Toulouse. TOEC dolphins: Antoine Herlem has a very good back
Revelation of the end of the year 2021, the backstroke of the TOEC Dolphins is now launched towards the 2024 Olympics that he dreams of playing.
“A first title of champion of France, it’s always nice, it’s a moving moment. I’m quite proud of that.” So says Antoine Herlem, 23, crowned French champion in the 200m backstroke last December, which earned him the opportunity to compete in his first short course world championships (25m) in Abu Dhabi in the aftermath. the member of the TOEC Dolphins climbed to the final of the 200m backstroke (8th). “It was a great experience to live”, confirms this student at Insa (he is in the 3rd year of civil engineering) who arrived in the Toulouse club in 2017, from the hopes center of Antibes. Since his integration into the Dauphins du TOEC, under the leadership of Philippe Miomandre first and then that of Nicolas Castel, the native of Dunkirk has crossed the thresholds to the point of pushing the doors of the French team last year. where he competed in the European Championships in Budapest, setting his best time over his favorite distance (1’56”41).
Fascinated by Stasiulis, inspired by Clary
“The 200m backstroke is really the race where I express myself the best”, confirms Antoine Herlem, fell under the spell of the specialty in 2012 “during the Olympic qualifiers in Dunkirk. I saw Benjamin Stasiulis break the record for France at the time (1’56”39). I was fascinated by this race. It had been impressive and yet it gave off such ease. ” A few months later, in the London basin, the American Tyler Clary won the Olympic title “at the end of a last monstrous 50m. It marked me a lot and I also built my model for a long time race like that, giving everything in the last 50 m “, continues the member of the Dolphins of the TOEC who has since” evolved tactically, I have other strategies according to my opponents, but it still remains valid “, underlines- he does.
Driven by a strong competitive spirit, one who does not focus on the lap times “but rather to race and arrive first, it’s a fairly simple vision but it avoids any pressure on the lap”, confides- He is now looking towards the next French championships in Limoges (April) which will be decisive to qualify for the Worlds in Fukuoka (May) then the European championships in Rome (August). Two deadlines that he hopes to compete “in order to store experience for the 2024 Olympics”, the ultimate meeting for the Toulouse international.