Of course, it was the swimmer’s tag in swimming trunks that brought him out of anonymity at the heart of the French Championships in polyurethane, in April in Montpellier. Back then “quite disturbed” Yannick AGNEL was disappointing in his results. But following his path and his structured speech at only 16 years old at the time, one might suspect that the Nice-native would make a name for himself with his performances.
It took three months and his three titles at the Junior European Championships (200 m, 400 m, and 4×200 m) to confirm this. In Prague, Agnel, who had denied being “the spokesperson of an anti-suit movement,” played his wildcard (a suit with panels) in the final, becoming in the process the second French performer in history in the 200 m (1’47’’02 behind LEVEAUX, 1’46’’54) after doing so in trousers in the 400 m (3’48’’17 behind ROSTOUCHER, 3’46’’28). As he starts today in GENOA in the 200 m and with his training partner Camille MUFFAT, a season marked by the Bermuda shorts, the tall swimmer (2.01 m, 80 Kg) has a head start: “Some people are really apprehensive about that. It will mostly be very psychological.” But he is far from getting carried away. “My first goal of the year is the Baccalaureate S,” says the student from Don Bosco High School.
Does he benefit from tailor-made schedules that allow him to swim twice a day? Yet, Fabrice PELLERIN, his coach for just over three years, is careful with him. Not to burn him out; “He would want more, but it’s enough. I even hold him back at times. It will allow having an additional margin next year.”
So, what are his ambitions at the dawn of his first senior selection at the Euro in the short course in Istanbul (December 10-13)?
Fabrice PELLERIN intends to remain “really very cautious… He already has a high-level behavior, but he is not ready yet.” Next summer, however, the European Championships in long course in Budapest (August 9-15) could mark, in the 200 m or with the 4×200 relay, his true entry into the big league. “Once the baccalaureate is over, I would really be freed in my mind,” imagines this son of a liberal nurse and an HR director. “I am not putting pressure on myself. It is a difficult year psychologically and physically, but I have a taste for effort.
It will be a long year with the Youth Olympics in Singapore at the end of August. As for the London Olympics, he is already thinking about it: “I will be prepared and not just to see the opening ceremony.”
