Three and far from easy as Coninx takes huge step towards French Olympics spot

No country on the men’s side has more strength in depth than France, and Dorian Coninx became the first male athlete to all but book his spot for next year’s Olympics with his third place in the Paris Test Event.

With winner Alex Yee out on his own up front, there were no fewer than three Frenchmen in the thick of the battle for the remaining podium places.

Portugal’s Vasco Vilaca would pip them all in the sprint finish for silver but right on his shoulder was Coninx, crucially grabbing that all-important podium spot while Pierre Le Corre and Léo Bergere – first and second in another thriller in Sunderland recently – had to settle for fourth and fifth.

‘Super tough’

The French qualification criteria awards a place for a podium finish in the Test Event, providing it is validated with a top six in a WTCS Olympic-distance race next season (or top three if Sprint format).

That should be a relative formality if Coninx can continue the form which has seen him notch top-five places in Abu Dhabi, Yokohama and Cagliari this season.

So no wonder he was delighted to have booked his spot at a home Games, leaving Le Corre and Bergere to battle it out with the likes of Vincent Luis for the remaining two places.

He said: “It was a super tough race. There were five or six of us at the end for the finish. I knew I had my chance, but it’s always a bit tricky and Vasco was super strong, but third is really good and my first podium of the year too, so I’m really glad.”

‘Thank you Paris!’

Describing how his race had unfolded, Coninx added: “I caught them after six or seven kilometres of the run and I was like, okay, there are two more places on the podium and we are still three French, so even if everything goes well, it will be a tough one.

I managed to be the first of the French, so I’m really happy about that.

“It felt amazing to run in France today and I couldn’t even hear my breath as everything was so loud and that’s the sort of race that I prefer. Thank you Paris!”