Cross-country skiing: first World Cup this weekend for Heidi Convard
Early on Sunday afternoon, it won’t just be Margot Tirloy from Cluse who will be discovering the prestigious cross-country skiing World Cup circuit during the individual 10km skating race in Davos (Switzerland). Savoyard Heidi Convard, 21, will also be there.
A member of the Courchevel Sports Club since she was very young, she earned her place last weekend when she came second in the individual skate event at the FESA Cup in Planica (Slovenia). It was her very first international podium finish in any category.
I knew I’d made good progress over the summer and I had a good feeling,” explained Heidi Convard to Nordic Magazine. The conditions were fast for this 10km skate, so I knew I could do a good race, but I didn’t think I could be on the podium! As I’d been too stressed at the French Cup in Bessans, I tried not to be too stressed and to take it easy.
One goal: to ski like she did in the FESA Cup
A state of mind that seems to have worked for the Courchevelloise native, who was informed of her selection for the World Cup on Monday morning by her coach Vincent Vittoz.
It’s obviously an important moment in my career,” she says. I’d never been on an international podium before last weekend, nor had I ever been selected for a World Cup. It’s really cool and makes you want to go further.
In the canton of Graubünden, Heidi Convard will be trying to make a good entry into the big world. The individual skate is one of my strong points, but I’m going into it not thinking too much, just wanting to put my ski down like I did in the FESA Cup,” she says. It’s my first time, so we’ll see how it goes!
“It’s going to be weird to see the athletes I normally watch on TV in real life”.
Like Margot Tirloy, the Savoyard is looking forward to racing against American Jessie Diggins.
I tell myself that at least I’ll have had the chance to do this before she stopped,” she says with delight. It’s going to be weird, too, to see in real life the athletes I normally watch on TV. I’ll be running with them now, but it’s just so cool!
While this World Cup start is one of Heidi Convard’s validated objectives for the season, she would like to take part in several others over the winter and, above all, be selected for the U23 World Championships scheduled to take place in Lillehammer (Norway) from 3 to 8 March.
The full programme for the Davos Cross-Country Skiing World Cup 🇨🇭
Friday 12 December
- 15:00: FT men’s and women’s team sprint qualifiers
- 17:00: FT men’s and women’s team sprint finals
Saturday 13 December
- 1.45pm: FT men’s and women’s sprint qualifiers
- 4.15pm: FT men’s and women’s sprint finals
Sunday 14 December
- 9.50am: Men’s individual 10km FT
- 1.45pm: Women’s individual 10km FT
- Firsts for Heidi Convard and Margot Tirloy: twenty-two Frenchmen selected for the Davos World Cup
- FESA Cup in Planica: individual skate for Theresa Fuerstenberg, Heidi Convard and Juliette Ducordeau on the podium
- Margot Tirloy on her first World Cup selection in Davos: “It’s such a childhood dream”.
