MONTPELLIER, June 16 — World decathlon record holder Kevin Mayer has split with his long-time coach Bertrand Valcin, a little more than a year away from the Tokyo Olympics which were postponed a year to 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Valcin had coached the 28-year-old Mayer for 12 years out of his Montpellier training camp in southern France which also includes Britain’s current world heptathlon champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson.
Under his coach, Mayer bagged Olympic silver at the 2016 Rio Games, the world title a year later in London and the world record of 9,126 points in September 2018.
The Frenchman, who was forced to withdraw from last year’s world champs in Doha through injury, is reportedly examining which coaches he should employ to help him hunt down Olympic gold in Tokyo next year. — AFP
