment.
Everything I need to focus on, everything I need to think about, everything I see, everything I hear.
In fact, declining my five senses at every moment of the race.
The goal is to concentrate on that, so as not to go all over the place, and especially in the race.
I tell myself I have to do this, then that, then that, not I have to be Olympic champion in 200 meters.
"
departure
“Everything is played on the postural muscles.
In three strokes of the paddle we go from speed 0 to half our maximum speed, so these first three strokes are very powerful, even violent.
The muscles in the upper body will help us to move as little as possible, because each movement will have an impact on the trim (the transverse balance) and the list (the lateral tilt) of the boat.
And so we slow down.
This is where it shoots everywhere, you have to tear yourself away while remaining as straight as possible.
"
The acceleration phase
“The start is four to six big strokes of the paddle, then we enter the acceleration phase proper, whether it's pure speed or paddling cadence.
It lasts up to 50 meters.
There, we reach our maximum speed, around 6.5 m / s (a little over 23 km / h).
We are then on a plateau, and we will keep this pace for about fifty meters.
When I'm in good shape, this is my favorite part.
Everything seems easy, the boat moves very quickly and almost effortlessly, it's nice.
The way it glides across the water, I know if I'm having a good day or a tough one.
On the behavior of the boat, too.
When he gets up well, that he is in his lines, that the point does not move at all, then I know that everything is in place.
"
The deceleration phase
“Then the goal is to keep the boat at the highest possible speed.
It's complicated, because you start to have pain everywhere but you have to avoid the tension.
The more relaxed we are, the more we will manage to maintain our speed.
You will immediately feel resistance in the paddle, so you have to refuel so as not to slow down.
It's a bit like the glider, we put the throttle to reach the maximum height, once at the top there is nothing more to do, and when it comes down, we have to fight a little with it so as not to let it go all over the place.
"
The arrival
“Already, we try not to look at what is happening nearby, which is not always easy.
The paddling frequencies go so fast, it must be so adjusted to the millimeter that if we disorganize all that, we do not get over it.
Sometimes you can try a boat throw.
It's not easy to know when to do it exactly, because from where you are you can't see the little lines that indicate the finish.
It's quite technical, we make a kind of gondola with the paddle, and then we throw the whole body forward.
It can win a race, it has happened to me before.
And I have already reached my maximum speed on a throw.
If so (smiles).
"
Sport
Olympic Games Tokyo 2021: “The first session was a disaster!
»… How do you go about forming the perfect pair in a kayak?
Sport
Olympic Games 2021 - Rowing: "You take me to the end of the world, I take you to Mars"… Tarantola-Bové, money for a real bond
Sport
Olympic Games
Tokyo Olympics 2021
Kayak