Manaudou confirms split with coach Lucas

Olympic and world champion Laure Manaudou confirmed yesterday she had split with her coach Philippe Lucas and was moving her training base to Italy from France.

"I wanted a new challenge. I had already planned to leave after the Beijing Olympics. I remain French. I will continue to represent France in official competitions," the 20-year-old told a news conference.

"The only thing that is going to change is the place where I will practice. It will be Turin."

Manaudou, whose boyfriend is Italian swimmer Luca Marin, will train under the guidance of Turin club LaPresse Nuoto chief executive Paolo Penso.

However, she will not be with Marin, who trains in Verona.

"I am not leaving over a love affair. Love is not stronger than sense. If I wanted to be with him 24/7, I would quit swimming," said Manaudou.

She added she believed that with the help of a doctor and nutritionist from soccer club Juventus she would swim faster than when she was training with the outspoken Lucas.

"Philippe is not a bad coach. It is just that I wanted to change some technical things and I could not ask him to change his whole training programme just for me as he also has a dozen swimmers to deal with," Manaudou said.