At 32, the skier from Grand-Bornand has forged a very fine track record with 15 World Cup victories, a giant globe in 2017, two giant world champion titles in 2013 and 2017, and two other medals. bronze medals (giant bronze in 2011 and in parallel in 2021).

The joy of Tessa Worley, after winning the giant globe, crowning the best skier of the season in this discipline, on March 19, 2017 in Aspen (Colorado) EZRA SHAW GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/Archives

His presence at the head of the French delegation in Beijing, flag in hand, is a continuation of a career in which Worley carried almost alone the weight of the results of an entire team.

Apart from Clara Direz's victory in the baroque parallel format in 2020, no other Frenchwoman has won the World Cup since Sandrine Aubert in 2010.

The skier's golden career has been forged in both hemispheres, from one end of the earth to the other.

Born in Annemasse (Haute-Savoie) on October 4, 1989, Worley spent six months of the year in France and six months in New Zealand during her early childhood.

His French mother and his Australian father created the ski club of the small resort of Mount Lyford (north of the South Island).

Living in an endless winter, the young girl awakens and perfects her skiing skills.

Fixed in France, she joined the federal circuit at the age of 15, the carefree years with her friends Taïna Barioz and Anémone Marmottan, with whom she won the Nations Cup at the 2011 Worlds.

"Never let it down"

Small size (1.58 m), Tessa Worley quickly developed and imposed her aggressive style in the World Cup where she won for the first time in November 2008 in Aspen (United States), at only 19 years old.

Her trajectory was meteoric until December 2013, the year of her first world title, when a serious right knee injury in Courchevel deprived her of the Sochi Olympics.

Tessa Worley is evacuated by medical staff, after falling during the first round of the Courchevel slalom, December 17, 2013 PHILIPPE DESMAZES AFP / Archives

Other, less serious injuries punctuate her career, but the blue-eyed blonde comes back from every difficulty.

"Her big quality is not to let go, to work, to build step by step to find her level. She always manages to do it", appreciated her trainer Lionel Pellicier last year.

Tessa Worley poses, on April 11, 2017 in Paris, with her two giant gold medals, obtained at the World Championships in Schladming (2013) and Saint-Moritz (2017) Lionel BONAVENTURE AFP / Archives

At the crossroads of generations, Worley knew how to beat the legends Tina Maze, Lindsey Vonn, Anna Fenninger, she scrapped for years with Viktoria Rebensburg, Lara Gut-Behrami, and now rubs shoulders with Mikaela Shiffrin and Petra Vlhova.

Without deviating from its trajectory, it remains competitive, winning again this season at Lienz (Austria) and finishing 3rd at Kronplatz on Tuesday, in its last race before the Games.

Tessa Worley, during the first round of the giant of Lienz (Austria), December 28, 2021 Dominik ANGERER APA/AFP/Archives

At 32, a year after the sports retirement of her companion Julien Lizeroux, she is aiming for an Olympic medal in Beijing, the last one missing from her list (16th in 2010, 7th in 2018).

It will do so as France's flag bearer.

"It's an idea that slowly germinated in my mind. At first I didn't dare think about it. It would be a great opportunity, it's the way I would like to experience the Games, fully!", said- her on Tuesday about her candidacy.

© 2022 AFP