Frenchwoman Joséphine Pagnier, during the ski jumping World Cup event in Lillehamer (Norway), December 3, 2023. GEIR OLSEN / AP
Joséphine Pagnier had announced it the day before. “I have always had the firm conviction that I have the abilities, I just have to trust myself and I am sure that it will work. » The young ski jumper did not wait to confirm her comments, made on Eurosport. One day after signing the first podium of her young career – second on the small hill of Lillehamer – the 21-year-old Frenchwoman won on the large hill of the Norwegian resort on Sunday December 3 and became the third athlete in the vault on tricolor skis to win a World Cup round.
Ten years after Coline Mattel in Sapporo (Japan), the last Frenchwoman to have won the World Cup, the skier from Chaux-Neuve (Doubs) dominated the debates on Sunday. With 272.4 points, the Frenchwoman won ahead of the Canadian Alexandra Loutitt (267.5) and the Norwegian Eirin Maria Kvandal (252.8).
A performance which allows the Franche-Comté jumper to join Nicolas Dessum, winner in Sapporo in 1995, and Coline Mattel, victorious in 2012 (Sochi, Russia) and 2013 (Sapporo) in the pantheon of rare French winners at the highest level of the discipline.
Not there “to save the nation or French ski jumping”
After a first jump measured at 140.5 meters – one meter short of the Norwegian springboard record – Joséphine Pagnier signed a second jump at 134.5 meters. Enough to ensure he raises his arms for the first time in his career. “I’m really happy, I’m enjoying the moment, I’m really proud of myself”said the Frenchwoman on Eurosport, after her victory.
Insisting on the notion of pleasure, and its “long-term project”the ski jumper does not intend to wear a costume too big for her, in a discipline lacking a headliner in France. “I’m just here to savor the moment, not to save the nation or French ski jumping,” she insisted. But if they continue, Joséphine Pagnier’s performances will undoubtedly quickly prevent her from going there piano.
“I was keen to start this season by being offensive from the start”, assured the young athlete on Saturday, on the competition broadcaster. She, who admitted to having enjoyed her first podium, will perhaps have to get used to it. His victory on Sunday also gives him the yellow bib as leader of the World Cup. A first in the history of French ski jumping, which she will debut in two weeks, on the Engelberg ski jump (Switzerland).