Yesterday, Dorian Coninx competed at the Championnats AURA de Cross-Country in Simandres, France.
Racing over the 10km course, Coninx finished 4th place, producing a time of 30:35.
Coninx was also the second man home for the Entente Athletique Grenoble 38 team. With their four scorers finishing 3rd, 4th, 7th and 13th, Entente Athletique Grenoble 38 won the day in the relative comfort.
The winner of the race was Nicolas-Marie Daru. In 2022, Daru represented France at the European Cross Country Championships in Torino, Italy. Moreover Daru is currently ranked 124th in the world in the 3000m steeplechase having run 8:31.97 last summer.
That Coninx was only 39 seconds behind Daru therefore speaks to a strong performance.
Earlier today, we noted that the French team seem to have settled upon their strategy for the year which will involve pushing the pace on the swim to force breakaways. Coninx’s showing in Simandres therefore highlights how he will be a threat at both ends of WTCS races this season.
As one of the few men that can combine one of the best swims in the field with one of the best runs, Coninx is versatile and a double threat across races.
2022 did not entirely go according to plan for him, however with a win at the World Cup in Bergen and a bronze medal at the European Championships he still had a year most athletes would envy. His most recent WTCS win only came in 2021 in Montreal and there is no reason to suspect he cannot add another win this year.
With WTCS Abu Dhabi less than two weeks away, Coninx’s running seems to be coming into form. As such, he may be on track for a better season and could finish with a number of medals.
