With Mathilde Gremaud you have to have a strong heart. If the Gruérienne was obviously a specialist in corks and other pirouettes to attract attention, she has now become a champion of suspense. Just under a year ago, she won Olympic gold in Zhangjiakou after nearly being eliminated. And what about his performance in Sunday’s slopestyle at the X Games…

Often at the limit, we believe, the 22-year-old driver once again made her fans tremble in Aspen. She was actually waiting for her last run to complete a run that would allow her to afford a new spell, just like a year ago. A few minutes later, the La Berra skier, with natural relaxation, confided in herself on the road to Denver, from where she has to fly to the Mammoth Mountain area, the site of the next stage of the World Cup.

Mathilde Gremaud, how do you feel after this new achievement?

In the end I’m really happy. Besides, it’s not fun without tension, is it? (laughs)

So the joy and not the frustration of not having looked for gold outweighs it?

Yes! You have to consider that I could have gone empty-handed, so there is a kind of relief. You also have to know where I’m from, how I felt at the beginning of the week and after three crappy runs. Afterwards, of course, there is some frustration because I tell myself that I could do better. I always have the spirit of competition. But hey, it leaves me room for improvement.

You really have become the queen of suspense…

It’s good that until the end the fans tell themselves that it’s never over. Don’t give up, stay confident and don’t get discouraged.

How was this week in Aspen?

The competition days (note: Friday and Sunday) went well. But the training was quite complicated. Especially with slopestyle jumps I had problems getting involved. We also see that things are going wrong here tonight (for the competition). Between the two quarterpipes and the more classic jumps, they followed one another particularly quickly. It was pretty difficult to drive. After that I had a good rail run, maybe that saved me.

And before that you placed 4th in the Big Air in a totally insane event (read here).

Yes, it was pretty crazy, that’s true. And for my part I manage to place a 1620 (double cork) and a switch 1440 (also double cork), but that wasn’t enough. I just didn’t have the precision, my jumps weren’t very clean.

But this double cork 1620 is your first time tackling it in competition!

It’s even the first time ever. I hadn’t even tried it in training because I hadn’t felt it. I kept it for the competition.

And there was that incredible triple cork by Megan Oldham.

Yes, it’s madness! Nobody expected it. In fact, we learned that it was a project that had been going on with the Canadian team for some time. Megan did a lot of airbag training, especially between Christmas and the X Games. For example, she didn’t come to Laax. With his team, they spent a month in Australia, where it’s summer, to train on an airbag. And it has paid off.

It’s a big step forward for your sport. And it shows that we still have to improve, doesn’t it?

Of course, it proves that you can’t let go of anything in the future. We’ll have to keep making progress to keep getting good results, that’s for sure.

With the injuries to Eileen Gu and Kelly Sildaru, two of your main opponents, did you feel an extra dose of pressure today?

No, it’s the opposite. There is always pressure, but it depends on how you deal with it. I personally know that you have to focus on yourself. It’s true that it was a very intense week. We noticed it tonight with some girls like Tess (Ledeux) and Sarah (Höfflin) who were tired. Eileen and Kelly hurt each other one day when I wasn’t jumping, the conditions really weren’t easy.

And now towards Mammoth Mountain a few days ago “vacation” (it will travel to japanskiing)?

I agree. I’ll try to keep going, but you never really know what’s in store for you there, so I don’t plan too much. However, I have no way of influencing the conditions, so I will adapt.

Laurent Morell