Valentin Bertrand has seen life in bronze since July 15, the day he finished 3rd in the T37 long jump at the World Para Athletics Championships in Charléty. An accomplishment of ten years of work that the Parisian savors, without resting on his laurels. Work, pleasure and humility are on the menu of his training program for the next Paralympic Games in Paris in 2024.
“I’m really happy, it shows that hard work always pays off.” Valentin Bertrand does not sulk his pleasure, July 15, a few hours later to have won the bronze medal in the long jump T37 (cerebral deficiency) at the World Para Athletics Championships at the Charléty stadium in Paris.
At 27, this native of Neuilly-sur-Seine won the best reward of his young career, and more at home. A moment of emotion and accomplishment for someone who started para-athletics just over ten years ago. “This medal is a pleasure,” he says. “I started athletics around 15, so it’s been a little over ten years of work to get a result like this.”
And Valentin Bertrand continues: “When I saw that the fourth (Brazilian Mateus Evangelista, Editor’s note) was not doing better than my best jump, it was a mixture of very positive emotions in me. Suddenly, I started to shed a few tears. Afterwards, I took the sixth jump as a bonus… and I did a massive two-meter bite, although technically it wasn’t ugly (laughs).”
The essentials are guaranteed one year before the Paralympic Games. Collectively, Valentin Bertrand is one of only four French medalists (all bronze) during these world championships. Individually, this is an undeniable sign of progress for the para athlete who had never before hung a podium at the world championships – 6th in London in 2017, and 5th in Dubai in 2019.
“Getting ready for something even bigger a year from now”
What a long way for Valentin Bertrand has come in a few years. Hemiplegic from birth (50% paralyzed in the right leg and arm), the young man without complex first practices tennis, football and skiing. “As I was born with this disability, it is not a problem for me. It’s as if I was valid”, he tells Michelinone of its sponsors.
It didn’t take long for him to shine in para-athletics, which a friend introduced him to at the age of 15. “I discovered this sport and I realized that I had a good level, that I took pleasure in doing it”, he explains to Bleu Handisport. “At the beginning, I started more on the sprint, namely 100m, 200m and 400m, then I discovered the long jump little by little, and I really liked it.”
Three years after making his mark on the slopes and in the sandpits, Valentin Bertrand made his world debut in Lyon, in 2013, where he took part in the 400m T37. Then he tried the T37 long jump – already with success, since he finished 3rd – at the European Championships in Grosseto (Italy) in 2016.
The para athlete ends up abandoning the 400m to devote himself solely to jumping, as he explained to L’Équipe : “I could no longer put myself in the physical and mental states necessary to reach the very high level.”
French para athlete Valentin Bertrand during the World Para Athletics Championships at the Charléty stadium in Paris, July 14, 2023. © Pierre René-Worms, France Media World
At Charléty, Valentin Bertrand enjoyed hanging on to a podium. He has also made his mark for the 2024 Paralympic Games. “Before the worlds, I said that this step was an aperitif before the main course next year,” he explains. These worlds were for him the opportunity to “see the atmosphere of the stadium, to get into the rhythm, to have a first competition where family, friends, sponsors are present… and to prepare for something even bigger in a year.”
In a “good dynamic”, Valentin Bertrand “does not want to ignite”
To reach a potential summit at the next Olympiad, the para-athlete first wants to keep a cool head and not be carried away by his performance. “Even though I won a bronze medal, it was just the one day truth. It might not be the same tomorrow,” he says.
Valentin Bertrand does not intend to change what worked well in his preparation before coming to Charléty. “I’m not going to change much. With my coach, we work well in training (in Amsterdam, editor’s note), we are in a good dynamic. And he does not count his hours to achieve his goals, with eight to ten training sessions per week of an hour and a half on average.
“Always jumping further” is his main objective. In Charléty, he made a mark at 5.92 m. His personal best is 6.10m. “I hope to beat him by next year, or during the Games. It would be a great moment”, confesses Valentin Bertrand. “For that, I will have to try to gain speed on the momentum phase, and that I progress technically and mentally.” The idea of making a podium at Paris-2024 is certainly in the back of his mind, but the para athlete “does not want to ignite.”
French para athlete Valentin Bertrand during the World Para Athletics Championships at the Charléty stadium in Paris, July 14, 2023. © Pierre René-Worms, France Media World
On the other hand, he hopes that the public will see disabled sport at its fair value in a year. “We are high level athletes, and the Worlds are a good illustration of the level we have reached. In several disability categories, the 100m is run in 10’40-10’60. Few able-bodied people are able to reach that level”.
In ten years of competition, the para athlete says he has “seen a huge change” in the way of perceiving disabled sport. “People’s eyes are changing on us”, he is satisfied, while specifying that more and more countries like France are becoming more professional. More and more large companies are also sponsoring disabled sports competitions.
All the conditions seem to be in place for the next Paralympic Games to be a celebration of disabled sports. And while waiting for them, Valentin Bertrand will train with this leitmotif in mind: “Work, have fun, have fun and be serious… without taking yourself seriously.”
