An incredible resilience which, four days after a heavy fall, allowed her to win the title of Big Air World Champion. French freestyle skier Tess Ledeux won her third world title aged just 21. She confides in 20 minutes over a season like any other, crowned by this world title, one of his goals for the year.
You have just won your third world title, how do you feel two days later?
I think I’m starting to realize little by little. We got back yesterday, we spent two very intense and emotional weeks. Today I am especially very tired, I think I have all the descent. But it’s pretty crazy and I take the time to watch and read all the messages that have been written to me. I’m still on my little cloud, I think.
You win thanks to a figure that cost you a heavy fall four days before, or are we going to seek this grain of madness? How to tame fear?
I think it’s the desire for victory. Yes I was very scared, but I knew it was a trick that was going to allow me to win and I had no other options that day. I also knew that it is a figure that I mastered. I fell in slopestyle because I had a speed problem, the wind picked up that’s why I fell, but I didn’t make any technical mistakes. I knew that technically I had mastered it, that I just had to be very focused on the other parameters, but that it was going to do it.
There is this fall, a concussion at the start of the season, do you think you have shown extraordinary resilience?
It is true that it is a very special season. But I think all post-Olympic seasons are always special. I got a lot of big scares, it’s true that my concussion in October did not give me confidence to attack the season. But I tried to keep hope throughout the season, and to tell myself that it was going to end well, that I was going to manage to climb the slope, I believed in it until the end. And that’s what got me this title. It was difficult because after each little failure, each fall, each competition that didn’t go well, I had trouble rethinking myself, it took me a few days to put things into perspective, and tell myself that I could catch up.
Can you describe what a “switch double cork 1260 mute grab” is, and the difficulty of this figure?
So, we go back, we arrive on the jump with our back to the slope, then I pass twice upside down, and I do three and a half turns on myself before landing facing the slope. For me in any case, I really have to concentrate on the exit of the jump, I must not rush because the exit, the triggering of the jump, is the key to the success of the figure I do a lot of visualizations, after we practiced them so much in training these figures, as soon as we arrive on the jump it’s almost instinctive.
Are you working on new figures or more on the consolidation of those already made?
I always try to work on new figures and to consolidate the ones I already have. At this stage of the season I don’t yet know what the plans are for next winter in terms of tricks because we haven’t tackled the technical work yet, which we tend to do in the summer. Yes, I dream of something new, I want to do new things and go further, but I don’t know what it will be yet.
You seem more comfortable on the big air than on the slopstyle, what is the difference?
Not especially, in any case I concentrate as much on the two disciplines, there are seasons which work well in slopestyle, sometimes better in big air. We do a very random sport, there are a lot of external elements that come into play, such as the weather. There is a small part of luck I think, and the big difference is that in slopestyle there are six modules, only one in big air. So in slopestyle you’re six times more likely to miss. I think it’s even more random, and therefore technically a bit harder.
Does this title mark the end of your season?
I have two World Cup stages left, including the grand final in three weeks. I didn’t start very well for the globe, I would have to win the last two stages to win it, it’s not lost but I’m going to need a lot of luck. I no longer have the right to make mistakes. But the main objective of the season was the World Championships, now I will be able to approach these two rounds more calmly.
What are your next goals?
To continue on this momentum, of course I miss an Olympic gold medal, that makes dream. But after that it’s still in a long time, I don’t project myself that far. But it would be a great achievement for my career.
How do you fix them? Rather in the long term with the 2026 Olympics or more in the short term?
I find it difficult to project myself further than the next season and I think it’s a bit my strength, I take season after season and I think it scares me a little to project myself further.