Like in Bormio, Marco Odermatt is beaten by the French. Sarrazin has worked intensively on himself over the last year and took part in downhill training for the first time when he was 28. Now all blockages seem to be solved.
Cyprien Sarrazin jumps to his next success in Kitzbühel.
Leonhard Foeger / Reuters
It took a Marco Odermatt for Cyprien Sarrazin to even come up with this idea. It would be a nice duel for the downhill ball between them, Odermatt said to him in Wengen last week after they had stood on the podium together three days in a row. Then he, Sarrazin, said: “Yes, why not?”
The trophy for the best downhill skier of the season had not been an issue for Sarrazin in November; the 29-year-old Frenchman just shook his head with a smile at the thought. He finished in the top ten twice last winter and in the net four times. “But now I no longer forbid myself to dream,” says Sarrazin. Because Sarrazin from the 2023/24 season is not Sarrazin from the 2022/23 season. He finally feels like the person he is in life on the skis.
Whatever Sarrazin is now: Kitzbühel winner. On Friday he became only the third Frenchman to win the legendary downhill at the Hahnenkamm after Jean-Claude Killy (1967) and Luc Alphand (1995 and 1997), amazingly just a year after his debut here.
In his second year in the Downhill World Cup, victory on the Streif: Cyprien Sarrazin’s ride in Kitzbühel.
He tried to listen to what the coaches at the big clubs were saying to their athletes
Sarrazin laid the foundation for this in the summer of 2022, when his giant slalom career was going downhill. In two thirds of the World Cup races in that discipline, he had either not reached the finish line or had not qualified for the second run. Once he won a parallel event, once he was on the podium in the giant slalom – and didn’t really know why it had worked there.
Since he suspected that he could be fast in the Super-G, he then joined the speed group for a training camp in Chile and also trained downhill – without ever having taken part in downhill training at the age of 28. He was already the fastest in the second run. Maybe that was his path, he thought. Yes, why not?
His path: as a child, it had already been to find the fastest line down. Growing up in Gap in the Hautes-Alpes, Sarrazin competed in downhill mountain bike competitions. He still loves this sport today; he looks for the best feeling in the rush of speed. He hadn’t trained in the ski club until he was 14, “I probably would have gotten bored,” he says. Instead, he skied or snowboarded freely with his parents and practiced freestyle. Every now and then he took part in a race as the only one in his small ski club.
Since his father was employed as a trainer at other races, his mother accompanied him at the beginning of his ski career. He was alone on the tours; He tried to listen to what the coaches of the big clubs were saying to their athletes. And his mother looked at other people left and right to see what kind of snow they were preparing like their skis. At some point, however, this preparation was no longer enough. As soon as Sarrazin trained seriously, things started to improve.
But the first few years in the World Cup were a wild ride. He rarely managed to get the risk right. Sarrazin, a rather quiet person in his private life, told the French newspaper Le Dauphiné that he was a little absent at certain moments in some races. The fast disciplines require maturity, which he hasn’t had yet. “I wasn’t comfortable with myself, the way I was skiing, it scared me.”
In Kitzbühel a year ago he came tenth in the first downhill, in the first race on the Streif. He fell heavily on the second descent. In many situations his body said stop in time, but he injured his back before the home World Championships and missed the title fights in Courchevel/Méribel. An injury that should set a new course.
“As if Federer had beaten Nadal 6-0, 6-0, 6-0.”
As he watched the World Cup from his sofa, he said to himself: “I don’t want to scare myself anymore. Don’t hurt anymore. I want to be well.” He had fallen deeply in love – and couldn’t cope with the end of this love. At his lowest point, Sarrazin decided to seek the help of a psychologist. This had already been recommended to him before, but he didn’t want to do it because “I underestimated what influence the mental aspect had on me.” He also worked with a female energy coach who was supposed to solve his inner blockages.
This work itself was so successful that it soon transferred to his skiing. The problem was purely mental, Sarrazin said; his coach didn’t have to correct anything technical with him for three months, “not a single detail.” When he came to Bormio at the end of December, Sarrazin thought that if he had gotten over the bad heartbreak in the spring, he would probably be able to manage this difficult race. Also crucial was the statement from Sarrazin’s psychologist: “Allow yourself to win!”
Sarrazin repeated these words to himself for three days – until he believed that he deserved the top spot. And with an incredible drive he defeated an equally perfect Marco Odermatt. France’s team director Frédéric Perrin still raves about that performance, the first downhill victory by a Frenchman in Bormio in 27 years: “For me, it was the same achievement of the century as when Roger Federer beat Rafael Nadal 6-0, 6-0 at a Grand Slam tournament. 0, 6-0.”
The drive wasn’t quite as irresistible when we won in Kitzbühel, but it was aggressive as always – and “clever”, as Odermatt said. The reward: In the Downhill World Cup, Sarrazin is still separated by 26 points from the Swiss, who came third on Friday. Odermatt will have his duel for the downhill ball.
Sarrazin recently met the woman who had given him heartbreak in the spring. He thanked her, he says. After all, she was the reason why he tackled his problems. Yes, why not?