Historic victory for Valérie Grenier | “I always believed that I was capable”

Skier Valérie Grenier looks back on her historic victory in the giant slalom of the Kranjska Gora World Cup on January 7.

At 26, Valérie Grenier began to doubt. She looked around and saw skiers her age racking up World Cup podiums. She was stuck in fourth or fifth places. Maybe I’ll never get there? sometimes thought the former world junior champion.

A team technician helped her see things differently: “Think about your journey, the obstacles you have gone through, your chronic ankle pain, operations, your leg fractures in 2019, the season and a half failed, the fear in a hurry, the long rehabilitation…”

This perspective reminded the athlete from Saint-Isidore, Ontario, that the flame was far from extinguished.

“I never wanted to let go,” she recalls from Cortina d’Ampezzo, where she resumes competition this week in the World Cup.

“I always fought to the max to come back to 100%. Deep down inside, I always believed I was capable. But you sometimes have doubts where you tell yourself that it may never happen. We all have podium dreams. I know some girls who quit and never made it. It’s truly sad. I was sometimes afraid that it would happen to me. »

On January 7, at Kranjska Gora, an alpine resort in northwestern Slovenia, Grenier erased those apprehensions. And how!

While the whole ski planet was waiting for the 82^e success of Mikaela Shiffrin, which would have tied her at the top with her compatriot Lindsey Vonn, it was the Franco-Ontarian from the Canadian team who stole the show.

She first recorded the fastest time in the initial run, a first for her at her 41^e start in giant slalom. To his surprise, the three-hour wait before the start of the second descent didn’t seem like an eternity. She had fun with her teammates, as if nothing had happened.

Last to settle in the gate, she was not more nervous.

She skied with great relaxation, without changing her tactics. On a course started, she achieved the best time of this second round to obviously sign the victory, digging a lead of 37 hundredths over the Italian Marta Bassino (26 years old, 27 podiums in the World Cup) and 40 over the Slovak Petra Vlhová (27 years old, 65 podiums).

The Franco-Ontarian did not even raise her arms when she saw the result, contenting herself with clenching her fists in her gloves and giving a well-felt “yes”. She stood alone in the finish area for a few seconds, incredulous and smiling after becoming the first Canadian in nearly 50 years to accomplish such a feat in giant slalom. [Kathy Kreiner avait remporté le slalom géant de Pfronten, en Allemagne, en 1974].

“I couldn’t believe it, it was just unreal. I was in shock. »

Reserved

His apparent lack of reaction surprised many. She swears that she was in seventh heaven and that her reserve is attributable only to her temperament.

“I’m really embarrassed when all the attention is on me. Looks like I’m incapable of having a big reaction. It’s hard to explain, but it’s like: don’t look at me! »

His teammates Sarah Bennett, Britt Richardson and Cassidy Gray took charge of the emotion by jumping into his arms in a beautiful demonstration of collective euphoria.

For the anecdote, Grenier dropped an F word while accepting Marta Bassino’s congratulations, a transgression picked up by the FIS microphone… His mother suggested that he start by stopping swearing in everyday life, like that she will be less likely to find herself in such a position on TV…

The Canadian discussed it with some colleagues on the circuit during a walk in Cortina this week.

“It made me feel good to hear that I wasn’t the only one! Federica Brignone said that she often swears when she descends or leaves the course. It’s not what she wants, but at the same time, it’s your true nature that comes out in those moments. Ragnhild Mowinckel, the Norwegian, experienced the same thing and it made headlines in her country. It happens on the spot and we don’t do it on purpose…”

The day after his victory, Grenier finished sixth in the second giant of Kranjska Gora, won by Shiffrin.

“I haven’t finished, I want more,” announces Grenier, who is now in seventh place in the discipline standings. Freed from doubt, she looks with appetite at the two giant slaloms of Kronplatz (Italy), next week, and that of the Worlds of Méribel, on February 16.

The fear is over

Slowed down by a psychological block since her serious injury during super-G training at the 2019 Worlds, Grenier overcame her fear quickly.

The 26-year-old athlete took all 23^e and 24^e ranks at two super-Gs in St. Anton, Austria, last weekend. For the first, she regretted a big mistake which made her waste a lot of time at the end of the course. She was determined to do better the next day, but gastric problems sapped all her energy.

“At the third of the race, my legs were dead. I felt like I was at the end of a big descent. I had no energy in my legs and it was really difficult. »

The representative of the Mont-Tremblant club regained her strength on Tuesday. As a precaution, she withdrew from Wednesday’s training run. She plans to start this Thursday, probably with a jacket and pants to reduce speed. Her goal is to simply recognize the track on which she must compete in the super-G scheduled for Sunday.