France's stars around Adrien Theaux experienced chaotic conditions. © APA / BARBARA GINDL

“Catastrophic”: Training chaos for France’s ski stars

The ski elite are currently on the other side of the world to prepare for the new season. But not everything goes according to plan.

September 08, 2023

From: det

South America is a popular travel destination these days - at least if you're a professional skier. It's currently deep winter in Argentina, Chile & Co., which is why we're training hard on the other side of the world. However, the French speed aces ended their training camp in Chile early. The reason for this is the chaotic weather conditions.

“We left Chile early because of the catastrophic weather conditions,” wrote veteran Adrien Theaux on social media. “We were able to save a few days, but it was better to return home to better training conditions in Europe.”

One and a half meters of fresh snow

Xavier Fournier-Bidoz, the person in charge of the Speed ​​group, explained to Le Dauphine: “It was crazy. When we arrived it was good. We skied freely in the sun for a day to get in shape, but then... disaster. The first three days there was torrential rain,” said the coach. Then came the snowfall – and it was really heavy. It snowed almost one and a half meters in three days.

This is what it looked like in Chile.

“Apart from a few turns in the powder, it was impossible to train,” said Fournier-Bidoz. Although the weather improved briefly afterwards, conditions soon deteriorated again. That's why the French decided to cancel the training camp at the beginning of this week. This posed a logistical challenge, as flights had to be found for the ski aces and equipment. Even if the training camp didn't go as planned, it was definitely an adventure.