Amelie Cretz drops out of Montreal but stays on her way to Paris

I had to make the difficult decision to drop out of the race. It’s unfortunate because I felt like I was finally fit and ready to perform at home, but my body had other plans for me. It’s not smart or realistic for me to try to line up next weekendshe said in an email.

The 30-year-old athlete had already canceled his participation in the World Cup in Huatulco, Mexico, last Saturday, to increase his chances of being a starter in Montreal.

Another blow of fate has to face Kretz, who never had the chance to find justice himself on the city track. A stress fracture in the neck of her femur kept her sidelined for much of the 2022 season. The previous year she had been able to start, but a foot injury prematurely ended her run. In front of relatives and friends who came to encourage. for him.

I really tried to be healthy in time for this race,” she says. Being at home is very important to me, but I haven’t achieved that. The good thing is that the season is not over yet and I still have a lot of opportunities to perform.

Obviously, since I didn’t really get a chance to race in Montreal, I did after the Tokyo Olympics and got injured while racing. I never had the chance to run a good race in front of my friends and family, so Montreal certainly still holds a special place in my heart.

This weekend Blainvilloise wanted to take a first step towards the Paris Olympics. A place in the top 12 would have given him a first result among the Canadian Federation’s qualifying criteria, which had eluded him since the start of the season.

In her first competition of the season, in Abu Dhabi, she finished 29th, 1 minute 44 seconds behind British winner Beth Potter. It followed that with a 21st place in Yokohama, Japan and a 26th place in Cagliari, Italy.

If the signs are encouraging in training, Kretz finds it hard to explain why she can’t reproduce them in the race. Far from worrying about it, she would like to enjoy more luck, especially swimming.

On paper, I should get much better racing results, which is still a bit frustrating. In triathlon, I say half the time is luck. And since you have three sports, it should be a good day to be able to do all three. In Yokohama, cycling and running were probably closer to the level I perform in training. But in swimming, it seems like I’m still having a hard time transitioning my pool into competitive open water swimming this year.

I think he will come. With the injury last year, I still had a little over a year without racing, which has never happened to me in my career.

It cannot be used badly

Once again excluded from the national team, Kretz is denied the Canadian Sports Card that allows him to breathe financially. However, she can count on the advice and support of the National High Performance Center of Victoria and her coach, Marc-Antoine Christine. Over the course of the trials, she learned to make her place, no matter the means. She seems to enjoy proving the doubters wrong.

I have to pay every month to be part of the National Center, so I pay the National Federation to have me trainer By the coach, and thus to be part of this program, I confirmed. It gives me access to a coach and financial support. I would say maybe 50-50 now for travel and errands. Otherwise, it’s all on me.

A period of cooling off with the union is necessary after the breach of trust in recent years. Amelie Cretz had to fend for herself, in competition and against her federation, to take part in the women’s event at the Tokyo Games in 2021, for which she had qualified as a place for the country. She had scored her 15th time, the best result for a Canadian at the Olympics. All this in the most complete turmoil.

Five weeks before the Tokyo Games, fighting with a lawyer to get where I was eligible certainly wasn’t the best preparation. And it was very difficult emotionally.

A great deal of water has flowed under the bridge since then, making it possible to restore the bond of trust with the Union, thanks in part to the appointment of a new general manager, Joe Morissette, and a new high-performance manager. , Phil Dunn. There’s still mistrust, but can we blame him?

It is certainly clearer and fairer than it was before. Of course, I still think about Tokyo, which is why I don’t want to give them the freedom to choose for me or not. In spite of everything, I really trust the people in charge now, much more than before.

The only woman in the Victoria National Center affiliated group, Kretz, by mutual agreement with her coach, trains with a group of international athletes based in Boulder, Colorado. She can compete with big names like the reigning Olympic champion, Flora Duffy, her good friend, the American Kirsten Casper, and the Belgian Valerie Barthelemy.

It allows me to take advantage of what they can bring me. And for my part, I’m another person they can train with. It’s give and take.

lucky star

Since Matthew Chedid and Ariane Moffat sang a few days ago at the Place des Arts in Montreal, Amelie Cretz also has her lucky star who has accompanied her since January. After a long illness, his grandfather, Marcel Kretz, died on January 31 at the age of 91. She’s definitely lost one of her most loyal fans, but she’s also been an inspiration on an athletic level.

Originally from Alsace, Marcel Cretz arrived in Quebec in 1953 and became famous as a chef. Not only did he love local produce, but he was also interested in developing young local talent, with whom he worked for much of his life. A life in motion that the Olympian embraces, the kind of infectious hyperactivity that runs through her veins, and that still makes her proud.

He has always been an athlete. He lived in Val David, and had access to a lake, where he swam until he was 85 or 87 years old. He did breaststroke every day, so my athletic genes come from and from Kretz’s side, and from my dad.

Marcel Kretz became the first Canadian chef to be awarded the Order of Canada in 1998 Represent Canada with enthusiasm and shine in international competitions, showcasing Canadian cuisine and promoting the superior quality of our food and agricultural products. His granddaughter can wear the colors of Canada on his ancestral lands. In Paris, she became the first Canadian triathlete to compete in three Olympic Games, a feat she would never do alone.

I think about him a lot, you know. My grandfather has always been my biggest supporter. Before the Tokyo Games, he was sick and wanted to survive just to see them. Then, after Tokyo, he said to himself: “I think I’m going to be okay, I’m going to keep fighting to be there, to be able to go and watch the Games, in Paris.” I often think of him during my races, and I know he would be very proud of him. And I think being in Paris, in his home country, will be really special.

He came from France in his early twenties, and was always very proud of his French roots. Moreover, I still have family in France. I even have a French passport. Thus, I have a nationality. My grandfather wanted to stay alive so he could see me racing in France, so I thought it would be great to be there for him and the family there.

Amelie Cretz finished 50th in the Olympic qualification rankings, a rank that temporarily gives her Canada’s second card to the Paris Games. Montrealer Emy Legault would take the top spot due to a thirty-first-place finish.

Next August, you’ll get to know the Olympic track with the time trial event. Between the Seine and the Champs-Elysées, the Grand Palais and the Quai d’Orsay, she will be able to take advantage of the prestigious course designed by the organizing committee that could be her last on the Olympic stage.

I don’t know what the future holds after Paris. Four years would be a big commitment, but we still see 35- or 36-year-old girls competing, like Flora [Duffy], who is now 35 or 36 years old. I’m not saying no, but I’ll start by going to Paris, and then we’ll see.