Los Angeles (AFP)
"The X Games is THE legendary competition for us freestylers. Everyone wants to outdo themselves": the French freestyle ski prodigy Tess Ledeux, double world champion, dreams of an even bigger first coronation in Aspen, from Thursday to Sunday.
It is the fourth consecutive year that the 18-year-old skier "has the privilege" of participating in this event created by the American audiovisual group ESPN in 1997 for the winter version (figures on skis, snowboards, snowmobiles), two years after the summer version launched around skateboarding and BMX.
"Privilege", because it is only by invitation that extreme sportsmen can compete in this flagship event.
"The X Games speak less to the general public, who are interested in our disciplines especially during the Olympic Games. There, only the best are invited. Whoever wins the X Games also earns respect for the environment," explains Tess Ledeux who yet already made speak of his precocious talent, by becoming 16 years old world champion of slopestyle (acrobatic downhill) in 2017.
That same year, she became the first French woman to participate in the slopestyle of the X Games, winning the silver medal in the final.
"My ambition is victory. Especially since I have two disciplines here," said AFP Tess Ledeux, who also became last year the first world champion in big air (big jump), a year after a big disappointment at the Pyeongchang Olympics.
If the Estonian Kelly Sildaru appears as "the opponent to beat" in slopestyle, "everyone can win in big air", assures the skier of La Plagne, "because generally everyone arrives at the top for X Games is where we want to make the most beautiful figures ".
In this context of very strong competition, where the spectacle must be ensured in a party atmosphere, the skiers do they not therefore take more risks than usual?
"I don't think so. First of all, we know whether or not we are capable of making such a jump or such a figure. We don't do anything just for the show. Everything is mastered, calculated. There is moreover, no more accidents at the X Games than at other competitions, because it is precisely the best who participate, "she replies.
"But it's still an extreme sport," she continues. "We know that the danger is present all the time. And we also like that, that's what gives rise to adrenaline."
On May 2, 2019, his cousin Kevin Rolland, a specialist in the halfpipe (half-tube for figures), almost lost his life after a fall, during a world record attempt. A terrible accident that "made him think".
"But at that time, he had taken a huge risk, which I would never take in my life. We regularly think about falling, about injury. But what is essential is self-confidence, because that if it is lacking, this is where you can get hurt, "says one who says she is sometimes" very, very scared "especially in windy conditions.
"But we must ensure that this fear does not take over," concludes Tess Ledeux who will be accompanied in Aspen by another French, Antoine Adelisse, candidate in big air.
Winter X Games Olympic disciplines program:
Thursday: men's superpipe snowboard, ladies' Big air snowboard
Friday: Big air ladies ski, Big air men ski
Saturday: ladies slopestyle snowboard, men slopestyle ski, men slopestyle snowboard, ladies superpipe ski, men big air snowboard, ladies superpipe snowboard
Sunday: ladies' slopestyle skiing
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