This was a disaster scenario to avoid entirely. And it happened in San Diego: Kevin Meyer retired due to injury. Hit in the thigh, he dropped his third attempt in the high jump, his fourth event of the California decathlon. A major blow for the double world champion in the discipline who has still not qualified for the Paris Olympic Games. Achieving the minimum is a time trial.
On the evening of June 30, at the end of the qualifying period for the 2024 Olympics, Kevin Meyer will no longer have an outlet. Early in the spring, there are still “B,C,D,E,F” plans as his coach Alessandre Bonaccorsi announced two days before the start of competition. Because Meyer joins Crystal in recent months. He has not completed a decathlon since his world title in Eugene in July 2022.
At 32, Meyer’s body looks slimmer than ever
After missing the world championships in Budapest last summer, he dropped out of the decathlon in Brisbane last December because of a hip problem. Terrible unhappy, Montpellier threw in the towel on the shores of the Pacific Ocean. A thigh strain sustained during the warm-up for the long jump prevented him from doing better than 7.07m. If in the shot put, Meyer corrected the situation with a good throw at 16.10m, it was impossible for him to compete in the high jump.
Two missed attempts at just 1.89m, we heard him wail: “Fuck***, I can’t engage”. With his staff, and in particular the French Athletics Federation’s high performance director Romain Barras, who had arrived for the occasion, Kevin Meyer decided to make one last attempt at 1.92m. But quickly, he gave up and left the competition. A huge disappointment for Mayer, who said he had full control of his means, and doubts would grow over his ability to qualify for the Paris Olympics. The minimum, set at 8460 points, is considered a formality and the Frenchman repeats it often. But he can no longer complete ten events without physically breaking down. At 32, the decathlete’s body looks slimmer than ever.
Until June 30 to qualify
The qualification period extends until June 30, the evening of the last day of the French championship which will be held in Angers. Kevin Meyer prepared to go to the minimum in Anjou if necessary. For the one medal that has obsessed him for years: gold at the Stade de France next August. The double Olympic vice champion has won all but this final title in his career. And the tension will seriously increase. There are obviously many opportunities left before the national championships, for example the famous Götzis Decathlon on May 18 and 19 in Austria. Others are also labeled World Athletics, such as Brescia in Italy, Retlingen in Germany or Arona in Spain between late April and late May. But we have to hope that Kevin Meyer’s injury to his right thigh is not serious enough to keep him on the floor for too long. His coach, Alexandre Bonaccorsi, warned, “We won’t take big risks in San Diego”. He didn’t lie.
