Laurence St-Germain makes no secret of it: she is going to Beijing with the firm intention of winning an Olympic medal there. It’s an ambitious goal, especially when you consider that the slalomer has never made it to a podium in 54 World Cup starts and finished 15 in the slalom four years ago in PyeongChang.
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But at 27 and at his second Olympic Games, the athlete from Saint-Ferréol-les-Neiges believes that is far from unrealistic, especially in light of his results over the past two years.
“Last year, I wanted to be consistent in the top-10 — which she achieved with four top-10 finishes in nine World Cup events, including a sixth-place finish. I also came close to it on a few occasions — with three 11sand position. This season, I’m really aiming for an Olympic medal. »
After enjoying his career-best campaign on the World Cup circuit in 2021, St-Germain has already secured two top-10 finishes this season, including an 8-place finish in Schladming, Austria, earlier this month. She therefore approaches her second Olympic adventure with the conviction that she could cause surprise.
“I have a lot more expectations this time. In PyeongChang in 2018, I wanted to gain experience, I was proud to become an Olympian. This time, I want to “focus” on performance. I am happy to have already been exposed to this stress, to the pressure of performance. It will help me to be more ready to try to get my medal. »
Although she has enjoyed practicing several sports since a young age, St-Germain admits that the Olympic dream came to her later.
“It was more as a teenager, with the Quebec team, that I really started to realize that I could make a career out of it, to feel that I had a possibility of going to the Olympics. And in the year of PyeongChang, when I set my goals for the season, participating in the Games became a reality, not just a dream. »
She has fond memories of following the Vancouver Games in 2010 and seeing the performances of Alexandre Bilodeau, Charles Hamelin, Marianne St-Gelais and company.
“They were really inspiring to me. »
Atypical course
Coming from a family of skiers – his father Jean-François was part of the Pro Tour in moguls -, St-Germain had an atypical career before making his place among the elite of alpine skiing.
The country’s top junior in slalom in 2013, she was promoted to the development team the following season. Her lack of results caused her to lose her place and she did not even receive an invitation to the selection camp. She then chose to take another path in order to pursue her career.
She accepted a scholarship to the University of Vermont, Burlington, which allowed her to combine full-time studies with sports. And under the tutelage of coach Jimmy Cochran, a veteran of the American World Cup team, she regained confidence following good results on the Nor-Am development circuit.
Runner-up in the NCAA, St-Germain finally convinced the leaders that she had a place on the Canadian World Cup team. Despite this happy ending, she is not ready to say that the American college circuit is necessarily the way to go.
“The NCAA program is really well done. I really had a lot of support to continue doing the World Cups at the same time as I was taking my lessons.
“But I ended up in Vermont because I was cut from the Canadian development team. If not, would I have gone to Vermont? I don’t know, ”said the one who graduated there in May 2019 after studying computer science. She is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering at École polytechnique de Montréal.
She feels that her studies help her have a more balanced life as an athlete.
“When I travel, I’m happy to have my classes, especially last year when we were isolated in our rooms in Europe due to COVID-19.
“It helps me a lot to have another center of interest. As much as school helps me focus on skiing, skiing helps me focus on school. »
Laurence St-Germain will participate in the slalom event on February 9 at the National Alpine Ski Center in Zhangjiakou Pole.