Kevin Rolland will make his comeback to competition next week.
-
Stéphane Cande / Izipizi
Every Thursday, in its “off-field” section,
20 Minutes
explores new spaces for the expression of sport, unexpected, unusual, clever or booming.
Freestyle skier Kevin Rolland is preparing to participate in the world half-pipe championships on March 10 and 12 in Aspen (United States).
This will be his first competition for two years.
On April 30, 2019, the athlete from La Plagne suffered a "monstrous" fall plunging him into a coma, and preventing him from attending the birth of his son nine days later.
20 Minutes
tells you about its long process of "reconstruction".
“I won't have to hang out in Aspen.
I was in a rush for the birth of my first child, so I would still like to be there for the second.
”In the absence of a freestyle ski competition, Kevin Rolland did not let go of his sense of humor during his two-year long“ reconstruction ”.
Because after obtaining the silver medal at the world half-pipe championships in February 2019 in Utah (United States), he will only sign his return to the circuit, on March 10 (qualifying) and March 12. (final) in Aspen (United States).
Calendar turned upside down by the Covid-19 obliges, the 31-year-old skier will directly resume with the Worlds, for lack of having been selected at the end of January in a tightened version of the X-Games.
"It is certain that we can tell a beautiful story", smiles the person concerned, who will release next fall a documentary retracing the incredible turn of a career already rich in emotions until then.
Half-pipe world champion in 2009, bronze medalist at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Games, winner of five editions of the X-Games and three crystal globes, but also victim of two ruptures of the cruciate ligaments of the knee in 2008 and 2012, and a heavy fall at the Pyeongchang Olympics in 2018, Kevin Rolland saw his life turn upside down on April 30, 2019.
On February 9, 2019, Kevin Rolland won the silver medal for his last official competition for two years, the world championships in Utah.
- Alex Goodlett / AP / SIPA
"The birth of my son made it even more 'dramatic'"
In his resort in La Plagne (Savoie), he aimed that day on a quarter-pipe to jump 11 meters (twice as high as in the half-pipe) to beat the world record for height reached.
After a terrible fall, he knows that he “came close to death” in this structure created for the occasion, with three days of coma and multiple serious injuries, including a fractured pelvis.
"I have not the slightest memory of the three weeks that followed," he slips.
Not even the birth of Rio on May 9, 2019. “This accident still changed my life and that of many people in my family,” says Kevin Rolland.
The birth of my son at the same time made it even more "dramatic".
But on the other hand, she helped me tremendously with my recovery.
Everything turned out much better than the doctors predicted.
"
Announced lost for high-level sport, the half-pipe champion in fact gradually foils all medical forecasts, which does not surprise his relatives.
"As soon as I knew he was still breathing, I was sure he would do everything possible to become the best half-pipeur in the world again", summarizes his friend Antoine Adelisse, also a member of the France team of freestyle skiing.
Without putting any pressure on himself, Kevin Rolland is getting back on his feet, offering himself a week to ski alone in Austria, in November 2019, less than seven months after his accident.
Kevin Rolland has had to content himself with training sessions since his return to skis in November 2019. - Stéphane Cande / Izipizi
"Fear does not paralyze me"
“I didn't give myself an imperative,” he explains.
There was no question of absolutely having to become world champion again.
My first goal was to walk again, and then to be able-bodied again after four or five months.
This winter 2019-2020, taken just for me, to have fun in half-pipe, in Austria and then in Japan, really did me a lot of good.
“For the first time in his daredevil career, Kevin Rolland must learn to manage his doubts.
It took me a long time to rebuild myself physically but it was much more complicated to tame the mental aspect.
I was very scared, I had lost my self-confidence, which had always been one of my great assets.
But fear doesn't paralyze me.
I started again doing only straight jumps, and only put a head down for the first time at the end of my first week of training.
Six months earlier, a somersault in the half-pipe was as much a formality for me as walking down the street.
There, I found myself doing this figure with apprehension.
For two years, every step to try a "trick" for the first time scares me.
But the apprehension disappears as soon as I pass the jump once.
"
In addition to this slow "validation of
tricks
", Kevin Rolland relies permanently on "the lesson of positivity" received, during his three months at the rehabilitation center of Argonay (Haute-Savoie), alongside paraplegic people.
