In a week that saw multiple Olympic champion Sir Chris Hoy get his first taste of endurance action in the ELMS, another gold medal champion was in the Paul Ricard paddock.
Working with French sports paper L’Equipe, the Olympic swimming gold medallist Laure Manaudou explored the pit and paddock to get her first taste of the WEC.
Manaudou won the 400-metre freestyle event at Athens in 2004 cementing her iconic status within French sporting history. She was the first female French athlete to win an Olympic swimming gold since 1952!
Today Laure was in a very different ‘deep end’ as she explored the inside of the Porsche LMP1 pit to see how the German manufacture prepare and execute their test strategies for the coming season.
Manaudou, an elite athlete for over twelve years retired from competition in 2012 after the London Olympics, is a fan of many sports but can see some similarity between her chosen discipline and endurance racing.
“I think the fitness levels will be similar for sure,” she said. “But the conditions (environment) in my sport are more settled than racing. Romain (Dumas) told me that at Le Mans last year there was sun, rain, day, night and a lot of high pressure conditions. It is really impressive what they do and I have a great deal of respect for them as professionals.”
