A cherry on the cake. Arnaud Boisset scored his first podium in Saalbach to end his first World Cup season. Reaction.
First season in the World Cup, first finals, first podium. Arnaud Boisset makes it look easy. The Martignerain shone in the last super-G of the season on Friday in Saalbach-Hinterglemm. By placing 3rd, Bas-Valaisan puts an exclamation point on an already extraordinary first season on the Cirque blanc.
“I have no words,” said the 25-year-old skier after his first awards ceremony. “I’ve said quite a few times that I have no words,” he smiles. We could still have imagined that participating for the first time in the finals, where only the 25 best skiers in each discipline are qualified, could create pressure. But Arnaud Boisset always impresses with his cool, joyful, friendly attitude. Someone serious but who also doesn’t take the lead. An intelligent and passionate skier who enjoys skiing. With the added bonus of good results. “I really wanted to show another good performance in this last race. I didn’t want to make up the numbers.”
Take advantage of the bib
A good bib, in this case number 5, certainly played a role. But you have to know how to take advantage of this advantage and deliver your best skiing. “I knew at the finish that it was a good round and I said to myself that maybe it would do it for a 5th or 6th place and finish in the top 10 again. Then I saw more and more athletes are falling behind and not the least! When (Vincent) Kriechmayr or (Marco) Odermatt were at the start, I was still very tense. But now I can enjoy it.”
Where some speed specialists complained of having a one-month low before these last races in the finals, Arnaud Boisset took the opportunity to do kilometers in the European Cup “to keep the rhythm of the races a little”. A wise decision. “It was clearly a smart choice in hindsight.”
“I’m not going to change”
Intelligence is certainly a quality that we associate with Arnaud Boisset. In relation to his skiing, but also in relation to everything around him. Now that he has reached a World Cup podium, his status will certainly change. “But Arnaud Boisset the person is not going to change,” he assures. “I’m going to try to stay as I am, because it quickly happens that I lose control a little and that this first podium is also the last. And I don’t want that to be the case.”
After having performed on the tracks which will host the World Championships in a year, he prefers to calm things down. “Everyone talks to me about these Worlds, but today I finished as 3rd Swiss and there is Marco behind. There are only four places for the Swiss at the Worlds,” he recalls. “It’s easier to stay on land when you’re not the best in the country, nor the best in the region,” he sums up with a wink towards this other exceptional Valais skier, Loïc Meillard, 2nd of the day.
A first hat-trick since Veysonnaz in 1996
Arnaud Boisset is in any case entering the history books: the last time we saw a Swiss hat-trick in the World Cup was in the downhill at Veysonnaz in 1996. Le Martignerain was not born in time, but he couldn’t help but tickle the one who won the super-G Globe on Friday. “I came across Marco Odermatt and I said to him: You don’t have that, eh, a Swiss hat-trick,” he laughs. “So, we laughed a little bit about that. It’s great to share this podium with two team colleagues.”
Sim Sim Wissgott, Saalbach-Hinterglemm