Paris 2024: Lisa Pou finishes 18th in 10km marathon swim
Lisa Pou in action in the Seine during the 10km marathon swim. © Stéphan Maggi/ Monaco Olympic Committee
No podium for the last Monegasque athlete competing at the Paris 2024 Games.
8 August 2024 was the day Monegasque athlete Lisa Pou had been waiting for: the 10km marathon swimming event in the Seine.
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In front of Prince Albert II, Princess Alexandra of Hanover and her partner Ben-Sylvester Strautmann, who had come to watch the race, the flag-bearer for the Monegasque delegation had to summon all her reserves to swim for two hours, half of them against the current, with a flow rate three times faster than normal.
An extremely difficult race
Lisa Pou finished 18th by completing the 6 x 1.67km route between the Alexandre-III and Alma bridges in 2:07’05”4. Disappointment was the ovrriding sentiment once back on terra firma. “Physically I wasn’t 100%, that’s true. But I still felt pretty good. The race did not go well. It was a battle for survival, from start to finish. I’m very disappointed with my result,” said the exhausted 25-year-old swimmer. “Clearly, the current was unusual. It was a matter of centimetres. We had to be very precise with our bearings. I don’t think I was good enough. It’s not normal for me to end up so far behind the winner.”
The Dutch swimmer Sharon van Rouwendaal (2:03:34:02), the Australian Moesha Johnson (2:03:39), and the Italian Ginevra Taddeucci (2:03:42:08) shared the podium despite very difficult conditions.
Lisa Pou is nevertheless keeping a positive frame of mind: “Now, I’m going to – and need to – keep moving forward. The Paris Games are not an end in themselves. This will motivate me for the future. I hope to come back even stronger next year.”