(Lac-Beauport) Jeff Bean is a happy coach. Not because one of his proteges, Marion Thénault, leads the World Cup standings in aerials or three of his guys reached the super final at the Lac-Beauport stage this weekend.
No. No, what makes the head coach happy is that the Canadian aerials team – which won a surprise medal at the team competition at the Beijing Olympics last February – is ahead of its progress in this first year of the Olympiad.
“We are very far ahead,” he said after the second stage presented at the Le Relais ski center on Sunday. I didn’t think that Marion would have had the yellow jersey so quickly and that she would have managed two podiums in the first two stages.
Everyone jumps well: we have four guys who have done triple somersaults with four twists, I wouldn’t have thought that possible so early in their careers. We also have a good succession in Next Gen and in the Quebec team: we had 14 competitors at the end of the week, I think it’s the first time I’ve seen that in 35 years in sport.
Jeff Bean, Canadian Freestyle Ski Team Head Coach
On Sunday, Alexandre Duchaine finished fourth and Miha Fontaine posted his best World Cup result with fifth place, 24 hours after Lewis Irving also reached the top 5. Thénault took advantage of the weekend to sign his second career victory and claim the yellow jersey, while Flavie Aumond bounced back with a seventh place finish on Sunday and Rosalie Gagnon finished 11e after having participated in a first final.
While it is true that the plateau is less high with the absence of the Russians and Belarusians from the competitions due to international sanctions, as well as the Chinese during certain competitions, Bean is still able to note an increase which he wasn’t expecting anytime soon.
“I look at the results, but I also look at individual progress,” he said. Yes, there was a lack of competitors from certain countries, but I compare my jumpers to the results they obtained before. Even if some countries were missing, I see the progression. The results I appreciate, but in five minutes I’ll be watching the videos to continue the development. So I know all that, but the absence of these competitors does not bother me. »
Bean is working hard to restore a program that has seen dark days. Besides the bronze medal won by Thénault, Fontaine and Irving at the team competition in Beijing, Canada, the country where the sport originated, has not won an individual Olympic medal since the silver and bronze medals. by Veronica Brenner and Deidra Dionne, at the Salt Lake City Games in 2002.
For men, we have to go back to 1994, in Lillehammer in Norway, when Philippe Laroche and Lloyd Langlois were on the last two steps of the podium. Bean is the one who has come the closest, with a fourth place in 2002. Performances such as those achieved this weekend confirm to him that he is on the right track.
“You always want more, but if I take a step back and look at what the athletes have achieved, almost everyone has had good performances. Everyone has upped their performance by a notch.
“It’s my philosophy: we are an individual sport, but we work as a team. It’s good to see different members having success: everyone else is drinking from it. […] I think this weekend will push us hard for practice next week and the Canadian Championships. »
family history
The Lac-Beauport World Cup is a family affair for the Fontaines. In addition to Miha with the national team, Nicolas was on site with his proteges from the Quebec team, including his daughter, Charlie, who was taking part in a first stop on the circuit. To this trio must be added Caroline Dubreuil, spouse of Nicolas and mother of the siblings, who led the organizing committee of this weekend of competitions.
Charlie was particularly happy with her performance, but above all, to have been able to share for a few days the world of her big brother and, formerly, of her father.
” [Nicolas et Miha] told me to have fun all weekend long, that I was going to make memories that I was going to remember all my life,” said the 17-year-old skier. It’s really fun. I really have fun training with my brother. We really like that. Usually we only see videos on a tablet. There, we saw each other in real life and we were both really impressed. We could talk to each other more: after a jump, he sometimes came to see me to tell me that my jump was good, but that I could have done such and such a thing more. »
PHOTO JACQUES BOISSINOT, CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
Charlie Fontaine
“I’m very proud of Charlie, who landed his jump well this morning,” said Nicolas Fontaine. The smile she had was worth all the gold in the world. I was super happy. It was a very nice day for Charlie and a very nice day for Miha. »
“My mother organized this World Cup, so I’ve been hearing about it for months,” added the latter. My father who coaches my sister: it looks like I’m in regional competition, but on the World Cup!
“It’s really good to be at home: whether you have a good performance or a bad one, you’re not alone in northern Finland to experience that. There at least you have your family supporting you a bit, not just your teammates. It’s hard sometimes the atmosphere of condos, when some of your teammates, for them it’s going really well and for you, it’s going more mellow. Since everyone is going home, you can have your moment on your own. »
The Dubreuil-Fontaines will be able to relive the experience at least once more: the Lac-Beauport stage has been confirmed on the 2023-24 FIS calendar.