(Paris) Frenchman Simon Billy, 31, seized the world ski speed record by reaching 255.5 km / h on Wednesday in Vars (Hautes-Alpes), we learned from the organizers.

“I made the descent of my life, I was calm and confident at the start. This record today at home in Vars is a collective victory. Kid, I attended all the records here […] Today, it’s a childhood dream come true, “said Simon Billy.

Le Varsin is part of a famous family of speed skiers and has been training since childhood on the Chabrières piste, the only one in the world approved for speed records.

His father Philippe Billy seized the world record in Vars in 1997 with a top speed of 243.902 km/h. Simon Billy stole the world record from Italian Ivan Origone, set at 254.958 km/h in 2016.

With an average speed over 100 m estimated at 255 km/h, Simon Billy won his second title of world champion in speed skiing at the Speed ​​Masters 2023.

Billy started his descent at the top of the resort at 2715m, on a track that has 495m of drop and a maximum gradient of 98% – flirting with the vertical.

Speed ​​skiers can reach 200 km/h in less than 6 seconds. The discipline, demonstrated at the Olympic Games in Albertville (France) in 1992, has not passed the mark of approval.