Laurence St-Germain skied to her first top-10 of the season on Wednesday at the World Cup in Lienz, Austria. Enough to give confidence to the Quebecer who, after having experienced some difficulties in training recently, started a series of four World Cups in slalom.
With a time of 52.3 s from the start, St-Germain occupied the 7e provisional rank at the end of the first round. She posted a time of 51.32 s on her second run, but her cumulative score of 1 min 43.62 s nonetheless pushed her two ranks to give her the 9the place (+1.52 seconds).
“I made a few small mistakes in the second run,” admitted the skier from Saint-Ferréol-les-Neiges, in an interview with Sportcom. “The course was a little less paced, so I got caught in some spots and lost a bit of time. All in all, I’m really happy to have a top 10. ”
Slovakian Petra Vlhova notched her third victory of the campaign with a time of 1 min 42.1 s. Austrian and world champion Katharina Liensberger (+0.51 seconds) received the silver medal, while Michelle Gisin (+0.68 seconds) of Switzerland was third.
It is a 50e career podium for Vlhova. The day before, she had won the silver medal in the giant slalom. Also in action on Tuesday, the Gatinoise Mikaela Tommy was stopped in the first round of this event won by the French Tessa Worley.
Aggression pays off
Earlier this season, Laurence St-Germain had placed 17e in the first slalom on the calendar, in Finland, before falling to the second. She then took the 13e rang in Killington, Vermont.
This time, the 27-year-old wanted to go on the offensive in Austria and put aside his hesitation from previous outings. A nervousness, which she had not yet felt this year, was invited at the start of the day and raised her adrenaline in the starting gate.
“Throughout my descent, I told myself that I had to attack,” she stressed. Even when I made mistakes, I wanted to start attacking quickly again without thinking about it and trying to get through each gate as best I could. That was my state of mind and it worked out well today (Wednesday). ”
This performance motivates St-Germain for the next World Cups, where she will try to meet the Olympic qualification criteria of the Canadian federation. To achieve this, she will have to climb into the top 20 for the fourth time this season.
“In training in the last few weeks, it’s been difficult and I haven’t been at my best, but I was thinking that in the end, it’s the races that count. It’s a little turnaround to have this result. To start the slalom boulder this way is really positive. ”
The next slalom will take place on January 4 in Zagreb, Croatia.