Chloé Trespeuch won the silver medal in snowboardcross on Wednesday February 9 in China.
The French managed to remobilize, after the disappointment of the 2018 Olympics, by doing mountaineering.
Not at full strength during the warm-up and the first laps, Trespeuch managed to break free as the day went on.
From our special correspondent in Zhangjiakou,
What do mountaineering and snowboardcross have in common (apart from the mountains, we agree)?
The correct answer is: Chloé Trespeuch's silver medal gleaned on Wednesday at the Zhangjiakou snowpark, eight years after the bronze in Sochi and four years after the immense disappointment of a fifth place in the final in Pyeongchang.
By her own admission, the Vendée learned a lot from her failure in South Korea, especially "in the way of [se] prepare both mentally and physically".
For the mind, we validate high.
Because after an endless media marathon which will have seen it pass in front of almost all the French television possible and imaginable – there is of course that KTO TV which must not have had it on Wednesday – the snowboarder did not flinch at the time to arrive in front of us, in the mixed zone, to repeat the same thing over and over again.
" Routine kills me "
What were we saying again?
Ah yes, mountaineering is true.
After the 2018 Olympics, Chloé Trespeuch felt the need to fundamentally change the way she approached her physical preparation.
Because the native of Bourg-Saint-Maurice is the type to love the competition, a little (much) less "the routine of preparation".
"It's killing me," she concedes as the Zhangjiakou sun packs up behind the mountains.
I realized with hindsight that, during a classic preparation, I was losing intensity without noticing it.
So I wanted to challenge myself every summer in order to be at the max all the time and get out of my comfort zone.
I chose to include more sport in my physical preparation.
I did a bit of mountaineering, I did a half-marathon.
I challenge myself a lot.
»
And it pays!
The kilometers swallowed during his crossing of the Pelvoux accompanied him in the descent of the day.
Because the Chinese track is, according to most of the female snowboarders present at these Games, the hardest physically they have ever experienced.
“When my legs hurt in the border, I try to remember that I had much more pain while mountaineering!
Here, it's nothing next to it!
It's 1'30'' of effort, the Pelvoux is twelve hours!
she laughs.
Trespeuch prefers to hunt
Nevertheless, during these minutes and a half, the Frenchwoman had time to go through all the emotions.
“The smile in the start”, before starting the final, but the doubts upstream, during the qualifications, the quarter and the half.
In question, truthfully, too good starts in the heats before the final.
Because there's one thing you need to know about the Sochi bronze medalist: she likes nothing more (better?) than racing at the back of the pack.
Explanations: “I know, it's weird to say, but in the lead, it's not my place
(laughs)
.
I love being behind, there's a real strategy side, you have to choose your line according to the others.
I work on it a lot, it's one of my strengths.
»
We asked Kévin Strucl, his trainer for four years, if he too suffered from increased stress when he saw his filly at the forefront from the start.
The answer is no: “Me, quite frankly, I prefer to see her in front, he smiles when, this time, the night has really fallen on Zhangjiakou.
Afterwards, there is always fear.
There's something a little French, it's that it's hard to get started in the first runs.
So, we go ahead, we get caught up and we get scared.
But I'm going to end up believing that we like it because we do it all the time.
»
The “big hug” that feels good
Not only in the warm-up runs, by the way.
In training too, if we are to believe Strucl.
"This morning, there was tension at Chloe's," he says.
During the first training, she makes just about every possible mistake.
Let's face it, she did a shitty first training.
Behind, qualifying is not going very, not very well either (8th).
In quarters also it is frightened.
After that, we said to ourselves that we had to relax and enjoy the event a little.
»
Mission accomplished.
And even more.
Because if the gold escapes her in favor of the doyenne of the discipline, the American Lindsey Jacobellis (36 years old and 5 Olympic Games in her legs), Trespeuch seemed really upset when she crossed the final finish line.
His coach, meanwhile, played the Kevin Mayer by straddling the social security barriers to throw himself into the arms of his athlete.
"It's normal," he explains.
We've been preparing for this for four years, so the emotion is obviously strong.
Especially since in snowboardcross, so many things can happen on the track, you can be the favorite and collapse, we saw it again with Charlotte Banks [the Frenchwoman who went to the British camp for these Games and left in the quarterfinals on Wednesday].
Hence the big hug!
»
Kiss, love and silver medal.
#Snowboardcross #JO2022 pic.twitter.com/eGKMbHazQX
- Aymeric Le Gall (@AymericLeGall) February 9, 2022
“I was moved when I crossed the line, but even more when I saw my coach, because I know how much he is involved, he gives so that we can perform.
Seeing the pride in his eyes really touched me!
Now it's about recovering from those emotions, as the team race awaits him in a few days.
Until then, why not go hiking in the mountains of Zhangjiakou.
It's not the Pelvoux, but it still climbs quite a bit.
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