“Yes, a few foreigners have joined us this season. But we have not changed course. Focusing on our young people is always our number one objective. This is what Nicolas Le Hir, the president of the Triathlon Toulouse Métropole, confided in early May, with a view to the French championship of 1st division clubs. After the first two stages, the TTM has once again kept its word: in Fréjus (May 14) and Dunkirk (June 19), men and women alike, the Toulouse delegation has aligned more than 80% of its workforce with young people French. “It’s a source of pride”, insists the club president, who has completed his troops with the Spaniards Iria Rodriguez Huertas and Andres Cendan Llorens, and the Hungarians Karolina Horvath and Bence Bicsak.

This Saturday, the TTM met the Cape in Metz for the 3rd stage of the French championship. And again, 70% of the group will be made up of French triathletes. “Obviously, the big teams in the championship have much more resources than us to allow themselves to take on many foreigners. But with the various international events that can take place at the same time as D1, it is not certain that they will allow them to be used at each stage of the national calendar, ”underlines Nicolas Le Hir.

Maintenance objective for women, top 10 objective for men

In terms of results, the TTM women’s team is currently in 11th place (out of 18). For its part, the men’s team ranks 7th (out of 19). “In Fréjus, the girls finished in 11th position. Then, in Dunkirk, they confirmed by taking 10th place. Their goal is to get hold. To achieve this, they must at least complete the championship in 14th position. As for the boys, ranked 7th at the end of the 2021 vintage, we hope that they will still end this season in the top 10. For the moment, they are 7th overall with a 10th place in Fréjus and 4th in Dunkirk”, summarizes Nicolas The Hir.