Quebecer Marie-Michèle Gagnon finished eighth in the downhill at the Beijing Olympics on Tuesday. Even though this is her best result at the Olympics, she was not entirely satisfied.
“We are at the Olympic Games: only the podiums are important for the athletes and the public”, dropped the one who had taken ninth place in the slalom in Sochi in 2014.
Gagnon, from Lac-Etchemin, was the eighth to set off on the Rock slope at the National Alpine Ski Center in Yanqing. She covered the distance in one minute, 33.45 seconds (1:33.45), exactly the same time as Austrian Mirjam Puchner, who started just behind her.
Gagnon and Puchner’s time was 1.58 seconds behind the benchmark time set by the Swiss and reigning world champion Corinne Suter (1:31.87), who thus collected the first Olympic medal of her career.
“I don’t quite understand how I could have been so far from the leader,” said Gagnon, who probably competed in her last Olympic race. I had a good run, I’m not sure where I lost time.
“With my trainer, we watched the descent of (Suter). I don’t know if the track got faster later on or if the wind bothered me, but we pretty much had the same descent. There are a few things she did better, but we had the same attack. Is it the skis that haven’t rolled? We do not know. We will have to analyze that. All I can do is be happy with a good performance. »
When she finished her descent, Gagnon was in third place, 58 hundredths behind what was then the reference time, that of Italian Elena Curtoni, who finished fifth. The Quebecer suspected that it was not going to hold up.
“I knew it: there were still several very good girls to come. However, I did not know that the gap would be so important: 1.6 seconds is huge (between first and eighth). I was still in the game, but I had a “feeling” that it wouldn’t be enough. »
Although she established a personal mark with an eighth place finish at the Olympics, Gagnon still had bigger goals for this event.
“When you’re among the top 10 in the world in your profession, it’s great. But that’s not what counted today. We’re not here to collect top 10s. I was going for more. »
Goggia close to a double
Suter was 16 hundredths ahead of the gold medalist of the Pyeongchang Games, the Italian Sofia Goggia (1:32.03).
“I never thought about the podium today,” she said after her victory. I just wanted to ski as fast as I can. Since the first practice run, I loved the track. […] After the training analysis (Monday), I had a plan in mind and I just wanted to give my best. »
“I couldn’t have done better today,” said Goggia, who suffered a serious knee injury in a fall in Cortina d’Ampezzo in January. It was even feared that she would miss the Olympics at this time.
Another Italian, Nadia Delago, completed the podium in 1:32.44.
The other Canadian in the running, Roni Remme of Collingwood, Ont., finished in 21st place. Her time of 1:35.36 was 3.49 seconds behind the winner.
The ladies will be back on track Thursday for the alpine combined, but Gagnon will not be there.
“We haven’t done any preparation for the slalom, so I’m not going to do this race,” Gagnon said. Girls who are very close to me in the downhill are very strong in the slalom, so my chances of medals would be pure luck. »
Remme and she will instead head to Crans-Montana, Switzerland, where the next World Cup will take place, from February 24 to 27.