Arnaud Gaudet had a strong second run and was heading to the finals on Saturday, until he crashed late at the World Cup in Winterberg, Germany.
First in good shape, he instead ranked 28e parallel slalom, a few hours after taking the 11e rank in the team event with teammate Megan Farrell.
With the World Cup of Soccer in full swing, the International Ski Federation has changed the schedule for the slalom competition this weekend to suit television broadcast times. The team competition was presented on Saturday morning, followed by the individual qualifications. The final rounds of this event will take place on Sunday.
Arnaud Gaudet thus began his season with his teammate Megan Farrell. He held a considerable lead over Slovenian Zan Kosir in the round of 16, but Farrell was unable to hold it. She fell 23 hundredths of a second behind Gloria Kotnik at the finish line.
“It’s a shame because I had a great run, but these are things that happen. For the format, it almost gave us practice! It was not the same course (as the individual), but you could get used to the snow, ”shared Gaudet, in an interview with Sportcom.
The track prepared for the individual event still surprised the Quebecer. The riders gained speed in the first section, but all lost it in many turns that preceded a flat section. Gaudet nevertheless offered the fifth performance of the blue course in the first run, with a time of 35.71 s.
“It still went well, but I thought I was missing something. I don’t know exactly what. I felt slow and I think I could have done better,” he said.
This impression was explained by noting the different times recorded in the first round. German Stefan Baumeister, fastest on the blue course, would have finished fifth in the red.
“My opponent had a big lead and I thought I was really slow, but it was his course that favored him! »
He was confident in his abilities on his second run. Everything was going well, then an error led to a crash that ruined his chances of accessing the final rounds, reserved for the 16 fastest.
“It’s boring to finish like that, I would have liked to make the finals and it was going really well. My opponent qualified in 14e up and I was more than a door ahead of him before I fell. It’s not the way I wanted to start my season, but I still had good runs,” admitted Arnaud Gaudet, who is aiming for a podium in slalom this season.
He will head to Italy for the Carezza and Cortina d’Ampezzo World Cups on December 15 and 17.