“We set off at full speed and headed towards the yellow buoy, trying to reach the optimal speed”Jean-Pascal Crochet in a strong and clear voice. It is not easy to transmit instructions to athletes with the hum of the boat in which he leads the session. The boat of the coach of the French para-canoeing team moves away and silence takes over the body of water of Temple-sur-Lot (Lot-et-Garonne), a privileged training site for French and foreign athletes, Olympians and Paralympic teams, canoeing and rowing.
The low traffic on this stretch of the river this Saturday morning, August 24 – with the exception of some tourist and fishing boats that the Bleus staff quickly asked to reduce speed so as not to create waves – conditions the good weather, a nearby place to stay: the “ “base” is the appropriate framework for perfecting the preparation of the paracanoeing group, which after this nine-day course moved to the site of Vaires-sur-Marne (Seine-et-Marne) where it trained until its entry into the competition, on Friday September 6.
At the Paralympic Games, this sport only includes events over 200 metres, and only in single-seaters. The discipline made its first appearance at Rio 2016, divided into three handicap levels: KL1 (Kayak Level 1) for athletes with limited trunk function and no leg function; KL2 for those with partial trunk and leg function; KL3 for athletes who can use their core and at least one leg. The canoe, composed of a main float and a stabiliser, was introduced during the following Games, in Tokyo, according to the same classification logic: VL1, VL2 and VL3 (V for come onthe Polynesian name for this type of boat).
At around ten o’clock in the morning, with the cold still enveloping the banks of the Lot, only the canoe of Eléa Charvet (VL3) is missing, who is nursing an ear infection. The other three qualified boats are out, the kayak of Nélia Barbosa (KL3), that of Rémy Boullé (KL1) and the canoe of Abel Aber (VL3). The session is a clever combination of team work and individual training. Nélia and Abel, accompanied on the water by Marie Huguet, an able-bodied kayaker and member of the French U-23 team, complete a series of 50-metre launches under the watchful eye and stopwatch of Jean-Pascal Crochet. Rémy, coached by another national coach, François Maucourant, starts with a different programme and longer distances.
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