For the past few months, TSE has been the official sponsor of the “YCC Olympic Ambition” circle created by the Cannes Yacht Club.
Bringing together two mixed teams of high-level athletes: Aloïse Retornaz — Hippolyte Machetti and Lucie de Gennes — Matisse Pacaud, this circle aims to best support them in their sporting adventure, with the final objective being the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, whose sailing events will be held in Marseille.
The European Junior Champions in 470
After the titles of World Champion in months of 21 years and of Vice-Champion of Europe in 470 Junior in 2021, Lucie de Gennes and Matisse Pacaud won a new medal by becoming, last August, European Junior Champions in 470 in Vilamoura, Portugal.Despite complicated weather conditions, the duo led the championship most of the competition by remaining, during the seven rounds, in the top of ranking. ”
In the end, we were able to sail four days out of the six planned, but sometimes with very long waiting times and races starting very late in the day. ” explains Matisse. Indeed, both athletes had to deal with high temperatures, over 40 degrees, and weak winds. This expectation did not discourage them. ” We stayed focused and calm all week. Objective: not to break down mentally before others. We leave with a lot of positive points, if we start at the front, 90% of the inning is done. ” confides Matisse.
The Junior World Champion in 470
After this victory, the two champions returned to their training center in Marseille for a few days in order to prepare for the Junior World Championship in 470 in Tihany in Hungary.
Just like the previous month in Portugal, the two racers quickly took the lead in the competition by maintaining their dominance over their competitor throughout the championship. The duo gave us a great performance over the 12 rounds organized, despite a very random course of water that earned them many hours of waiting. This did not discourage the crew who stayed focused on their objective: to win! Their efforts were rewarded, they won a new title by being crowned Junior World Champions in 470. With this new title in their pocket, Lucie de Gennes and Matisse Pacaud are getting a little closer to their goal: the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
The European Senior Championship in 470
Following these two victories, the two champions joined the other mixed crew Aloïse Retornaz and Hippolyte Machetti for the European Senior Championship in 470 which took place in Turkey.
At the end of the competition, Hippolyte Machetti and Aloïse Retornaz finished in 4th place in the competition and won the medal race by leading the heat from start to finish. “Nice medal race, nice weather, but super nice. We were able to win it over our opponents. Super happy to end up like this! ” indicates Hippolyte.
As for the Lucie-Matisse duo, they maintained themselves in the top 20 of this championship and finished in 19th place in the competition. ” We learned a lot during the finals. When an athlete doesn't win, he has to learn, and that's exactly what we did. ” explains Matisse.
Both teams have already returned to training to begin their preparation for the World Championship which will take place in Israel in the coming weeks.
