Yann Le Goff, 20, learned to swim almost from birth. With a father and two sisters who practiced competitive swimming and a mother who was a lifeguard at Balneïdes, the Fouesnant swimming pool, it was quite natural that he turned to this sport.
“Basically, we all learned to swim to be able to go to the Glénan Islands,” remembers the young athlete. He quickly joined the Quimper club, “Union Quimper Natation” and began competing at the age of 10. Quickly, he established himself among the greatest swimmers and won all the titles, from the departmental championship to the French Hope Championship in 2019 where he finished 2nd in the 100 and 200 meter breaststroke. He then turned to crawl and joined the Rennes club, after a stint at the Brest club.
In June 2023, he participated in the French Elite Championship and finished 6th, with a time allowing him to qualify for the European Championships in Dublin in the U23 category. He finished 2nd in this competition which allowed him to join for the first time the preparation course which took place at the beginning of January 2024 in the Canaries, with a view to the French Championships which will take place in Chartres from June 16 to 21. with, perhaps, a place in the Olympic Games.
“There can always be a surprise”
This course in Tenerife took place among the greatest French swimmers, notably Charlotte Bonnet and Maxime Grousset. He trains to set the best time in the 200 meter crawl. “To be qualified individually for the Olympic Games, I must achieve a time of 1’46” 26 and be in the first two French swimmers in the 200 meter freestyle at the French Championships. For the 4 x 200 meter freestyle relay, only the first five at the French Championships will participate, not including a substitute. In France there are only around ten of us who can claim to be in the top five but there can always be a surprise,” admitted the tall young man of 1m90 who is coached by Mathieu Burban, the former coach of Camille Lacourt.
“We met in the docks in Rennes 4 years ago,” says Yann Le Goff, currently in a gap year, before continuing his studies at IUT to perhaps turn to naval engineering.
