For the first time since the entry of women’s ice hockey into the Olympic program in Nagano in 1998, the French team will participate in the Olympic Games in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo. The Blues face Italy this Thursday (2:40 p.m.) on the first day of Group B. A form of consecration for this team and several players who missed the last edition in Beijing (China) for… a goal during the Olympic qualifying tournament (TQO).
Four years later, this time the twist of fate smiled on the Blues. Best runners-up in their TQO in Japan last year, they won their precious ticket for these 2026 Olympics thanks to the exclusion of Russia, due to the conflict with Ukraine.
“It’s a satisfaction but I’m not talking about joy because we still qualified due to a humanitarian tragedy in Ukraine,” explains Pierre-Yves Gerbaud, president of the French ice hockey federation. It’s a country we are very close to because the French federation was involved in welcoming 110 families at the start of the conflict, most of whom are still in France. This participation is the reward for the exceptional work that has been accomplished on the structuring of women’s hockey. We went from 33rd place in the world to 12th in less than 15 years. »
Only three professional players
The group of 25 players led by coach Grégory Tarlé combines youth and experience. “The starting point for this new French team goes back to 2022, when we are D2 world champion in Angers and we move up to the world elite,” recalls the French coach since 2013. The team has built up its experience through these three and a half years which preceded Olympic qualification. Of course, we are not used to the Games but we arrive with this collective maturity and certain players who have already experienced several TQOs and the two elite world championships (2019 and 2023) as well. »
Only three players benefit from professional contracts in their club. They are Clara Rozier and Estelle Duvin in Bern (Switzerland) as well as Chloé Aurard-Bushee in Zurich (Switzerland). The others are students or have a job on the side. Captain Lore Baudrit (34), who is playing the last season of her career, got up every day at 6 a.m. last year to move the cars to one of the Audi factories in Ingolstadt (Germany).
“I stopped because it wasn’t possible to do a second season like that,” says the mother of a one and a half year old child. I had a fixed-term contract until the end of December with a company in Germany which gave me a big help both in preparing for the Games and also in starting to get a foothold in a potential career change. The ANS (national sports agency) also helped us financially in this Olympic year so this also allowed several players to breathe and be less stressed. I also benefited from help from my department of Tarn and prize pools were set up via the French sports foundation to raise additional resources. »
Placed in group B, the Blues will have to finish in the top three to reach the quarter-finals. A difficult objective to achieve for a team playing in the 2nd world division. But Lore Baudrit’s partners want to be ambitious. They all openly announce that they are aiming for a place in the quarter-finals. To achieve this, they will have to leave two teams behind them in the standings of Group B which includes Italy, Japan, Sweden and Germany.
“I can’t wait to start the competition! It’s a pure joy to be in Italy, jubilant young attacker Clémence Boudin, 17 years old. It’s something to start your first major international competition with the Olympic Games. For others, it is an outcome after a great career. »
The high school senior at the Jules Verne high school in Cergy concludes: “Personally, this competition will allow me to gain experience in my career, which I hope will be long. Collectively, we are not looking forward to 2030 when the Olympic Games will take place here in the Alps. We want to perform here, in Milan, by reaching the quarter-finals. We have the ability to create a nice surprise. »
The Bleues program:
Thursday February 5: Italy – France (2:40 p.m.)
Friday February 6: France – Japan (12:10 p.m.)
Sunday February 8: France – Sweden (4:40 p.m.)
Monday February 9: Germany – France (4:40 p.m.)
The top three in Group B qualify for the quarter-finals.
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