Antoine Adelisse, here during the first World Cup success of his career, on February 29, 2020 in Destne (Czech Republic).
-
David Tanecek / AP / SIPA
At 24, Antoine Adelisse has already experienced everything in the world of professional freestyle skiing, starting with three serious injuries.
The skier from La Plagne, unexpected winner of the X Games last season in Norway, will try to win the American edition during the night from Saturday to Sunday (at 2 am).
The emblematic member of the French slopestyle and big air ski team returns for
20 Minutes
on his incredible 2019-2020 season.
"I am the only Nantes resident in the entire ski federation," smiles Antoine Adelisse.
"Almost born daredevil", the freestyle skier, who will compete on the night from Saturday to Sunday (at 2 am French time) at the X Games in Aspen (United States) in big air, took advantage of the move of his parents to register with the Sports Club of La Plagne (Savoie) at age 7.
Four years later, he obtained the gold star and joined the freestyle ski team.
“It has always been clear to me, I did not want to chain blue doors and red doors,” says the 24-year-old athlete.
My wish was to have my head in the air and be creative.
I threw myself into it, especially since when we're kids, we do a lot of bullshit and we are not really aware of the danger.
"
This awareness will be brutal for those who joined the French team at the age of 16, in slopestyle skiing and in big air.
Antoine Adelisse ruptured the cruciate ligaments in his right knee in 2016, broke his collarbone in 2017 and then again injured his knee, this time the left crusaders, after a fall during slopestyle qualifications at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics.
“I had four really hard seasons to take, admits the person concerned.
Injuries generate doubts and fears, but today they have helped me to be much more professional.
"
Antoine Adelisse, during the slopestyle qualifying events at the Pyeongchang Olympics, in February 2018, during which he seriously injured his left knee.
- Kin Cheung / AP / SIPA
Not far from burnout and in debt with skiing
After that
lose
stubborn, Antoine Adelisse finds his "winning culture" in December 2019 in Atlanta.
"With the chain of injuries, I was not far from burnout at that time," explains Le Plagnard.
I was in debt with the ski but I don't know why, I felt good about this race, so I took my plane ticket the day before departure, without even booking a hotel room.
"
Second in this big air World Cup stage, the French skier won two months later in Destne (Czech Republic), for the first time in his career at a World Cup.
On the podium, he repeats several times, and with rage, the expression "revenge".
A cry from the heart in a season "full of unforeseen" which will also become the most beautiful of his life, thanks to a funny final bouquet on March 7, 2020. Arrived in the shoes of a replacement for the Norwegian edition of "Mythical" X Games, he replaces at short notice an injured athlete.
Antoine Adelisse, in full training.
- Grégory Ratel
"We always feel neglected by the federation"
“This context allowed me to take the trick with a joke and to attempt a final jump of 1,600 degrees that I had only tried in preseason, without succeeding in the landing.
There, I mastered it to perfection, it was the evening of my life!
Antoine Adelisse then began to "whine like a kid" alongside Greg Guenet, his coach with whom it all began, in 2007 in La Plagne.
At 24 years old, with the status of a pioneer in this young discipline, the former French junior half-pipe champion wishes to warn about the delicate conditions of the French freestyle skiers.
I try to be a megaphone because the help we have today is insufficient.
They only cover the salaries of the coaches and some of our trips.
We may represent three Olympic medals and six world championship titles, but we always feel neglected by the federation, which does not even allocate us 1% of the budget of the alpine.
It makes me sad for generations to come because freestyle skiing is getting horribly elitist financially.
"
In a new shortened season due to the Covid-19 health crisis, the La Plagne skier intends to go for gold again, Saturday in Aspen, where he will be the only Frenchman involved.
Because after all, Adelisse is slipping in the land of the X Games.
And even if he notes that he is today "almost the oldest" in the France team, he is careful not to "impose a
deadline
" in a career made up of ups and downs.
Especially since above the X Games, he has one ultimate dream to win: a first Olympic medal in 2022 in Beijing.
The "revenge" on the wounds and the galleys would be even more striking.
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Where to see the competitions?
The X Games can be found on the night from Saturday to Sunday, at 2 a.m. on the X Games YouTube channel.
Nantes
Olympic Games
Freestyle
Ski
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