Raised in a permanent winter, French skier Tessa Worley, 33, put an end, Sunday, March 19, in Soldeu (Andorra), to an exceptional career marked by two world champion titles (2013 and 2017), leaving a void in the team of France.
A QUEEN BOWS OUT 👑
Thank you for everything Tessa Worley 🙏🇫🇷
2⃣ crystal globes in Giant world
3⃣ champion
2⃣ titles bronze medals at the World Podiums in World
3⃣6⃣ Cup including 16 victories!
📸 Zoom Agency pic.twitter.com/NQXomzdcaB
— FFS - French Ski Federation (@FedFranceSki) March 19, 2023
About thirty years ago, a French woman and an Australian created the ski lifts and ski school of the resort where they live six months a year, during the winter, with their two children, including a little blonde very talented for skiing. It was on the other side of the world, in Mount Lyford, a tiny village lost in New Zealand, a two-hour drive from Christchurch and the first hospital.
"Mount Lyford, it was really the adventure," says Tessa Worley with a smile. The resort was in the middle of nowhere, very wild. And we didn't even live in the village but in a completely isolated house, which we reached after half an hour of 4X4 on stony roads. I enjoyed this life lost in nature, going up to the resort, going skiing, going to the little school and its three classes."
With her family, Tessa, born on October 4, 1989 in Annemasse, crosses the globe every six months between New Zealand and Haute-Savoie, to live in an endless winter. "This education has forged my character," says Tessa Worley. Traveling, adapting, we moved a whole mess every six months. Having different landmarks, feeling good in several places, I'm comfortable with that."
More than 17 years on the circuit
Without knowing it, the young girl is preparing her future on the Alpine Ski World Cup circuit, the suitcase always ready, between two hotels, by car or in airport halls.
Out of early childhood, Tessa Worley follows her mother and settles permanently in France. She joined the Federation and the high level at the age of 15, in Albertville. With her friends Taïna Barioz, Anémone Marmottan, later Nastasia Noens, she formed a merry band.
The World Cup champion quickly blossomed into the World Cup, won for the first time in Aspen (USA) in November 2008, at only 19 years old, and settled among the best, a circle she has never left, with 16 victories on the circuit in addition to her two world titles.
At 33, her career is an exception: no other skier has had her longevity, more than 17 years on the world circuit, while the careers of most champions end early.
At the crossroads of generations, Worley skied against legends Tina Maze, Lindsey Vonn and Anna Fenninger before pitting Viktoria Rebensburg and Lara Gut-Behrami against the best skier in history Mikaela Shiffrin.
End of an era
After her debut with fanfare, her trajectory was meteoric until December 2013, a few months after her first world title, when a serious right knee injury in Courchevel had deprived her of the Sochi Olympics the following year.
Other, less serious injuries punctuated her journey, but the blue-eyed blonde returned from each difficulty with a rage to win difficult to detect in the sweetness of her public appearances.
For several seasons, Tessa Worley was almost the only French skier to play victories regularly, a pressure she has always assumed perfectly, while her teammates Coralie Frasse-Sombet and Nastasia Noens also stop, in addition to the farewell in the men of another figure, Johan Clarey.
At the time of leaving, the question of his succession arises, while a new generation is slowly pointing the tip of its spatulas, notably led by Marie Lamure.
During all these frantic years on the icy slopes, Tessa Worley never saw Mount Lyford again. "After my career, I will go back, that's for sure," she promised AFP in 2021. It is time to rediscover its roots, deeply rooted in the snow.
With AFP
The summary of the week France 24 invites you to look back on the news that marked the week
I subscribe
Take international news with you everywhere! Download the France 24 app