This is called resilience. Victim of a spectacular fall on Tuesday in acrobatic descent (or slopestyle), Tess Ledeux was able to recover in a few days to win the big jump (or big air) event on Saturday. With 186.75 points, she beat Norway’s Sandra Eie (175 points) and Canada’s Megan Oldham (174 points), who had dominated her in this same event at the X-Games in Aspen (Colorado) five years ago. weeks.
At only 21 years old, the skier from La Plagne won her third freestyle skiing world title on the slopes of Bakuriani, in Georgia. At the end of a season that had started with difficulty, with injuries and a concussion, the emotion and the relief were visible on Tess Ledeux’s face after her third jump on Saturday afternoon, a « double switch » succeeded, synonymous with a gold medal, when it was on this figure that she had fallen four days ago.
“It’s a dream come true. I had this bad fall in slopestyle, I’m so happy, I can’t believe it”explained the French just after this new world title.
On Tuesday, she had tried it on her first pass, but she had hit the top of her skis at the reception of her third jump, hitting the track with her head. She had only taken the 12e and last place in the slopestyle event, where she was also among the favorites for the podium and gold.
“It’s just amazing”
“The pressure was so strong. I’m so happy to land this figure, it’s the first time for me in competition. It’s just amazing”she still appreciated after her final.
2017 world champion in freestyle descent and 2019 high jump, Tess Ledeux was one of the favorites for the world title, in the absence of the Olympic champion and star of freestyle skiing, the Chinese Eileen Gu, injured at the end of January at the X -Games.
Leader of the French freestyle skiing team with Perrine Laffont on the bumps, Ledeux perfectly landed his first jump on Saturday noon, a 1620 (four and a half turns) by catching his skis with his hands, to take control with 94, 25 dots.
After missing the landing of her second jump in difficult weather conditions, she attempted the same trick again, a « switch double », on his third pass, this time successfully landing, which earned him a score of 92.50 points. She thus relegated the competition to more than ten points of her total.
She won this world title the day her cousin, French halfpipe ski star Kevin Rolland, was 33 years old in his last race – seventh place at the 2023 Worlds.