Silver medalist Clarey: “I never wanted to ski again”

“It was very difficult for us, but especially for me. I lost a brother that day.” When Johan Clarey talks about the death of David Poisson, the smile disappears from the Frenchman’s face. Clarey was one of Poisson's best friends, who died in an accident while skiing in Lake Louise in November 2017. “I thought about retiring, I never wanted to ski again. It was a life like a ghost, I didn't experience anything anymore and I switched to psychological survival mode after David's death," Clarey told the online portal Ledauphine at the time.

38 years and 29 days Now, almost a year and a half later, Clarey is the oldest skier to ever stand on a World Championship podium - at 38 years and 29 days old. “Better late than never,” laughed the Frenchman into the TV microphones after the end of the race: “It makes me proud, of course, but in my head I feel like I’m 20.” But Clarey also remembers that he was in the super league this season. G had to start with a number over 50: “I had almost given up on this discipline.” “I’m 20 in my head.” Johan Clarey, oldest World Cup medalist in skiing history Clarey has had a lot of bad luck with World Ski Championships in the past. In 2009, shortly before the home World Cup in Val d'Isere, he tore his cruciate ligament. And four years later, in Schladming in 2013, the Frenchman was injured. Johan Clarey on the way to the World Championship silver medal in Åre.

Problems getting to Åre This year Clarey had completely different worries. Like many other athletes and support staff, Clarey got stuck in the snow on the way to the World Championships. He didn't sleep for 48 hours, he said at the award ceremony on ORF: “There were also 7 hours of flight and 8 hours of train travel. But the fatigue is still going on, I think it will get worse towards the end of this week.”

One can only hope that Clarey is wrong in this assumption. The next big highlight of the 2019 World Ski Championships in Åre is on the program on Saturday: the men's downhill. And the in-form Frenchman will be a force to be reckoned with there too. Tiredness or not.

>>> Click here for the World Cup Super-G race report.

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Silver medalist Clarey: “I never wanted to ski again”

November 13, 2017 was one of the worst days of Johan Clarey's life. At that time, his good friend and teammate David Poisson died. Clarey wanted to quit, now the Frenchman is the oldest World Cup medalist in skiing history.

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