Graz (Austria) (AFP)

In the aftermath of the loss of the European crown that they have monopolized for five years, Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron opened up to the difficulties they are going through, between delicate times for her and the common challenge of staying fully engaged when winning becomes a habit. , Sunday in Graz (Austria).

Q: How did you approach this competition?

GP: "We knew that we were not at 100% of what we can usually be. We tried to do our best with it. I lived some life stuff a little difficult there a year ago. I pushed myself, forced myself (to overcome them). And there was a time when I started to be mentally and emotionally overworked. January was complicated. There was a time when I I couldn't train anymore. I couldn't anymore. I wanted to be able, it was not a motivation problem, but my body was no longer responding, I wanted to cry all the time, I was doing of anxiety, I felt like I was tired. This is the first time this has happened to me so much, it was a bit difficult to accept. But once I accepted it, it got a lot And I was lucky to have Guillaume and the coaches who were super understanding and who said to me: + You don't have to train, you don't have to go to European Championships there no one is forcing you. + Just having this conversation helped me a lot. That's why these championships were really important emotionally, because we almost didn't come, clearly. "

Q: How do you envisage the rest of the season?

GC: "We are going to take a rest, two weeks of vacation to relax, relieve the pressure, fill up with energy, get back in shape, physically, mentally, so that we can come back ready to push for the next five weeks until 'at the Worlds (mid-March in Montreal, editor's note). We know what we have to do, we have an extremely competent team behind us, we are not in the artistic blur to say: + My God, what are we going to go back up the slope? + There were special circumstances that caused a breach and the Russians infiltrated it with all their energy. But we know what we are capable. Even if we have not trained very much, we are not at the top of our game, and we make a few mistakes, we are not far from winning. "

Q: After two years of invincibility, has not part of you unconsciously relaxed?

GC: "Even if you are aware of the danger and do not want it to happen, it is a bit inevitable. There is a kind of aggressiveness to want to win that comes from the defeat that we need as than competitors. If you win all the time, after a while, you don't feel it anymore. And you can't invent it. We are at a stage in our career where we have already broken lots of records, we won four, five times ... The feeling of normalcy to see us win that the public has, we also feel it and it is not good for the fire of the athlete. Over ten years of career, there there are always ups and downs. Here it’s a little low, there’s nothing dramatic either, it just bounces back. "

Q: Can finding stronger competition benefit you?

GC: "It's a boost. Competition brings an opponent, something to push against. When you pedal in the void, after a while, you run out of steam for nothing. When you have a wall in front of you, you push, and you would never have pushed as hard if there was nothing. Feeling this pressure is not necessarily pleasant but it is what creates the fire of competition and the want to really push yourself. "

Q: In view of the Olympic Games-2022, the Worlds in mid-March will be an important stage ...

GP: "There, clearly, I think that people say to themselves:" Finally, they are not unbeatable and there is perhaps a way to steal the title from them. We discussed this a lot with the coaches yesterday (Saturday): we can accept not having been able to be at best on a competition, but it should not start to define us. It must remain the exception that proves the rule. "

Interview by Elodie SOINARD.

© 2020 AFP