Cross-country skier Liliane Gagnon had an exceptional day in the 20 km freestyle mass start at the World Cup in Groms, Switzerland, when she placed ninth. This is the best individual result in the World Cup for the athlete from Saint-Ferréol-les-Neiges who had never even broken through to the top 30.
“It’s surreal!” I still have a hard time believing it,” said Gagnon, 21, in an interview with Sportcom. “I try not to look at the results too much in case it changes. I’ve been feeling good since last weekend, but I didn’t want to jinx. I would have been happy to make a top 30, but from there to a ninth place, phew! I have no idea what happened, honestly! »
The Quebecer crossed the finish line 16.1 seconds after the winner, the American Jessie Diggins, winner of the recent Tour de Ski and specialist in freestyle distance events. The Swede Frida Karlsson (+0.6 s) and the Swiss Nadine Faehndrich (+2 s) were also medalists. Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt, from Morin-Heights, ranked 54e (+6 min 37.3 s).
Gagnon had already won a ninth place in the World Cup, except that it was in the team sprint at the World Cup in Lahti (Finland), last March, when she teamed up with Katherine Stewart-Jones. Before Sunday, Gagnon’s best individual result in the great white circus was his 31e time for Saturday’s free sprint.
During the race, Gagnon could hardly believe that she was part of the world’s elite.
“I responded really well to the attacks at the top of the climbs, I never gave up while the leading peloton was getting smaller and smaller. I told myself that I was probably going to hit a wall, because it’s not my habit to ski with these girls for so long, but in the end, the wall never came, I believe. […] Today, the stars aligned with form, course and great skis! I thought I could get ninth place one day, but not today. More like in two or three years. »
Throughout the interview, we felt that Gagnon wanted to keep his feet on the ground following this performance. A top 10 will not necessarily become the new norm for her, except that her result on Sunday will mean that she will now be one of the favorites for the next World Under-23 Championships which will take place in Planica (Slovenia) starting on February 5.
“I don’t want to put pressure on myself, but it’s clear that I’ve just taken a big step,” says laughing the woman who was the fastest under 23 on Sunday’s course and who had gone under the scalpel at the beginning of November to resolve a problem of supraventricular tachycardia.
“I was back on skis six days later [après l’opération] and I’m happy to see that I was able to get back on my feet so quickly and that it didn’t affect my start to the season. »
Antoine Cyr was the best Canadian representative in the men’s event of this same distance, when he took 22e rank, 36.7 s from the fastest, the Norwegian Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo. Norway achieved the double thanks to Simen Hegstad Krueger (+0.7 s), while Frenchman Jules Lapierre (+12 s) finished on the third step of the podium.
The cross-country skiing World Cup circuit will move to the Alberta resort of Canmore, where the action will resume starting February 9.