From our special envoy to China,
And two medals for alpine skiing after that of Clarey at the start of the week! “Finally”, one would be tempted to say so much we had believed in Alexis Pinturault, Thursday, during the combined, before it was missed in the descent and fell during the slalom. On arrival, it’s bronze and it’s for Mathieu Faivre, the skier from Nice who stands out in this France group. Why then, you will tell us? But if, remember, it was he who had been asked to take his backpack and leave Pyeongchang after limiting remarks on the French collective which he had nothing to do with. “I’m here for my apple, to do my shopping,” he then told reporters before apologizing once he returned home.
🇬🇧🥉 BOOM! Mathieu Faivre takes bronze in the giant slalom, Marco Odermatt crowned Olympic champion! #ChaletClub #Beijing2022 pic.twitter.com/3JaOQ2e2Zg
— Eurosport France (@Eurosport_FR) February 13, 2022
Since then it has been forgotten. Asked about this bloody side by our friends in the mixed zone of Yanqing (yes, on Sunday we made the choice to stay in Zhangjiakou to experience Quentin Fillon Maillet’s fourth medal in the pursuit), Frédéric Perrin, his lifelong coach, says “No, he hasn’t calmed down, he’s still bloody. But that’s what makes his strength, I don’t want him to change in relation to that. We now know how to manage him, we know how to enter into discussions with him, which we were incapable of before and, for his part, he manages to switch quickly. He’s still freaking out, but he manages to quickly take a step back and regroup. »
Tension before release
On Sunday, Faivre delivered a fairly clean race, in daunting weather conditions, to say the least. After a first postponement of the second round at midday, the giant was still able to take place, not without tapping into the mental reserves of the athletes. And this despite a stress present throughout the day. “The day was really very long with the postponement of the second round. Today it was complicated for me, I have rarely been so nervous, he confided to the microphone of Eurosport. I am happy to leave with a medal. Indeed it is in bronze, but I believe that there are only three places that count at the Olympic Games. I’m leaving with a medal, it’s just incredible. On his race, the foufou of French alpine skiing says he is rather satisfied:
“I think I’m doing quite a good first run, the second was a little more complicated with very tricky conditions, the weather, the hard track, a very twisty track. »
“There was tension, he didn’t have a very, very good second half of the heat, confirms Frédéric Perrin in the mixed zone. But ultimately I don’t want to be in the analysis for the moment, to ask myself where he could have done better. I am happy that he answered in the state of mind given the course of the day. After his double world title in Cortina d’Ampezzo last year (in giant and parallel), Mathieu Faivre confirms that he is a faithful boy at (big) events. “When you are double world champion, that means something. He relies on his experience, continues the coach. He’s not very young anymore (I knew him very young), he’s a big boy of thirty brooms and now he’s good everywhere. I hope it won’t stop there. »