She almost apologized for being there, on the top step of the podium, then the object of so much attention mixed with curiosity at a press conference. Laurence Saint-Germain, a tall brunette with prominent cheekbones, had a hard time realizing that she had just been crowned world champion in front of Mikaela Shiffrin.
At 28, the Canadian regularly appears in the top 10 of World Cup slaloms, but had never done better than a fifth place, at the parallel of Saint-Moritz, in 2019. Her seventh place at the last slalom contested at Spindleruv Mlyn (RTC), on January 29, and the fact that she was skiing very well in training, were the only clues, with her 6th place at the Are World Championships, in 2019, of a possible surprise .
“At every door, I was like ‘down, down, down!'”
“I feel a little lost, she hesitates after hearing the Canadian anthem. I never thought… beat Mikaela Shiffrin without her missing a door. » Third in the first round 61 hundredths behind the American, Saint-Germain overcame her stress to overtake the German Lena Duerr (3rd at 69 hundredths), before seeing the Swiss Wendy Holdener straddle, then Shiffrin fail at 57 hundredths. “I wanted to try to do a good second run to keep my third position. I would also have been happy with a top 10 or top 5! I make a small mistake at the top of the track, it pushed me to attack even more. At each door I was like “down, down, down!” »
Laurence Saint-Germain created the feat on the Roc de Fer track in Méribel. (S. Boué/The Team)
Originally from Saint-Ferréol-les-Neiges, 3,800 inhabitants, about fifty kilometers from Quebec, along the St. Lawrence River, Laurence Saint-Germain did not dream, as a child, of becoming a ski champion. “I didn’t have any posters in my room, but I always loved skiing and wanted to compete”, she recalls. His village, where “there are no big mountains but where you are always outside”is home to the Canadian national cross-country ski center and has seen the growth of Alex Harvey, double world champion (team sprint in 2011, 50 km in 2017).
Queen Shiffrin’s Tribute
Removed from the Canadian selection in 2013, the Quebecer joined the University of Vermont (USA), in computer science, before finding a sufficient level in skiing. “I hesitated to stop my studies, but it’s an asset. I like learning and juggling skiing. » She is now studying biomedical engineering, part-time in Montreal.
Disappointed not to have been able to share the bronze medal of her teammates in the team event on Tuesday, while training in Italy, she also lived by far the title of James Crawford in super-G, and Cameron Alexander’s bronze medal in the downhill. “I am proud to be part of this team which has done the best Worlds so far”, she notes. Canada hadn’t won two titles in the same edition since Nancy Green’s giant and combined gold in Grenoble in 1968. Nor a slalom title since Anne Heiggtveit in 1960. It was well worth a tribute from the Queen. Mikaela Shiffrin: “I hope that all the media will give her the place she deserves, the first. »
