World Cup. How Le Grand-Bornand changed the careers of Sophie Chauveau and Antonin Guigonnat

“It’s no exaggeration to say that it changed my life, because it did!” » When we talk to him about his 4^e place on the Grand-Bornand sprint in 2022, Sophie Chauveau has a spark that lights up in her eyes. Having arrived in the World Cup for only two weeks, the Bornandine had seen her career change in just 21’24.

“A very simple thing: the morning of the sprint I was warming up on the track with my France jacket and all our equipment, and I heard the public on the side of the track say “It must be a technician or something like that”. People didn’t know me at all. And the next day, everyone recognized me, said to me, “Come on Sophie, a podium today,” she recalled this fall.

From being anonymous on the circuit, she had become the star of the moment. “Things have changed in less than 24 hours! I went from being unknown in people’s eyes to ‘Come on, get on the podium!’ The messages on the networks, those we receive, the number of followers, all that is only behind a screen. What really impressed me was the attitude of the people which had completely changed between the morning of the sprint and that of the pursuit. »

Caught in a whirlwind, Sophie Chauveau had found the resources to follow up with an 8^e place in pursuit and a 5^e in mass start. “I was lucky to be well surrounded by coaches and teammates who helped me come down and not go in all directions with the pressure there had been. Between the sprint and the chase I hadn’t slept all night! It was impossible to sleep a wink; I woke up in the morning exhausted and stressed as can be, but I managed to bounce back. »

A euphoria that the Haut-Savoyarde had paid for during the rest of the winter: “I don’t know how to explain this weekend, but afterward I had a nice comeback. I got sick, I was tired… like the feeling of flying above and then coming back down to earth,” she remembered.

Guigonnat: “It was my last chance”

Five years earlier, Antonin Guigonnat had also seen his career change in the Aravis. So on an ejection seat in the French team, he took, to everyone’s surprise, 3^e sprint place behind Johannes Boe and Martin Fourcade.