Ski jumping: Valentin Foubert to lead the French men’s team
This Thursday marks the eve of the start of the 2024/2025 Ski Jumping World Cup. The (long) hunt for the big crystal globes begins in Lillehammer (Norway), on the 140-metre ski jump. For the French team, this new season is full of promise.
Firstly, on the men’s side, the situation has changed considerably since last year. “We have a team that is more competitive than last winter, Etienne Gouy, director of the French teams, told Nordic Magazine. We’re starting the season with the aim of trying to do the whole World Cup circuit with Valentin Foubert. We’ll see whether it’s worth continuing depending on his results, but with what he’s shown all summer and again this autumn, he’s really solid. Now he’ll have to reproduce it on snow, but we hope he’ll regularly be in the points or even better.”
But the ambition of the men’s team, led by Nicolas Dessum and David Viry, does not stop there. “The idea is also to form a small group so that Valentin is not alone. Enzo Milesi, Jules Chervet and Ari Repellin are showing their talents and their aim will be to continue to score points in the continental cup with an eye on the World Cup,” adds Etienne Gouy, pleased with the success of the mixed training group set up in spring 2023.
Joséphine Pagnier as women’s leader
On the women’s side, the leader is Joséphine Pagnier. After a fantastic start to the 2023/2024 season, La Chaunière wore the yellow bib and won her first World Cup titles.
“Of course, the aim will be to regularly finish in the top 10, says Etienne Gouy. After that, if she can get back on the podium, we won’t say no, but we’re not getting too carried away because we can see that the Germans are back at the top level, that the Norwegians are there and that the Slovenians will be there too.”
Damien Maitre, her coach, confirms this objective: “The idea for her is to confirm her position. Last winter, she was seventh overall and now, the aim will be to be in contact with the best at the start of the season. Being in the top 10 would be great. I know it’s very tight, but I don’t know the level of the others and we know there’s a lot of turnover. So we’ll have to attack from the right side of the pack,” says the man who is assisted by Czech Jan Matura.
“She’s never been in the top 10 at the World Championships, so the aim will be to be there on the small and large jumps, he continues. As for the general ranking, I don’t know, but if she confirms this by repeating a year in the top 10, it will be a second winter where she settles in before the Olympic season, which she will be able to approach with confidence. It’s important to validate these stages.”
Emma Chervet to continue progressing in the World Cup, Lilou Zepchi to learn the ropes
Meanwhile, Emma Chervet from Chamonix will be aiming to get back into the points. “She’s still learning the ropes for her second year of World Cup racing, and her aim will be to confirm last winter’s performance, when she went above and beyond our expectations,” says her coach Damien Maitre.
Lilou Zepchi will not be taking part in the World Cup at the start of the season, but will be focusing on the World Junior Championships. All this with the parallel aim of getting regular World Cup experience. “For her, it will be a voyage of discovery with the idea of understanding what the very highest level is and what it requires, explains the French coach. The idea is for her to learn and I hope she makes several finals during the winter.”
Finally, the federal government’s ambition is to field a competitive team for the mixed event at the world championships in Trondheim (Norway), scheduled for 5 March on the Norwegian springboard.
- Joséphine Pagnier and Valentin Foubert lead France at the Lillehammer World Cup
- “The athletes adapted very quickly to the ice”: a look back at the French team’s training camp in Oberstdorf
- Joséphine Pagnier on her summer success: “I’m going to do everything I can to be the best I can be this winter”.