The 30-year-old skier has never sought to surround himself with a mental coach in order to find the heights.
"It's horrible to say it like that but his injury did him good"
“Yes, I had psychological help, it came from my son, he answers spontaneously.
I have always thought about my ski a lot, even off it, but not anymore.
Life is good when I cut at home.
Proof of his popularity intact despite crossing the desert, the 2009 world champion is supported by new sponsors, such as the French eyewear brand Izipizi.
Coach of the French freestyle ski team and close to Kevin Rolland since his beginnings in La Plagne, Greg Guenet joined him for the first time in April 2020 in Crans-Montana (Switzerland).
Kevin Rolland, here in March 2020 during a half-pipe training session in Crans-Montana (Switzerland), 10 months after being close to death.
- Louis Garnier
In close contact with the doctors following Kevin Rolland since the start of his rehabilitation, he finds him "changed": "It's horrible to say it like that but his injury has done him good, in the sense that he is more reflective, less crazy than before.
It makes him a mature athlete ”.
An opinion validated by the person concerned: “This fall has changed my way of skiing and approaching things.
I calculate a little more the risks taken.
I no longer have fun like before throwing myself in a pipe in Russian roulette mode, it works or it breaks ”.
"I want to be Olympic champion in Beijing"
Moreover, there is no longer any question for him of considering another attempt at a quarter-pipe height record, his mind is unsurprisingly turned towards the Beijing Olympics next year.
“If I got back to skiing, it's also because I didn't want to stop on a fall,” says Kevin Rolland.
I like to be the master of my destiny.
I had the great adventure in Sochi, the bad in Pyeongchang and I would like to end in the best possible way in Beijing.
I want to be an Olympic champion, or
at least
get a medal.
"An XXL goal which takes more shape in view of its training sessions this winter, with a strong symbolic moment a month ago.
Seven years ago, all of France discovered Kevin Rolland, bronze medalist for his first Olympic Games in Sochi (Russia).
- Alex Goodlett / AP / SIPA
“Kevin has put on a good big box in training, says Greg Guenet.
He was very happy to see that his pelvis, with all the screws inside, was holding up.
"I am not physically afraid today", adds Kevin Rolland, when joining Aspen with his cousin Tess Ledeux and his friend Antoine Adelisse (slopestyle and big air), all from La Plagne like Greg Guenet.
Together, they witnessed a final click for Kevin Rolland, last week in Crans-Montana.
"We can only admire such fighting spirit"
"Not only has he redone all the figures of his top level, but he has taken another step forward by even succeeding in new ones," indicates Greg Guenet.
He is now able to do what he does best on the circuit.
A session in the pipe which also marked Antoine Adelisse, silver medalist in big air at the last X-Games.
It was magical to see him transcend himself like this.
His story is so crazy that it inspires us a lot.
We can only admire such fighting spirit.
He suffered a monstrous injury and here he is back among the greatest halfpipers in the world.
It's moving to go back to a big competition with our hero, our mentor, the leader of the group.
"
"Dad filled", one month before the expected birth of his second child, it is a Kevin Rolland "more patient" who is therefore preparing to launch, next week in Colorado, his first
full
run
since February 2019.
"It's a second life for me"
Notably renowned for the vertiginous altitude of his jumps, he does not have the feeling of jumping into the unknown this time: “It's a second life for me but I was able to regain my previous level.
I now need to compare myself to others and regain the adrenaline.
It's my first competition in two years, so I can't put all the weight in the world on my shoulders.
I just want to go there to give the best of myself ”.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Kevin Rolland (@kevin_rolland)
After having recently "done a bit of a con" in a spectacular video in La Plagne, by performing acrobatics in the middle of cars and excavators, Kevin Rolland is indeed back, against all expectations.
“When we remember where he was in May 2019, it's unimaginable to find him there, savors Greg Guenet.
Between Plagnards, we all wanted to cry the week spent in his training.
He's a really special guy.
"
Sport
Freestyle skiing: In contention for the X Games, Antoine Adelisse took a dazzling "revenge" on the injuries and the galleys
Sport
Coronavirus: “Discover the mountain differently” in ski touring, a strong trend beyond this special winter?
Sport
Extreme sport
Kevin rolland
Alps
Olympic Games
Ski