Laurie Blouin had playgrounds at the Le Relais ski center and the Stoneham tourist resort. It intends to hand over the Genting Snow Park and the Shougang jump site over the next few weeks.
The silver medalist in the acrobatic descent (slope style) at the Pyeongchang Games in 2018, did not necessarily see herself at the Olympics when she spent her days in the ” snow parks from the Quebec region. After securing the world title a year earlier, his medal didn’t necessarily come as a surprise to insiders. But suddenly Blouin’s name became familiar.
“I think it’s cool to be better known in the country, that people know a little more who I am,” she admitted to The Canadian Press a few days before flying to China.
“It is certain that my story, after my fall [en qualifications du slopestyle en Corée du Sud], I think people got hooked on that. More than if I had “only” won a medal. There was a story around it. It was also the second time that the slope style was presented at the Games: it certainly helped to make it better known to Mr. and Mrs. Everybody. »
After his silver medal and a 12and make way for the big leap (big air), Blouin then had a string of successes on the international scene, including a world title with a big leap in 2021. She will certainly be “expected” at the 2022 Olympics. Nothing, however, to shake her.
“I’m approaching this competition a bit like any other. Yes, it’s the Olympics, but that’s no reason to put more pressure on me. It wouldn’t work. I see it like all other competitions and I prepare in the same way. »
The competitive spirit
Blouin fell in love with the acrobatic descent and the big jump about fifteen years ago. From her first competition, a Rail Jam at the Relay at the age of 13, she was hooked.
“The competitive side, having to land your jumps on demand, the adrenaline, the good stress it gives you, that’s what made me like it and keep going. »
“Right away, people saw a certain potential in me, so I never felt the need to try anything else, like snowboardcross, for example. Maybe if it hadn’t worked! I love the adrenaline of taking big jumps so much: it’s sick! We fly, in a way. »
These flights, she cannot perfect them at Stoneham or at Lac-Beauport. She therefore turned to Maxime Hénault, of Maximise, in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, her trainer for several years.
“I think it’s easier now if you’re young and you’re into slope style and the big leap than when I started, she notes. At Maximise, there is a big jump where you can do all your maneuvers. When you’re young, the Relais and Stoneham, I think it’s en masse. But when you feel you need more, we have places for that now. »
She is happy to rub shoulders with the next generation of her sport there, which now enjoys widespread notoriety due to its presence at the Olympics. Surprisingly, not all snowboarders wanted to add the Olympics to their calendar of events.
“It is clear that the Olympics are now part of the picture. Even those who didn’t want us to meet at the Olympics, among the athletes of slope style and big jump, are forced to admit that this is a very tough competition. »
A journey to discover
The course of Zhangjiakou will constitute a discovery for all the athletes of the plateau, with the possible exception of the representatives of China. Blouin does not take offense at treading a course for the first time during such an important competition.
“It’s part of the ‘game’: each competition, we don’t really know it. Sometimes we have three-dimensional photos sent to us before the competition. They did that at the last X Games. But I’m a very visual person, so it’s once there that I’ll get an idea. »
“Having seen the plan, you expect something, but I tend not to look at it too much and find out once there. It’s too easy to imagine a descent or a series of jumps to realize that it will not take place as you had imagined. »
“You may have a preconceived idea: I know the maneuvers I want to do, but it all depends on how the course responds that day. I have a bit of a catalog of games in mind that I can dip into once I see how the track behaves. »
Blouin will set off on this acrobatic descent course on February 5 and 6, at the Genting Snow Park, in Zhangjiakou. It will then move to the Shougang ski jump, in the suburbs of Beijing, where the big jump will be contested on February 14 and 15.