Laurence St-Germain world champion | ” I did not expect that. It’s incredible ! »

Laurence St-Germain had never been on a podium at this level.

While Mikaela Shiffrin was going down the slope, she therefore asked Lena Dürr, who was following her in the standings, which side she should sit on for the official ceremony…

“Wait a minute, Mikaela is wasting time…”, warned the German, pointing towards the Roc de Fer track.

By her own admission, the Quebecer had not really watched the descent of the American, hyper favorite of this slalom of the World Alpine Skiing Championships in Méribel, on Saturday.

Quadruple world champion in the specialty, the most victorious skier in history in the World Cup, already triple medalist at these Worlds, leader after the first round, Shiffrin could not escape this other title which held out her arms in her favorite discipline. …

But the Vail athlete started making unusual fouls, dropping tenths left and right. The cushion of 0.61 seconds she held on the Canadian was starting to unravel.

A few doors down the line, the green light suddenly turned red. When Shiffrin darted towards the wire, it was already obvious that she would not be able to dislodge St-Germain from the lead.

His question to Dürr, bronze medalist, has therefore become null and void…

“I just had to stand in the middle, it made it easier for me! “, dropped St-Germain in a press conference before emitting his characteristic laugh which betrays a mixture of modesty and reserve.

“It’s a little weird,” the winner candidly reacted to the FIS microphone a little earlier. Of course, I didn’t expect that. It’s incredible ! »

A village of champions

At 28, Laurence St-Germain thus became the first Canadian to win gold at the Worlds since Mélanie Turgeon in 2003. At the time, she had her competition helmet autographed each year to the world downhill champion, born as she from Mont-Sainte-Anne.

“With the Skibec regional team, we always trained on the Mélanie-Turgeon trail. It’s really special to be the first world champion after her, 20 years later. It makes me very proud to follow my idol like that. »

The name of his village, Saint-Ferréol-les-Neiges, intrigued European journalists, who had nevertheless heard of Pierre and Alex Harvey.

After Alex in cross-country skiing, in 2011 and 2017, St-Germain is therefore the second world champion from Saint-Ferréol, which has a residential complex called “Faubourg Olympique”…

“It’s a small village of 1,000, 2,000 people, but we’re athletic and we like to play outside… even if the mountains aren’t as big as here! “, explained St-Germain.

Raised in a family of skiers, the slalomer did not however grow up with posters of the Olympic Games or skiers on the walls of her room.

“But I’ve always loved skiing, always wanted to compete in skiing. It’s really later than the Olympic dream, the dream of being a champion, began. »

” Impossible ! »

St-Germain built its victory from the first run, where it started only 18^e due to an up and down World Cup season so far.

As she had promised herself, she attacked the course with commitment, making sure not to leave anything between the stakes to avoid regrets.

” What ?!? Holy sh…! “, she reacted realizing that she was third, 0.61 seconds behind Shiffrin and 0.42 seconds behind the Swiss Wendy Holdener.

She took advantage of a lead of three tenths over Dürr (4^e) and Slovak Petra Vlhová (5^e), reigning Olympic champion.

“I really wanted to try to have a good second run and I was hoping to keep my third position. But I would have been happy with the top 10 where the top 5. »

Something to play on her nerves during the long hours of waiting before the second descent, where she did not allow herself to watch videos.

Installed in this advantageous position for the first time in her career, St-Germain coped very well with the situation, even if she said she was a little “nauseous” in the gate.

The fire ignited after a slight error at the top of the layout. “I used my stress to attack even more. I knew that if I didn’t give my 110%, I was going to be disappointed. »

Brilliant in the wall and on the final flat, she managed to dislodge Dürr (+ 0.69 s) from the lead position. ” Impossible ! “, she launched, with a big smile, seeing the “1” appear next to his name on the indicator board… which it took her a while to spot.

“I froze a bit. I wanted to be sure it was true! Just to have a podium, I was amply satisfied. »

Assured of an almost unexpected medal, St-Germain had only to wait to know the color.

She was already celebrating with her teammates Ali Nullmeyer (12^e) and Amelia Smart (24^e) when they pointed out to him that Holdener, second in the classification of the discipline and on his way to first place, had just straddled…

There was only Shiffrin left, the best slalomer in history and probably the best skier as well.

Already a double medalist in Méribel (silver in super-G, gold in giant slalom), the 27-year-old American made some unusual mistakes, which melted her lead.

Shiffrin found the resources to hold onto the silver, finishing 0.57 seconds behind St-Germain, whom she warmly congratulated in the finish area.

“I left everything on the track, explained Shiffrin in a press conference. The headlines will probably be: “She lost the gold.” But no. In my eyes, I won the silver and the Canadian team and Laurence won the gold. I hope everyone can give her the attention she deserves. It is its own title. That’s what happens at World Championships. It’s such an amazing performance. They deserve it. »

In the midst of the championships, Shiffrin had to deal with the controversial departure of longtime coach Mike Day, who walked out after learning he would be fired at the end of the winter.

For this last race, the American had to dig deep to become the first among skiers, men and women alike, to win six medals in the same event.

These compliments will probably make the gold medalist blush. “Honestly, I never thought I’d beat her! she admitted. If I was ahead of her, it was because she hadn’t finished or had gone up a door…”

Shelving

In the evening, St-Germain let his emotions show for the first time during the medal ceremony. His eyes shone during the national anthem…

“It’s been a bit of a fog since I crossed the finish line,” she breathed, appearing virtually in front of the Quebec media, two hours later. “I think it’s the first time I’ve sat down since the race… I still haven’t eaten, I’m running all over the place, but no, I’m starting to realize it. It helps to have my medal. »

Dropped from the national development team in 2014 after a “mediocre” season, the Quebecer returned to the University of Vermont, where she earned a degree in computer science and two NCAA titles in 2019. His performances on the Nor-Am circuit allowed him to make his World Cup debut the following winter.

At her first Worlds in 2019, the technician placed sixth in Åre, Sweden. She was over 17^e in Cortina, two years ago, the same ranking as at the Beijing Olympics last winter.

She had never done better than sixth in the World Cup, in Levi, Finland, at the start of the 2020-2021 season.

After an inconsistent start to the winter, she took seventh place at her last start in Špindlerův Mlýn, Czechia, enough to give her confidence for her third Worlds, where she only wanted to think about her execution, reserving “the surprised” as to the result…

A bad night the night before was almost a good indicator of the day she would experience.

“I was still confident after my good days of training over the past few weeks. This good skiing gave me a lot of stress in the last few days because I just knew that I was at the top of my game right now. In general, in my career, I performed well with that little pressure…”

St-Germain suspects that she will be much more expected for the last two World Cups next month. But forever, she will be a world champion. “It’s really huge and it certainly motivates me. »