(Saint-Côme) The head coach of the Canadian moguls team at Ski Acro Canada admits it straight away: his training has hit a slump. But Michel Hamelin assures that the reconstruction is complete and that his troop is back at the top.
“It’s been maybe two years (we’ve been rebuilding). After the last Games, we have several athletes who retired. I had several young candidates ready to go to the World Cup, but still developing. They were 16e27e30e places. There was a click this year and I see a lot more top-6, top-5, with more skiers in super finals,” underlined Hamelin, on the sidelines of the press conference launching World Cup activities. of Val-St-Côme, which will be contested Friday and Saturday.
“Always, “Mik” (Mikaël Kingsbury) is at the top,” added Hamelin. But Louis-David Chalifoux, Julien Viel and Eliot Vaillancourt are now very consistent. »
Canada also has four athletes in the top 10 world before this weekend’s competitions: Kingsbury (1er), Old (7e), Chalifoux (8e) and Vaillancourt (10e). A fifth, Gabriel Dufresne, comes to 21e world rank, some 80 points from the 10 best on the planet.
“It was a matter of time,” Kingsbury said of his teammates’ rise. For some, they lacked a wider range of jumps, or a little experience. I feel like the guys, just the way they carry themselves around the track, are less impressed. There is no new place for them to discover, and I feel more confident. He could look at the starting list and tell himself that so-and-so was good. Now they just have to tell themselves that if they do their job, they will end up in the final. I no longer feel that they are focusing on the other skiers, but on themselves. »
An analysis shared by the younger members of the team.
“It’s the result of many seasons of learning; This is not my first season on the circuit, noted Vaillancourt. I had difficulty in the past dealing with all the distractions on the World Cup circuit. After several years, I was able to apply my lessons – finally! I’m really starting to make corrections, to be calmer, more composed. Meanwhile, my skiing level continues to improve. The order to make the finals against my base level is therefore lower. That doesn’t mean I have to rest in the starting gate!
“The whole team is pulling each other up,” he added. It’s really good for chemistry and it’s really motivating, whether in training or in competition. »
Longer for ladies
The process is a little longer for the ladies, who no longer really have headliners since the departures of Audrey Robichaud and the Dufour-Lapointe sisters.
“We have Maia Schwinghammer who is starting to feel confident in herself and is now able to deliver a performance “on demand”. It’s good to be good in training, but it’s in the race that you have to deliver. “Mik” does it. That’s what the rest of the team was missing,” Hamelin said.
“This wave of success is starting to be felt by everyone within the team, and it even reaches the skiers on the next generation team,” he assured.
Schwinghammer currently occupies 20e world rank after, in particular, a first career podium. She won a silver medal in duels at the last World Cup in Bakuriani, Georgia.
Schwinghammer, from Saskatchewan, but whose mother is from Quebec and who will count on a strong delegation of family members and friends this weekend in Val-St-Côme, is also the only female athlete member in good standing of the national team. Berkley Brown (17)e) and Laurianne Desmarais-Gilbert (29e) are part of the relief team.
The one who occupies number 10e place in the world ranking narrowly missed qualifying for the Beijing Games in 2022. She therefore approached the Olympic cycle leading to Milan-Cortina in 2026, driven by a greater desire for success. She also reached her first super final last year, in St-Côme, and she now has her first World Cup podium.
” It’s coming ! The skills are there, she said. After some great finals in the second half of the season last year and a first podium, I feel that the Olympics are within my reach. Having narrowly missed my qualification made me realize that this dream was not that far away, but that I had to change things.
“My training during the off-season is more intense. I see that it pays off and it gives me confidence. The more confident I am, the better my results are,” summarized Schwinghammer.
The activities will launch in the afternoon on Friday with the singles qualifications. The finals and super finals will take place in the evening, as during the World Championships and the Olympic Games. Saturday will follow the bumps in parallel, with the same schedule.