Marie-Michèle Gagnon started her season by placing 16e echelon of the women’s downhill presented Friday, on the sidelines of the World Cup in Lake Louise, Alta. Aware of the elements to improve in her skiing, the specialist in speed events will have the chance to recover quickly on the same course.
“I made a big mistake in a very important section of the course and it hurt me a lot. Things were going very well at the top of the track and I was even posting the fourth split time. On the other hand, I slowed down a lot after my mistake in the middle of the course and I could not recover, ”she analyzed in an interview with Sportcom.
In the end, Gagnon was 2.71 seconds behind the winner, the Italian Sofia Goggia (1 min 46.95 s). The latter dominated the competition to finish at the top of the standings ahead of American Breezy Johnson (+1.47 s) and Austrian Mirjam Puchner (+1.54 s), second and third, in order.
Stefanie Fleckenstein (38e), Roni Remme (43e) and Candace Crawford (51e) were the other Canadian women in action during this event.
It was the first outing in three days for the skiers who only got one training session in the last week due to the vagaries of Mother Nature.
“It wasn’t easy. We managed to train on Tuesday, but it was really not ideal with the wind and the temperature. Fortunately, it was a lot nicer today (Friday) and the track conditions were excellent, ”continued Gagnon, who had finished seventh during practice.
The Lac-Etchemin athlete will be back in the starting gate in less than 24 hours, during a second descent. Without setting a ranking objective, she hopes this time to offer a service to match her preparation.
“I especially want to have a better performance than today overall. I had a good season last year and that allows me to have a good bib (number 8) to start this Olympic year. I’m very well prepared and now you have to put that into practice during the races, ”she said by way of conclusion.