Alpine skiing | Last lap for Marie-Michèle Gagnon

From her hotel room on the edge of the slopes in Méribel, Marie-Michèle Gagnon enjoys an unobstructed view of the Roc de Fer piste, the scene of the women’s events in the Alpine Skiing World Championships.

With the tip of her finger that she slides in front of her phone screen, she traces her entire trajectory, from the starting gate, among the rocks, to the finish, which she can reach in a few minutes. on skis. The sun is still shining at the end of the afternoon. The Alps are obviously magnificent.

Earlier this week, Gagnon raced down the Roc de Fer track in the alpine combined and super-G. It didn’t go the way she wanted, although her expectations were moderate after a spectacular crash she suffered in Cortina d’Ampezzo on January 20. She had suffered another “no worse” before the start of the season in Colorado.

Deprived of her usual confidence on the boards, still struggling with a broken thumb, she chose not to compete in the downhill of her eighth and final World Championships.

This is not the dream scenario, but she prefers to take a step back to better relaunch herself towards the last three World Cups, including the finals in Soldeu, in Andorra, where, on March 16, she will draw a line under a career of 16 seasons in the white circus under the colors of the Canadian team.

At 33 years old and after more than two decades in alpine ski racing, the pride of Lac-Etchemin, in the Bellechasse region, is ready to move on to new adventures.

Without her being able to explain it, Gagnon “felt” in December that her journey would end at the end of winter.

“From there, it seemed like it was more difficult for me to take the risks,” she revealed Thursday by videoconference with The Pressahead of a French press conference on Friday.

“I’m not in a place where I can really perform at Worlds because of my crashes. I have to go train and get my confidence back. There are still three super-Gs and two downhills left this season and I still believe in myself. »

A well-considered decision

Even before his arrival in Haute-Savoie, Gagnon had chosen to announce his retirement in the idyllic setting of the World Championships.

“Maybe it will help me to free myself, even if it is not the first idea, she specified. I want to be able to share it with people and take advantage of the latest races. »

Beanie on his head, in a t-shirt and leggings, Gagnon had just returned from the men’s super-G, on the other side in Courchevel. Accompanied by her Italian friends Marta Bassino and Federica Brignone, crowned in the super-G and combined earlier this week, she witnessed the historic victory of her compatriot Jack Crawford.

The Quebecer was also and above all there to follow the race of her life partner, the American Travis Ganong, 30^e.

The 34-year-old Californian, whom she met at a competition in Alberta in 2006, also revealed that he would retire at the end of winter after the first descent in Kitzbühel on January 20. “He, it kind of liberated him. It’s as if he saw the light at the end of the tunnel. It took that motivation. »

The next day, he climbed on the third step of the podium on the mythical Streif, thus realizing a childhood dream.

“I’m happy for him that he had a bit of a fairy tale ending. There he accomplished everything his heart desired. I don’t think it pressures me or inspires me. It makes me very proud. Me, whether or not I have a fairy tale ending, I’m okay with that. I don’t lack motivation. Sometimes I get two…”

Versatility, a great pride

The representative of the Mont-Orignal club can already boast of 272 World Cup starts since her first in La Molina, in 2008, at the age of 19.

She claims five podiums, including two combined victories in 2014 and 2016. She first distinguished herself in slalom, a discipline where she reached sixth place in the world in 2014. Since the PyeongChang Olympics, which she missed after a serious knee injury in 2017, she devoted herself almost exclusively to speed events, super-G and downhill, her first love.

At the last Olympics in Beijing, her third, she finished eighth in the downhill. At the 2021 Cortina Worlds, she placed sixth in super-G. Two weeks earlier, she finished third in the same specialty at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, her first World Cup sprint podium. His last big dream would be to achieve the feat downhill.

Last winter, his fifth place in the descent of Zauchensee, the place of his first success in combined, allowed him to score another success: to have finished at least once among the first five in all events (slalom, giant, super-G, downhill, combined and urban parallel).

“A family on the road”

Beyond her individual successes, this skier from a family of five children remembers even more the great moments of collective euphoria. She particularly notes the victories of her friends Erin Mielzynski, in slalom in 2012, and Valérie Grenier, in giant slalom last month, two barrier breakers for Canadian alpine skiing.

“These are girls you share your life with, basically. It’s a family on the road, actually. There’s so much more than winning, like all those times we laughed our heads off… Or when the training is perfect, the snow is beautiful and you just feel like you’re invincible. These are the times I will miss the most. »

The one everyone calls “Mitch” has no specific plans for her immediate future, except that of camping with Travis around their Lake Tahoe residence and traveling to visit friends without thinking about the next day’s sessions.

“We traveled around the world a lot, but we didn’t have that much freedom. »

She and her boyfriend started a mentorship program at Harvard Business School where they are called upon to develop their business acumen with MBA students.

For the rest, Marie-Michèle Gagnon wants to get to know herself outside of competitive sport and keeps the doors open: “One thing is certain, however, you will continue to see me hit the slopes, just not in spandex! »