(Mont-Tremblant) A scream tore through the snowy sky in the middle of training at the Tremblant World Cup on Thursday afternoon. It was Kerrian Chunlaud, who hurt his knee as the second jump approached.
The skier from Sainte-Foy is lowered on a stretcher. It’s not looking good for Kerrian, worried head coach Michel Hamelin after the session.
After Mikaël Kingsbury, already qualified for the Beijing Olympics, Chunlaud is the best placed Canadian in the selection race which ends next week in Utah. The 28-year-old worker finished 17e, 15e and 11e in the first three events of the season before Christmas.
“You make more sacrifices, you train more precisely, you put in more time and something happens,” explained the coach. We are almost there. It’s like I’m pulling the rug out from under you. It is even more dramatic. ”
In all likelihood, Chunlaud tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. If further examination confirms this diagnosis, his season is over.
His assured absence for Friday’s race further highlights the trough of the Canadian mogul team, accustomed to monopolizing the podiums for nearly three decades. Apart from Kingsbury, only one other member has managed to slip into the top 10 in the (Olympic) singles event this season: Sofiane Gagnon, ninth in Idre Fjäll, Sweden.
This lack of results, which has been emerging for several years, has not gone unnoticed. Dominick Gauthier, former skier and coach of the Canadian team, split a punch column on the Radio-Canada website at the start of the year. Its title: “The drifting Canadian mogul ski”.
Speaking of “hecatomb” and judging that “nothing is going well”, the co-founder of B2Dix believes that “it is absolutely necessary to review the entire system”. He suggests, among other things, a return from the top to the bottom, made up of clubs and provinces.
System Assessment
Hamelin is a friend of Gauthier. The two competed together and coached at the same time within the Canadian team in the early 2000s. If the words of his ex-colleague “stung him a little”, he agrees in part.
“I take care of Mik and try to get the whole program up. My gang did not perform at their level, that’s very clear. I understand very well why he released this and we have always performed in the past. […] We have to assess the connection between the clubs, the provinces and us. ”
At the head of the entire Canadian program since 2018, Hamelin says he has done things in the right direction by delegating experienced coaches like Jim Schiman and Steve Omischl to the development team.
Of course, a program does not emerge in two or three years. Steps have already been taken, but they are not yet visible on the performance.
Michel Hamelin, head coach of the national mogul team
Hamelin intends to communicate with Gauthier at some point, but he has other things to do. “My goal right now is definitely not to get messed around with it. I’m going to the Games. In my head, it’s like going to war. I am going to war and I want Canada to succeed. ”
The return of Laurent Dumais is in the column of good news. Sixth at the last World Championships won by Kingsbury in Kazakhstan, the Quebec skier missed the first three competitions of the winter due to a herniated disc. An injection of cortisone in early December enabled him to put on his skis a month later.
“I still have pain and irritation, but it’s day and night with what I felt in Ruka and Idre Fjäll,” said the former world junior champion in parallel on Thursday. I move more naturally. Already that is a small victory. ”
A top-16 result by the next four races would put him in an excellent position for Beijing. “I see it as a build-up to Deer Valley next week, ”he warned.
“Not adrift”
Gauthier’s words went badly for Dumais.
“Personally, I found it a little pocket-sized that he published this without telling us about it,” commented the 25-year-old athlete. Yes, we see a dip in the Canadian team after Mik. There is no more Phil [Marquis], by Simon Pouliot-Cavanagh, by Marc-Antoine [Gagnon]. At the same time, I don’t think Canadian freestyle skiing is adrift right now. We are all good skiers, good jumpers, good competitors. We must not ignore the aspect of the judges, which we do not control. As much as they can be on our side, they may not be. ”
Gabriel Dufresne also needs at least one top 16 to hope for a ticket for the Olympics.
If I succeed in carrying out my game plan, the top 10 is more than accessible. From there, between ten and two or three, anything is possible …
Gabriel Dufresne, mogul skier
The athlete from Joliette has not tasted the exit of Gauthier – and especially the moment chosen to do so, just before the Canadian World Cup. He let her know his feelings in an exchange on Twitter.
“He’s been living in Western Canada for several years and I think he’s gone into a lot of detail compared to provincial and regional clubs across Canada,” said Dufresne on Thursday. I’m pretty sure he hasn’t visited them for at least 10 years. I found his article pointed out 30% of the general problem, but ignored 70%. ”
Certainly, the Canadian results have weakened for “4 to 10 years”, but the level of competition has improved greatly in the meantime, argued Dufresne.
“Let’s not forget that sport has evolved a lot because of Mikaël who set the bar so high. To think about trying to beat him, all the other competitors have to get better. Our sport has not improved a little, it has become three to four times better than 10 years ago. ”
Like his teammate Dumais, Dufresne also claims that Canadian hardworkers are not as favored by the judges as in the past.
Either way, Hamelin expects his group to bounce back in the next four events. “Right now they have a knife between their teeth. They want it to pass and they will release their best of in the next races. ”