For the viewer, a ski race is a few minutes downhill during one or two runs, but no more. For the skier, however, the day is much busier.
Like a breath. Between the appearance of an athlete in the starting gate, and his disappearance behind the tarpaulins of the arrival racket, it takes from 45 seconds to two minutes depending on the discipline. These two minutes maximum, however, hide many hours of work in the shadows. From waking up at the hotel to post-race interviews, including reconnaissance, multiple warm-ups and the long wait before the start.
No rest at the hotel
Hit the slopes at more than 120 km/h requires careful preparation. Skiers start their day with a stinging alarm clock and breakfast at their hotel. “We are fine, we have breakfast around 6 a.m., we have a little more time than in technicalsmiles Bob Pérenzin, technician of the Romae Miradoli descender. Then I go to prepare the skis at 7 a.m., while Romane has an appointment at the bottom of the track around 8 a.m., in general.
But before reaching the snow front, you have to eat well. “The menu varies: eggs, starches, a little protein, cereals, fruit. Often it’s a buffet and everyone takes what suits them best. It’s a first big meal, which they maintain behind with cereal bars and fairly quick intakes”explains Romain Vélez, coach of the men’s group, and physical coordinator.
Before leaving the hotel in the early morning, you have to wake up the body, by a first warm-up. “We do a sport that is traumatic for the body, so there is a real moment with protocols to get the machine back on track, regain range of motion. Stretching, mobility exercises, active movements”, explains Romain Vélez. Some add ten minutes of exercise bike.
Giant locker room and parallel track
While the station is barely waking up, the athletes board the chairlifts that take them to the start of the races. Objective: recognition of the route, a decisive moment for the future. “They have 45 minutes to take information on the route, at slow speed, specifies the physical coordinator of the Blues. They receive the latest instructions and encouragement.”
From one runner to another, habits change according to Jean-Noël Martin, the leader of the women’s technical group. “Some will take ten minutes, others will take all the time. Some have a more developed innate sense, others study the lines, the movements of the ground. It’s very personal.” On arrival, after a debrief with the coaches to check that the strategy is good, head for the track that you can’t see: the warm-up track. There, several routes await the athletes. They multiply the passages there by increasing in intensity. “Some also do free skiing. Everyone has their own habits. We must not forget the mental preparation to get in shape, especially visualization”adds Marco Viale, the boss of women’s speed.
The physical trainers then enter the track to warm up the athletes à la carte, each with their own routine. “As soon as the feelings are good, they go to team hospitality, a big tent, where everyone does what they want after changing. Some sleep, others read, listen to music, do yoga. Me , I’m eating”, smiles Marco Viale. This large tent at the start, or mid-course, is the equivalent of a call room in athletics or swimming. Less intimidation and provocation.
In these large barnums away from the public, from 100 to 150 m² with spaces for each country, exercise bikes, televisions, beds and food, the athletes mix or isolate themselves, as desired . “It’s not a time when the athlete is focused, because he can’t stay focused for three hours. You have to focus for two minutes before leaving. It’s a lounge atmosphere”, describes Marco Viale. Romain Vélez adds: “You see everything: guys who condition themselves like MMA fighters. They talk loudly, they slap their thighs, they slap their skis. Others are very calm, focused on themselves”.
While a large part of the staff leaves to position themselves along the track, the athletes mingle. “We warm up quietly. I’m friends with girls from other teams. We chat, we joke,” describes Clara Direz. Same for the descender Adrien Théaux: “I talk to others if they want to talk because not everyone does. [rires]. There are many who sleep, who read. We often talk bullshit.”
“When the race starts, everyone goes into their bubble. I prepare my things, I put everything away so that it’s clean, then I start discussing the race, but not only, up to four minutes before the start. I don’t need long to refocus on racing.”
Adrien Théaux, French descenderat franceinfo: sport
“I’m the complete opposite of Adrien, laughs Johan Clarey, I put myself in a fairly opaque bubble. I speak very little. I’m already focused to death, even if I force myself to smile a little more, to be less closed, because I need it to find enthusiasm. These are paths that have been worked on for 20 years, which I have better control of now”. The secret of Tignard? “I evacuate negative ideas. I think of positive, simple things.” Another example ? Coralie Frasse-Sombet: “I do a lot of reaction games. I try to activate the nervous system. I jump fast. I move my arms fast. I do apnea and I work with breathing”.
The flip side
Then comes the fateful moment, the starting gate, reached a good quarter of an hour before the start. The opportunity for a final warm-up without skiing, using stretched rubber bands to wake up the body. The moment also to tighten the last hooks of the shoes, to pull up the socks and other kinds of tocs, not always rational and specific to each one. “There, we can still talk to them a little, they still manage to joketestifies Régis Meca, physiotherapist of the Blues, But five minutes before departure, the mask falls. They are on their way. There, you don’t have to talk to them too much.”
The rest is what everyone sees: the race. But the day doesn’t end when you cross the finish line. Depending on his performance, the athlete spends more or less time in the finish line, responding to media requests. If he is at the provisional head of the classification, he remains seated in the “hot seat“, the seat facing the camera reserved for the leader. And if the medal is confirmed, it’s the start of another marathon, between the protocol and the interviews.
On the day of his coronation in combined, Alexis Pinturault had spent more than two hours answering questions, getting on the podium, before going to receive his medal at the start of the evening. “I know that on this kind of event, each event costs energy. The protocol and the ceremony too. Rest is extremely important”then slipped the hero of the day.
When there is no medal, the return to the hotel is quicker, with one priority: the snack. “The athletes then have not eaten since morning, even though they are snacking on cereal bars”specifies Romain Vélez, who continues: “Then they go to care, to the video session. When they come back the next day, they even go skiing a little!”. It is at this time that the nimble fingers of physiotherapists and osteopaths treat sores. A few stretches and pedal strokes later, in the absence of contractual obligations with his sponsors, the athlete can finally do what he wants with his evening. After a busy day.
