This Sunday, February 26 will remain engraved in the memory of Laura Gauché. At the age of 27, the skier from Moûtiers (Savoie) had the best race of her career during the descent of Crans-Montana (Switzerland) by finishing, for the very first time, on the podium of a Coupe du alpine skiing world. “It’s a huge surprise”recognized the interested party, 3ebehind the Italians Sofia Goggia (1st) and Federica Brignone (2nd).
“It was quite difficult in the head but I thought ‘stay in it, it’ll do'”, explained the Frenchwoman after the race, which was originally scheduled for Saturday and which was postponed for a day due to fog and the condition of the track. Starting with bib number 26, Laura Gauché had to wait a long time before starting.
“I was quite relaxed, but mentally it was very hard to wait for yesterday [samedi] all day, to know if it was going to work or not. This morning, again, the fog…”, she said. The flakes may have made visibility complicated, especially at the top of the route, but it reveals: “I’m often not bad when girls don’t see their feet too much. I’m a little less scared perhaps than others, so I know that these conditions may be suitable for me. »
HUGE ???? Laura Gauché’s place on the descent of Crans Montana ????????! ???? This is his first World Cup podium… https://t.co/LFocKakNjV
“It’s a beautiful day”
For her seventh season and after 111 starts in the World Cup, Laura Gauché has therefore made her way for the very first time on a podium. “I’m so happy, it’s such a beautiful day. Visibility conditions kept changing. It was quite a complicated race.”confided the tricolor skier, in clear progression and who thus achieves her sixth Top 10 in thirteen months.
After the not easy Worlds in Courchevel-Méribel (Savoie), Laura Gauché reassures herself and climbs, thanks to this third place, to 17th place in the downhill ranking with 121 points. In the general classification, the Savoyarde is 36ᵉ, with 184 points. At the end of the season, he will have two more downhill runs and three super-Gs, his two specialties, to shine again and continue to grab a few places in the standings.