Nordic combined: what Léna Brocard has to say
This Thursday at the end of the day, at the pocket jump of the Lillehammer World Cup (Norway), Léna Brocard from the Isère region will launch her 2024/2025 winter season. France’s top Nordic combined skier, the 24-year-old from Isère finished last season ranked eighth in the world, putting her in the top 10. She talks to Nordic Magazine.
- What state of mind are you in just a few hours before the start of your 2024/2025 winter?
I’m obviously looking forward to it, but I’m also stressed. The first race of the season is always the one where it’s hard to know where I stand. As I’m training on my own, this will allow me to find my bearings and get my bearings. We’ve been training all year to compete, and here we are at last!
- How was your summer of training?
Pretty good! We’ve changed our cross-country skiing coach and Ludovic Bourgeois is now in charge of this sector [instead of Arnaud Durand, coach of the Excellence 2030 cross-country skiing group, editor’s note], which is great. Last year, we did some hypoxia, unlike this year, but we had some great training sessions, particularly on skis in Davos or in Oberstdorf, Innsbruck and Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
“It makes you want the World Cup to come back to France”Léna Brocard at Nordic Magazine
- Have you prioritised any particular areas?
As I train with the boys, I wanted to focus on ski jumping. When you do Nordic combined, the first step to performing well [except in the mass-starts, editor’s note] is to jump well. So we put a lot of emphasis on that, but of course we also trained on skis to perform as well as possible.
- How did the summer Grand Prix tour go?
I had the best results of my career in the summer Grands Prix [she finished seventh, twice sixth and fourth, editor’s note]! We were also lucky enough to race at Chaux-Neuve, at home. It was really great, especially as it was the first time I’d been able to perform in France in an international competition. Running with my family, who are the authors of the track and at the bottom of the ski jump, on a site where we train every day, just makes you want the World Cup to come back to France.
“The aim is first and foremost to produce the most comprehensive combinations possible”Léna Brocard at Nordic Magazine
- In terms of your objectives for the winter, Etienne Gouy, director of the French Nordic combined teams, told us in our columns that your goal was the podium: do you agree?
For several years now, I’ve been improving every winter and doing better and better. Two years ago, I was fifth, and last year I was fourth, so if I want to improve on my best result, I don’t have much choice [laughs]! The aim is to try and get on the podium, but to do that we’ll have to put some things in place. That’s going to come down to content. First of all, the aim is to do the most complete combinations possible. We’ll see where that takes me!
- Who do you think will be the leading ladies of the World Cup season?
I think Ida Marie Hagen and Gyda Westvold Hansen will be battling it out for the podium. Behind them, I’m not sure, but someone like Ema Volavsek, who was injured last year, will be back in form. Jenny Nowak, with her yellow Grand Prix jersey, will also be someone to watch, as will Nathalie Armbruster. More generally, I hope there will be lots of different nations up front!
“We want to build a team for the long term”Léna Brocard at Nordic Magazine
- Following in your footsteps, Romane Baud and Marion Droz-Vincent are rising through the ranks of the French national team…
This season, I think the main objective is to have a mixed team at the world championships in Trondheim. Beyond that, we want to create a team for the long term. It’s really cool to see them develop and I can’t wait for us to form a real team.
- Regular top 10 finishes for Laurent Muhlethaler and Mattéo Baud, podium finishes for Léna Brocard: the French team’s ambitions for the 2024/2025 World Cup
- Chaux-Neuve : Léna Brocard at the foot of the box in the individual compact
- French Championships in Méribel: no surprise as Mattéo Baud and Léna Brocard win gold medals
- Schonach: best career performance for Léna Brocard, superb fourth in the gundersen
- Léna Brocard after her fourth place in Schonach, a new World Cup record: “A really positive point in my season”.
