In 70 World Cup starts, Laurence St-Germain has never been on the podium. In three attempts at the World Championships, she has a medal, gold, snatched from the noses of the favorites, on February 18, in Méribel.
This anomaly in her track record, the slalom skier from Saint-Ferréol-les-Neiges would like to make it disappear. Not because she has imposter syndrome, rather because she knows she is perfectly capable of it.
“I tasted it and I want to do it again,” she said on Monday. I don’t really feel the pressure from the other skiers. And I don’t feel like if I don’t do it again, I didn’t deserve it [this world title]. It’s really more that I have the motivation and the desire to do it again. »
After a crowd at Tremblant, where she happily reconnected with the great Quebec and Canadian alpine skiing family, Laurence St-Germain is back in Europe for the rest of the World Cup season.
In three starts in November, the results were divided: not qualified for the second round of Levi’s opening slalom, seventh the next day on the same Finnish track, 14th two weeks later in front of the excited crowd at Killington, where she had relatively well done in the first round (8th).
“I was very disappointed after the first race in Levi. However, things were going well in training and that’s not how I wanted to start my season. There is always extra stress at the first race because you haven’t compared yourself with the others over the summer and you don’t know where you stand. I made a tactical error at the bottom of the first pitch, it cost me my second round. »
Fortunately, the world champion didn’t have to brood over this failed transition for long: less than 24 hours later, she was launching out of the gate for a second try in the “Levi Black”, en route to seventh place, at 1 .32 seconds from the indomitable Mikaela Shiffrin, her runner-up at the Worlds. Without being perfect, her two rounds were more in line with what she had produced so far in training.
“I was very happy with how I bounced back. I really executed my game plan better. They weren’t my best runs ever, but they were very good runs that I hope to be able to consistently repeat. »
“Confident” for Killington, a “local” race for the University of Vermont graduate, Laurence St-Germain gave herself chances of success with the eighth time in the initial round. However, two mistakes sank her on the restart.
“I was disappointed, especially at Killington, where I always want to do well in front of my family and friends. Fourteenth is below my expectations, but it’s not dramatic either. »
Both in Vermont and in Finland, the 29-year-old athlete experienced the same problem in the second round: she momentarily dropped her right stick after hitting a pole. Each time, she recovered well, but the small losses of balance that followed certainly cost her a few positions.
These gripping difficulties are attributable to an injury suffered during a spring training camp at Tremblant. A complete rupture of a ligament in her right thumb landed her on the operating table on April 1. Clearly, the rehabilitation is not quite complete. The master’s student in biomedical engineering at Polytechnique Montréal saw her surgeon again last week. Reassured by the condition of her hand, she left with exercises from an occupational therapist.
“Since I’m right-handed, this hand should be stronger, but it was weaker. It’s about retraining it. »
After her visit to Tremblant, where she attended with a touch of jealousy the two giant slaloms won by Federica Brignone, Laurence St-Germain put her skis back on in the north-east of Italy, where she had three good days on a track intended for training.
“I have already made gains in small technical and tactical aspects that I wanted to work on after Killington. After the reconnaissance [of the course], it’s really about seeing far, taking in as much information as possible while I’m going down. At the same time, I just want to execute and trust my technical abilities. »
Returning from a weight training session at the time of the interview, interrupted by passages in a tunnel, the skier will be entitled to two days off before another period of training at another location in Italy.
Her next meeting will take place on December 21 in “the alpine skiing bourgeoisie” in Courchevel, where she had her golden snowflake slipped around her neck after her victory in the neighboring resort of Méribel last winter. This return to the 3 Valleys does not particularly excite her, she assures us, except that the slalom will take place under the reflectors, a prospect which enchants her.
“These are the men who were skiing in Courchevel at the World Championships, so it won’t be the same track. I still know her, but she is different. It’s a completely different atmosphere. »
Not so much, if the Quebecer manages to climb one of the three steps of the box again.
