With a medal at stake, all attention was on Elliot Beauregard in the final of the team aerials event at the Junior World Freestyle Ski Championships. The last competitor in the running, he landed his maneuver under the watchful eyes of his teammates Elliot Primeau and Victoria Côté, with whom he reached the third step of the podium, a few minutes later.
The feeling that followed his jump at the bottom of the track, Elliot Beauregard had “never felt it before”. The trio he formed with rookies Elliot Primeau and Victoria Côté accumulated 230.72 points in the final of this event presented last weekend in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Two Chinese teams beat Canada with totals of 276.21 and 256.34.
“I can’t describe how I felt when we received our result,” Elliot Beauregard told Sportcom. We told ourselves that we were going to give everything, without thinking of ourselves as better than the others. I think it helped us in our preparation and during the competition. »
“I’m so happy, I didn’t expect to win a medal! It was my first Junior World Championships, I just wanted to have fun, perform the jumps that I am capable of doing and land them,” shared Victoria Côté.
Canadian skiers occupied provisional first place after the first final. The nervousness was then much more present in the final round. Victoria Côté and Elliot Primeau first obtained scores of 61.18 and 81.07. In turn, Elliot Beauregard wondered about the jump he was going to attempt.
“I decided to go more safely to secure third place, instead of aiming higher and risking missing the podium. »
Meanwhile, her teammate Victoria Côté waited at the bottom of the track and crossed her fingers.
“I was really stressed! We knew we had a good chance of a podium, so I wanted him to land it,” said the 15-year-old skier.
The 88.47 points amassed by Beauregard allowed the Canadians to lead the Ukrainians by 14.91 points at the end of the day.
“We are the only team to have landed all of their jumps, that adds a lot of pride! It’s great teamwork and it was great fun to share this moment,” said Elliot Beauregard.
Two individual sixth places
-The day before this collective performance, the three skiers took part in the individual event of the Junior World Championships.
Victoria Côté and Elliot Beauregard both reached the final and obtained sixth places, while Elliot Primeau stopped in qualifying and was in 9th place.
“It went well, but unfortunately I couldn’t land my jump in the final. I think I was a little too stressed. I’m still happy to have made it this far! » commented Victoria Côté.
For his part, Elliot Beauregard had the top of the podium as his goal when he arrived in Almaty, having finished fourth in the Junior World Championships last year. This overconfidence, however, affected his concentration and backfired.
“I came in with the idea that I was going to win and it’s a mistake that I’m not going to make again. I hit a wall on my first jump. I made a mistake and missed my landing. »
So in tenth place, the 17-year-old athlete recovered on his second try and climbed to provisional third place. A fall in the final ultimately sent him to 6th place.
The experience acquired at the Junior World Championships is promising for the future. They will notably be in action at the Relay World Cup, on January 25 and 26.
“It’s just the beginning of many beautiful things,” concluded Victoria Côté.
