Pursuing my interest in the French women’s team further, I was put in contact with Thibaut Chene, the women’s coach for L’équipe de France. Before coaching the women’s national team, Chene worked with the French junior team for four years. Thus, many of the women now at the senior level have worked with him since they were junior skiers. In 2015, the prior women’s team coach, Anaël Huard, left and Chene took over. An article written at...
MONT SAINTE-ANNE, Québec — It all started with a little buzz about Québec hosting a World Cup. After the province’s native Alex Harvey and Devon Kershaw struck gold in the team sprint at the 2011 World Championships in Olso, Norway, Cross Country Canada and the International Ski Federation got to talking. The World Cup should feature a few races in Canada, and why not consider bringing it to the eastern part of the country? Once...
When Emmanuel Jonnier, a thirteen-year veteran of the French national team, announced his retirement earlier this month, it was picked up by every major news source in his home country. But even then, it was nothing compared to the coverage his teammate, Vincent Vittoz, got two weeks prior when he announced his own retirement – which had happened at about the same time that Roberto Gal, the team’s Italian head coach, also declared that he...