Mathilde Descoux: “You could say I was born at the CREPS”
Mathilde Descoux is a student at Montpellier Management. She won first place in the 400-meter race at the collegiate track and field championships held in Blois on June 1 and 2, 2024.
She got into track and field when she was little. It runs in the family for Mathilde Descoux: her mother is an athlete, and her father is both an athlete and a track and field coach.“You could say I was born at the CREPS,” smiles Mathilde, who, from her very first steps, had the Philippidès Stadium as her playground and the long-jump landing area as her sandbox.
At age 6, she started track and field, trying a little bit of everything, and at 16, she chose to specialize in the 400-meter dash, “because I’m a sprinter, and also partly to set myself apart from my father, who coaches the 800-meter race,” recalls the young champion, who trains at the Mireval Gardiole Athletics Club.
Goal: French National Team
At 21, the Philippidès Stadium remains her favorite place to play, where she now trains about a dozen hours a week. It’s a schedule that isn’t always easy to balance with her business administration degree at Montpellier Management. After a very demanding first year—during which juggling training and studies caused“a lot of stress and even injuries”—Mathilde Descoux decided to complete the following year’s coursework over two years, thanks to a special arrangement for elite athletes.
This choice paid off with first-place finishes at the university championships in Blois this summer and then in Metz this winter, where she completed a lap of the track in under 55 seconds. It was an impressive performance for the athlete, who is aiming to make the French national team and plans to pursue a master’s degree in innovation strategy and consulting. Her career goal: to work for a sports company so she can combine her profession with her passion—and stay comfortable in her cleats.