Marion Thénault believed in it and came very close to reaching the podium on Friday at the Freestyle Skiing World Cup in Ruka, Finland. The Sherbrooke athlete, however, suffered a fall on the landing of her jump in the super final and she had to settle for a fifth place.
“I was really happy to be in the super final, but unfortunately I fell. I’m a little disappointed, because I know the podium was very accessible today (Friday). I feel that I have improved in several aspects since last week, I am going in the right direction ”, she explained after the competition.
In the first final, where she found herself in the company of the 11 best competitors in qualifying, Thénault placed third thanks to a jump that earned her 86.31 points. The Quebecer also said she was proud to have done so well in this essential moment.
“I was really happy with my score in the first final. I fell last week in the final so it’s good for confidence to have a good performance. ”
The gold medal went to the Ukrainian Anastasiya Novosad thanks to her 98.70 points. She edged China’s Mengtao Xu (91.83 points) and her compatriot Olga Polyuk (79.75 points) in the super final.
Flavie Aumond saw her path come to an end in the first final where she took the 11e rank.
For their part, Naomy Boudreau-Guertin (17e) and Justine Ally (33e) could not pass the qualifications.
Similar finding for men, while no Quebecer has managed to advance to the final rounds. Miha Fontaine achieved the best result with a 17e square. He was just ahead of his compatriots Émile Nadeau (19e) and Victor Primeau (22e).
Alexandre Duchaine (26e), Anthony Noël (27e), Nicolas Martineau (35e) and Pierre-Olivier Côté (40e) were also in action on Friday.
The men’s event was finally won by the Russian Maxim Burov (133.48 points). Chinese Zongyang Jia (129.21 points) and Guangpu Qi (123.98 points) took silver and bronze respectively.
Ruka’s World Cup continues on Saturday with the presentation of a second individual event and the team competition.