One of the best downhill women’s skiers for the French team heading into Sochi 2014 has gone down with injury and will be unable to compete in the games.
Tessa Worley, the reigning world giant slalom champion, found ligament damage in her knee after a recent run. This news has hit the French hard and has left people questioning how they will compete in Sochi 2014. The Ski Federation Director of France Fabien Saquez stated, “We’ve gone from light to darkness overnight.”
While the French women have historically finished worse than the French men there was promise that the Sochi games would be a turning point. Carole Montillet was the first woman to gain gold in Salt Lake City since 1968 where Marielle Goitschel took gold in the women’s slalom in Grenoble.
Montillet had dedicated her win in 2002 to a super-G champion and friend Regine Cavagnoud who was unable to win gold in Salt Lake City after she tragically died in a training accident where she collided into a coach from Germany.
Montillet stated after her win that she thought of Cavagnoud everyday and that she felt she was being watched over and helped by Regine.
In related news, the French men’s skiing team is in equally excited to make it to the Sochi games to prove themselves. The most famous French skier, Jean-Claude Killy brought legitimacy to French skiing being the only Frenchman to win three Olympic gold medals. None have been able to match Killy’s success but some have come close. Gold medal winners from France include Jean-Pierre Vidal, Henri Oreiller, Jean Vuarnet, and Jean-Luc Cretier.
With the men and women both with something to prove at the upcoming games it will be interesting to see if some heroes will arise and return French skiing to prominence.
