Laurie Blouin’s playgrounds were the Relais ski center and the Stoneham tourist resort. It intends to hand over the Genting Snow Park and the Shougang Big Jump site over the next few weeks.

The slopestyle silver medalist at the Pyeongchang Games in 2018 did not necessarily see herself at the Olympics when she spent her days in the “snow parks” of the Quebec region. After getting his hands on the world title a year earlier, his medal didn’t necessarily come as a surprise to insiders. But suddenly Blouin’s name became familiar.

“I think it’s cool to be more known in the country, that people know a little more who I am,” she admitted to The Canadian Press a few days before flying to China.

“It’s certain that my story, after my fall (Editor’s note: in slopestyle qualifications in South Korea), I think people got hooked on that. More than if I had “only” won a medal. There was a story around it. It was also the second time that slopestyle was presented at the Games: that certainly helped to make it better known to everyone. »

After her silver medal and a 12th place in the big jump (big air), Blouin then had a string of successes on the international scene, including a world title in the big jump in 2021. She will certainly be “expected” at the 2022 Olympics. Nothing, however, to shake it.

“I’m approaching this competition a bit like any other. Yes, it’s the Olympics, but that’s no reason to put more pressure on me. It wouldn’t work. I see it like all other competitions and I prepare in the same way. »

The competitive spirit

Blouin fell in love with slopestyle and big jumps about fifteen years ago. From her first competition, a Rail Jam at the Relay at the age of 13, she was hooked.

“The competitive side, having to land your jumps on demand, the adrenaline, the good stress it gives you, that’s what made me like it and keep going.

“Immediately, people saw a certain potential in me, so I never felt the need to try anything else, like snowboard cross, for example. Maybe if it hadn’t worked! I love the adrenaline of taking big jumps so much: it’s sick! We fly, in a way. »

These flights, she cannot perfect them at Stoneham or at Lac-Beauport. She therefore turned to Maxime Hénault, from Maximise, in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, her trainer for several years.

“I think it’s easier now if you’re young and you’re into slopestyle and big jumps than when I started,” she notes. At Maximize, there is a big jump where you can do all your maneuvers. When you’re young, the Relais and Stoneham, I think it’s en masse. But when you feel you need more, we have places for that now. »

She is happy to rub shoulders with the next generation of her sport there, which now enjoys widespread notoriety due to its presence at the Olympics. Surprisingly, not all snowboarders wanted to add the Olympics to their calendar of events.

“It is clear that the Olympics are now part of the picture. Even those who didn’t want to see us at the Olympics among slopestyle and high jump athletes are forced to admit that this is a very tough competition.

“Whether we’re at the Olympics or the X Games, it’s the same sport. It’s cool that it’s made an Olympic sport. It makes him know more. If it helps to make it better known to young people, that’s great: it takes over! »

A journey to discover

The course of Zhangjiakou will constitute a discovery for all the athletes of the plateau, with the possible exception of the representatives of China. Blouin does not take offense at treading a course for the first time during such an important competition.

“It’s part of the ‘game’: each competition, we don’t really know it. Sometimes we have three-dimensional photos sent to us before the competition. They did that at the last X Games. But I’m a very visual person, so it’s once there that I’ll get an idea.

“Having seen the plan, you expect something, but I tend not to look at it too much and to discover once there. It’s too easy to imagine a descent or a series of jumps only to realize that it won’t turn out the way you had imagined.

“You may have a preconceived idea: I know the maneuvers I want to do, but it all depends on how the course responds that day. I have a bit of a catalog of games in mind that I can dip into once I see how the track behaves. »

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Blouin will tackle this slopestyle course on February 5 and 6, at the Genting terrain park in Zhangjiakou. It will then move to the Shougang ski jump, in the suburbs of Beijing, where the big jump will be disputed on February 14 and 15.