Monday, December 9: Endurance aquabike racing is the pinnacle of physical endurance for the world’s most talented jet ski riders and Corsican pharmacist François Medori has become the king of the discipline to earn himself the reputation of being ‘The Ironman’.
Not content with winning this year’s UIM-ABP European Aquabike Endurance Championship, the 38-year-old went on to win the UIM-ABP World Aquabike Endurance Championship and narrowly missed out on the defence of his Runabout GP1 title to Sweden’s Samuel Johansson in Indonesia last month.
But the French Easy Rider star is not content with keeping himself physically fit with energy-sapping water sports: he recently entered and finished the prestigious TCS New York City Marathon (NYCM), passing the finish line in 3hr 22min 35sec and averaging a mile every 7.44 minutes.
Medori is a perfect model for the physical fitness and mental determination needed to win at the highest level of physical sport. After missing out on the opening European Moto win to Portugal’s Lino Araújo, Medori reset his focus and stormed to four successive Moto wins on the Allier River course at Vichy in France to win the European title by 25 points from Spaniard Ruben Jimenez Riquelme.
Winning the Endurance World title for the first time on Sumatra’s Lake Toba required a totally different mindset: the Grand Prix of Lake Toba, Indonesia featured five days of racing with the opening three deciding the outcome of the Endurance title and the next two witnessing the battle for Runabout GP1 honours.
Physical fitness and energy conservation were key but mechanical issues on day one of the Karo Cup was the worst possible start for the Frenchman. He bounced back to win Moto 2 but was already facing an uphill struggle to win the world title. The Dairi Cup took riders to another part of Lake Toba and Medori excelled to beat American veteran Anthony Radetic to victory in both Motos.
The final two Motos took place in the town of Parapat on the eastern shoreline of Lake Toba and riders competed for the Simalungun Cup. Medori won the opener and finished third in Moto 2 to seal the title to add to his success in the previous day’s Diari Cup. He finished 11 points clear of Radetic.
Johansson and Medori were locked in a Runabout GP1 duel all season. The tussle started on Thi Nai Bay in Vietnam, where honours were shared with a win and a second place apiece. Johansson then claimed a third and a win in Sardinia to take a slender lead over the Frenchman to Sumatra: Medori finished second and third in the two Olbia Motos.
The duo then shared a win and a second place apiece on the world’s largest volcanic lake but it was enough for Johansson to seal the title by just three points.
Perhaps, Medori will eye a clean sweep in 2025?