Gueorgiou was prepared to quit the Long
Posted on | July 10, 2014 | Category: Arena
Thierry Gueorgiou felt strong in the long distance race. Photo: Erik Borg
Thierry Gueorgiou had been thinking about stopping in the Long Distance race, but he didn’t have to do that.
The “Middle Distance phantom” is really going hard for the Middle Distance in these Championships. That is his number one distance and he had been talking about not taking part in the Long, but when the start list was made public his name was there. He has also shown great strength this year, for instance his tremendous last leg at Jukola when he just flew away from Fredrik Johannsson and Jonas Leandersson, who also are very good internationals, and brought a new victory for Kalevan Rasti.
“After Jukola I decided to go for the Long as well”, he says.
As the first man ever he got a third gold on that distance. In the Middle he has seven golds before Friday’s race. In 2007 he also got Sprint gold, and in 2011 the Relay gold.
The plan in advance
Because the Middle race is so important for him, he had a plan to follow if the race didn’t go well or he felt very tired. “I was ready to retire from the race if I didn’t feel 100% and I thought that stepping out would be the best for my race on the Middle Distance”, he says. But it went very well. There was no thought of stopping. “It was quite a good run”, he says.
Uphill training
Normally Thierry lives in Uppsala in Sweden, but for almost two months he hasn’t been living at home. “It’s not so steep there”, he smiles. For one month he stayed in Asiago, quite close to where the Middle will be, and lived and trained 1,200 metres above sea level. “I climbed 1,000 metres daily in my training”, he says.
For the last three weeks he has being living in his parents’ cottage at the same altitude in the Alps.
Good physical shape
_ How’s your level compared to earlier?
“It’s hard to say, but I think I was better in 2007 and 2011, and for an old man it isn’t so easy to find top shape”, he smiles.
For sure the 35-year-old Frenchman still knows the game, and on Friday he’s heading for taking back the “Middle King” crown and getting revenge. Last year he was only second in the Middle distance at WOC.
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