Frenchwoman Chloé Trespeuch won the snowboardcross World Cup on Sunday in Mont Sainte-Anne (Canada), winning her first crystal globe in the specialty at the age of 29, after her fourth place in the last race of the season.
Olympic snowboardcross vice-champion in 2022 on the slopes of Zhangjiakou during the Beijing Games, Chloé Trespeuch joins Karine Ruby (1997, 2001, 2003 and 2004) and Nelly Moenne-Loccoz (2015), the only two French women to have until then won the snowboardcross crystal globe.
“It’s quite moving, because Karine Ruby was the rider that made me dream when I was a child. She was the first to perform in snowboarding in France. To tell myself that I have a little piece of his record is great,” Trespeuch commented to AFP after the race.
“And then Nelly, she took me under her wing when I arrived at the World Cup. She was an example of many things and as a young person, I watched her a lot. She made me grow and she continues as a coach,” she added.
In the general standings of the World Cup, Trespeuch is 35 points ahead of Briton Charlotte Bankes (792 against 757), winner of the crystal globe last winter, who struggled at the start of the season but who has returned to her best level. these last weeks.
“Work hard on your weak points”
In the 12 races contested this season, Trespeuch reached the final nine times and reached the podium seven times. “I have been circling around for a long time,” underlined the Frenchwoman who took 2nd place in the World Cup in 2018 and 2023 and third place in 2020 and 2022. “Making this dream come true and returning with this crystal globe to the house, it’s memorable.”
Silver and bronze medalist at the Olympics, in 2022 and 2014 respectively, she slips: “it has enormous value, but it’s a one-day race. This is the work of a season, of the long term, of versatility, of knowing how to adapt to all routes, in all types of snow. For me, the crystal globe is huge.”
“When you dream of a crystal globe, you also have to work hard on your weak points. It’s proof that I managed to fill them a little bit, even if we can say that nothing is won in the long term,” she added.
On Sunday, Trespeuch set off on the Battle Royale – the name of the track at Mont Sainte-Anne – with an 85-point lead over Bankes before the last race. A fifteenth place was enough to score 16 points and be out of reach of the Briton, which was done with a qualification for the semi-finals, not without a little scare in the quarters.
The Frenchwoman finally finished in fourth place in a race won by Bankes, ahead of the Italian Michaela Moioli and the Australian Josie Baff.
