The disappointment of missing the finals by 14 hundredths of a second was short-lived for Jules Lefebvre on Saturday at the World Cup in Scuol, Switzerland. By ranking 17e in the parallel giant slalom, the snowboarder scored the best result of his career on the circuit.
The Quebecer first signed on the 12the time of the blue course in the first round, i.e. 41.17 s. He then raced down the red track in 41.42 s and brought his cumulative time to 1 min 22.59 s.
Masaki Shiba of Japan beat him at the end of qualifying to earn the last ticket to the round of 16.
“There was a little moment of frustration and disappointment earlier today, but it didn’t last long. I am very happy with my result,” Jules Lefebvre shared with Sportcom.
“After an atrocious start to the season, I was quite nervous! The conditions were perfect, that doesn’t happen often in a season and I knew it was my day to perform! I’m happy that I delivered almost perfectly what I’m able to do right now. »
Lefebvre was ranked 37e and 35e in the two events contested in Italy last month. His only outing in parallel slalom ended with a 33e place in Davos. He also missed the qualifying rounds at two European Cups in the Czech Republic.
“The month of December was hard on morale,” he summarized.
The Montrealer then started 2024 by winning a gold medal on the Nor-Am circuit and finished fifth the next day. Good training sessions followed and led to Saturday’s result.
For his part, Arnaud Gaudet took the 29e rank of this giant parallel slalom.
Both athletes will return to action on Tuesday at the World Cup in Bad Gastein, Austria, where a parallel slalom will be presented.