Sailing: “I defined the roadmap,” explains Philippe Mourniac, director of the French team

Philippe Mourniac considère que les équipages français ont bien répété leurs gammes avant les JO. MAXPPP – Gilles Bader

Il est venu s’enquérir de la forme de ces athlètes à deux mois et demi des Jeux Olympiques dans des conditions similaires à ce qu’ils pourraient trouver à Marseille.

On Wednesday, you witnessed the arrival of the Olympic flame in Marseille, we suppose that it was a great moment?

It was a great moment, because we went from a somewhat abstract concept to something. When the Olympic flame arrives on French soil and lights the first cauldron, it is no longer a concept, it is a reality. It was really a great moment for French sailing, because suddenly the athletes were present.

And also because we were lucky enough to have a visit from the President of the Republic and the Minister of Sports. The arrival of the flame launched the Games, objectively, and we feel that there is a enthusiasm growing behind this French Olympic sailing team.

You came to La Grande-Motte to take stock of the troops ?

At the same time, this week, we have three European championships (one in Cannes for the 470, Editor's note) and a world championship. Now, in the straight line, I have defined, with each athlete, the roadmap. I am present every day with everyone to, precisely, see a little bit of the developments, try to contribute, if I can, little things.

What do you expect from them this week ?

It's not necessarily the same thing in the three series, because there is already a notion that is important, which is that first of all, you have to go through the selection stage.

When we have passed the selection stage, in any case, it takes time to digest. We were selected to do the Olympic Games, it’s already huge.

And what's more, we have been selected to host the Olympic Games which will take place in France at home. So, this is yet another step.

In 49er and 49erFX, as the selection took place around mid-March, I think we are reaching the end of this digestion phase a little bit. And so there is a roadmap that is defined with each person, the machine is launched.
For the Nacra17, the selection took place at the beginning of April. It's just been a month. We are still digesting and we need to take time. But what has been great is that there is a lot of work possible that is not obligatory. The crew and the trainer did a really hard job to lay the foundations for this thing.

There, we are in continuity. So, all that to say, there is nothing better than confronting others to see a certain number of points. But we really have to, the notion of pleasure is super important.

They have to be happy to be on them. They have to be happy to be on a new boat because there, we almost have a new boat for all the crews. May they be happy to find opponents to play with them, race, etc. As for the Games, the objective will be in the result.

As such, the objective is not in the result, but rather it is really precisely in this joy of being there, in this joy of share this moment and in the projection of the roadmap. Really, there are areas of work. We must stay on that.

Also read: Sailing: "We wanted maximum potential", explains Guillaume Chiellino, the DTN, on the choice of those selected for the Olympics

You may have found conditions similar to Marseille here, that counts too ?

We will say that the structure of the wind, the heat of the atmosphere, it’s very close to Marseille. The state of the sea, that’s typically Mediterranean . There can still be a fairly large swell, but this can be coupled with a very short chop, very difficult to pass. That’s truly the trademark of the Mediterranean. Where it's great, because it was a real desire of the French Sailing Federation this year, just before the Games, to really try to have several championship proposals on French sites.

It fulfilled our order perfectly. And then, what's great is that clubs, towns, regions played the game. So we're really happy to come to La Grande-Motte.

After five intense days of competition, the “medal race” will take place this Sunday, May 12, in front of the beach of the La Grande-Motte Yacht Club from 1 p.m. The first ten in each series will compete for the medals knowing that the points for this last regatta count double.

On the French side, the only ones able to win a title are Sarah Steyaert and Charline Picon for the 49erFX European Championship. In the lead, Friday and again yesterday, after the first round, they were in difficulty afterwards but remained second overall (105 pts) behind the Belgians Maenahut and Geurts (90 pts). Also note the 5th place of Marseillan graduate, Aude Compan, with Mathilde Lovadina (128 pts).

In 49er, the Tricolores Fischer – Pequin (17th) and Rual – Amoros (18th) were unable to cope with the little wind of the day and will have difficulty entering the medal race. The European title should be played out between the British, Swiss and Dutch, knowing that one more round will take place this morning for them.

In Nacra 17, the crew of the French Olympic team made up of Lou Berthomieu and Tim Mourniac (107 pts) will also compete in the race for the medal by qualifying just since& rsquo;they are 9th. In front of the Italians Tita and Banti will be the big favorites (37 pts) to win these Worlds.

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