(Mont-Tremblant) Surprisingly, Laurence St-Germain’s life has not really changed since she became world champion.
“There are colleagues in my school projects to whom I tell that I often go skiing, who ask me if I do high-level skiing…” says St-Germain, seated on the second floor of the travelers’ chalet, at the foot of Mont Tremblant.
And when his Polytechnique teammates ask him this question, St-Germain doesn’t pay attention to it. And without pretension, she just responds: “Still. »
However, St-Germain confirmed her place among the best skiers last season. At the World Championships in Courchevel in February, the 29-year-old won a world title in slalom; no Canadian woman had achieved this feat since Anne Heiggtveit in 1960.
Then, beyond this unexpected triumph, St-Germain also concluded the World Cup calendar with confidence, including a fifth position in Äre, Sweden, and a seventh place in Špindlerův Mlýn, in the Czech Republic.
Laurence St-Germain is becoming the skier she always dreamed of being.
Even though her coronation took place nine months ago, hearing “world champion” before her first name still has the same effect. “My teammates also call me that to tease me. They know it bothers me a little. »
But the athlete from Saint-Ferréol-les-Neiges will have to get used to it. Like the title of American president, that of world champion remains affixed next to the name of the person who obtained it. For eternity. And no one can take it away from him.
This hard-won gold medal will remain a source of pride for her, obviously, but above all the certainty of not having made all these efforts in vain. If she never gets on the podium again, she can always console herself with the fact that in February 2023, in Savoie, she will have been the best slalom skier in the world.
“I would have been a little disappointed if I never got a medal, but I was already at a point in my career where I was proud of what I had achieved. […] I love alpine skiing, it’s my passion, but if I had to stop tomorrow morning, I would be proud. »
However, St-Germain will begin its eighth season on Saturday on the World Cup circuit, in Levi, a place where it has often done well.
The main difference between this start of the season and the previous seven is the belief in being able to win. “It’s going to add a bit of personal pressure on me. »
This taste for victory has always inhabited her. But since she tasted it, and got a taste for it, it’s impossible for her to be satisfied. She will need her dose to be completely happy and satisfied.
But if she wants to climb to the top of the podium again, it is to drink in victory with full knowledge of the facts. She wants to enjoy it and bite into every moment. In France, she admits with a little regret of not having completely grasped the immensity of the moment, overwhelmed by emotion. “I tasted it while being so high on adrenaline that there are things from that day that I don’t even remember. It seems like I want to relive it to be aware of what’s happening. »
Of course, with the end of the season, its objectives are renewed and even accentuated.
She knows well, from now on, that at the top of her form, she can be the best. On a good day, she can battle for gold against the greatest skiers of her era. The idea now is to have a good day as often as possible.
The good news, St-Germain believes, is that when he returned to the snow in August, his feelings were the same. Nothing seemed to have changed since the Canadian team’s training camp in Tremblant at the end of winter. “It really gives me confidence,” she says.
Between the desire to be consistent and the need not to be consumed by personal pressure, St-Germain’s biggest challenge for the 2024 season will be to ski for victory, without thinking too much about victory.
A sort of difficult dilemma that the greatest champions must face one day or another. And this moment has come for the Quebecer.
Last summer, Mikaela Shiffrin revealed in a podcast that she can’t win if she thinks about victory at the top of the mountain before setting off. And that his greatest triumphs came when the quest for gold at all costs left his mind.
St-Germain found the same thing: “[The world champion title] was zero in my goals. It was a goal, but I didn’t know when it was going to happen. […] What worked at the World Championships was that I never thought about my medal. »
But like an artist in the wake of rave reviews, St-Germain returns to work with the feeling of being able to do well. Even if your goal will always be to do better, it is difficult to dream of better when you are already on top of the world.
