Team ENGIE: the athletes are back!

SURFING - Pauline Ado

Pauline Ado takes second place in the Classic Surf Pro in Pantin, Spain

Surfing competitions are gradually resuming and Pauline is taking advantage of them. Back in Galicia, Spain, for the Pantin Classic Surf Pro competition, from August 19 to 23, the Team ENGIE surfer came a strong second! Congratulations, Pauline!

Pauline is committed to restoring the forests 

Pauline Ado is deeply attached to her region, and this summer she had a heavy heart as a forest fire ravaged 165 hectares of the Chiberta forest in Anglet in southwestern France, close to the Basque surfer’s home. Seeking to offer support, Pauline has become a patron of “Ayaudam Pignada” (Help Pignada in Basque), an association dedicated to a forest restoration project, bringing individual initiatives together and collecting donations.

SAILING - Marie Riou

L30: the French pair are on top in Marseille  

Marie Riou is training hard with her sailing partner, Benjamin Schwartz. Ahead of the L30 European Championship for Offshore Mixed Doubles, which will be held in Genoa, Italy, the two French sailors decided to base themselves in Marseille for the summer.

It was a good choice, because this weekend the L30 European Championship for Full Crew was held there and the French dominated in every leg. Marseille has, of course, been chosen as the base for the sailing events in the 2024 Olympics. 

“Marie and I are fine-tuning our partnership, developing automatic reflexes for whichever class we’re sailing in to ensure we compete in the Olympics together,” says Benjamin. “Competition will be fierce, particularly in France because the level in offshore racing is very high.” 

The signs are good for the future!

SAILING - Billy Besson

Billy Besson is on course for the ETF26!

The European catamaran racing program is about to begin and Billy Besson is ready for action!

One of 7 teams listed for the competition, Billy has entered his own team in the ETF26, the Billy Besson Racing Team, with François Morvan and Matthieu Vandame as crew. 

The program consist of 4 events: 

• August 28-30: Carnac
• September 10-13: La Rochelle
• September 24-27: La Trinité sur Mer
• October 9-11: Port Haliguen (Quiberon)

ATHLETICS - Wilfried Happio

Wilfried Happio is raring to go!

A 21-year-old with a taste for winning! Wilfried Happio, the most recent recruit to Team ENGIE and ambassador for Lille Métropole, has been in great form since competitions restarted.

During August, the athlete sponsored by the Group ran the 400m hurdles in two meets, and was on the podium each time:   

• Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, where he won in 49"11,
• Stockholm, Sweden, for his first Diamond League event, where he finished second, with a time of 49"14.

These results are encouraging for the young athlete, especially bearing in mind that he is aiming to beat the French record for the 400m hurdles, held by Stéphane Diagana since 1990. Diagana ran 48"92 to take the record, and improved on it eight times. It has stood at 47"37 since 1995. 

Go for it, Wilfried !

JUDO - Luka Mkheidze & Madeleine Malonga

Oxygenation training camps for the Team’s judokas

A gradual return for our two judokas, Madeleine and Luka, who have been lucky enough to take part in training camps in the Alps with the French judo team. After spending lockdown far away from judo mats, Madeleine and Luka have both completed the three training workshops planned for the summer.

June: Menuires
July: Houlgate and Montpellier
August: Insep and Soustons

The next important date in their diaries is the European Judo Championships in Prague, Czech Republic, from November 8 to 10.

WINDSURFING - Pierre Le Coq has the wind behind him! 

Pierre was not too dejected after failing to be selected for the 2021 Tokyo Games. The Brittany-born windsurfer, who is sponsored by the Group, has been tempted to try his hand at a new discipline: windfoiling! A genuine technological innovation, a surfboard fitted with a hydrofoil offers speed, sensation and easier steering.

Pierre rook part in the WindFoil world championships at Lake Silvaplana, Switzerland, from August 17 to 22, where he finished in 29^th place. 

“I clocked up flying hours with an amazing board, had 15 heats to learn a bit more and fine-tune the settings, and then finished 29^th place overall and 7^th in the long-distance rankings!”  

Well done, Pierre!

KITESURFING - Axel Mazella retains the European Championship title! 

The Formula Kite European Championships ended on August 23 in Puck, Poland. It was a triumph for the French! 

ENGIE Kite Tour ambassador Axel Mazella took the title of European Champion, ahead of his compatriot Maxime Nocher, an ambassador of the Speed Crossing French championship.

“I'm happy, I managed to do my job and show that I'm the best by holding on to my European title," commented Axel.

In the women’s event, Alexia Fancelli, another ambassador for the ENGIE Kite Tour, was the best-placed Frenchwoman, finishing 6^th.

Our ambassadors will be at Wimereux (62) for the second stage of the ENGIE Kite Tour 2020! 

From September 11 au 13, the ENGIE Kite Tour will come to Wimereux for the second stage of the Speed Crossing French championship. You may remember that the Wimereux stage of the ENGIE Kite Tour 2019 had the most sustained winds and gave the competitors the strongest sensations. 

Organized by ENGIE’s French and Regional Institutions Department and the French Sailing Federation, the Wimereux stage will welcome amateurs to compete alongside such professionals as Axel Mazella (European Champion, 2019 and 2020), Maxime Nocher (runner-up in European Championship 2020), Alexia Fancelli (6^th in European Championship 2020), Anaïs Mai Desjardins, on home ground (winner of the Grande Motte stage in 2019), and, of course, our ambassador for the past 10 years, Alex Caizergues, holder of the world speed record for kitesurfing.