Mathieu Faivre: "I still have a lot to learn"

Mathieu Faivre will be one of the most eagerly awaited athletes in the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 for sport fans in his home nation of France. Last winter, he finished the season with three podiums in the Alpine skiing World Cup but, most importantly, also claimed two titles at the World Ski Championships, which took place in February in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. Fortuitously, this is also the location of the 2026 Olympic Winter Games.

Eleven years after his victory at the Junior World Championships in Les Houches, France, the Nice native became the first French skier since Jean-Claude Killy in 1968 to win the senior world title in his specialist event, the men's giant slalom. The skier from Isola 2000 in the French Alps talked to Olympics.com about the ongoing lessons he takes on board about his craft that allowed him to make history.

"In my career, no matter what happens, I have those two medals. It is something incredible that I'm really proud of. But I also realised that I still have the desire to go higher. It's not enough for me. Today, at 29 years old, I really want to go further and keep improving, keep learning."

Coming back from the World Ski Championships with two titles – in giant slalom and parallel slalom – can change an athlete. But not Faivre. Despite an incredible run at the end of the 2020-21 season, the French skier remains the same. A perfectionist, a hard worker and always wanting to learn more about himself and his sport in order to keep shining at the biggest events.

Faivre is well aware that the lessons learned early last season that helped him go from a difficult beginning to an incredible run at the end are the same lessons that will enable him to transform his three top 11 finishes so far this season into podiums.

"I learnt a lot last season and I still feel that I have a lot to learn. If I had to take only one lesson, it would be 'never give up'. A failure is only a failure if you give up. If you try to understand why it didn't work, you'll be able to find a way to perform better."

Mathieu Faivre emulated Jean-Claude Killy

This state of mind helped him to go through periods of doubt but also to write history. Last January, after a weekend of giant slaloms in Adelboden, Switzerland, where he placed no better than 15th, Faivre kept questioning himself about how to do better. A few weeks later, he became the first French skier to win a world title in giant slalom since the 60s.

"I have always tried to keep progressing. I asked myself a lot of questions. I was looking for answers to a lot of things regarding material, training, myself or mental. I think last year, I managed to find a lot of solutions in order to become (a better) performer."

This constant questioning prompted him to make some changes in his approach including coming back to competition using longer skis. Better results came instantly.

The two wins in Cortina d'Ampezzo at the World Championships, followed by a second and first place at the back-to-back World Cup events in Bansko, Bulgaria in February, then a third position a month later at Lenzerheide, in Switzerland, Faivre was the best skier of the end of the season. The trigger? He see it as the results of his never-ending quest for progress.

"It's the work I'm doing for a few years now, even since the beginning of my career because you never stop learning... and I think I still have a lot of other things to learn."

"I want to be very consistent this season"

Faivre finished in the top 12 in the giant slalom's overall World Cup rankings in the past six seasons with his best result a second-place finish behind super skier Marcel Hirscher in 2016-17. His worst moment is likely the exclusion from the French team in the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 due to disciplinary issues but each step of his journey has helped him become the skier he is now, a skier who can aim for titles and prestigious victories.

After realising that at his best he can challenge the best skiers in the world, the Frenchman states that one of his objectives for his season is to prove it time and again. "I want to be really consistent this season; it means racing for the podium on each giant slalom of the season."

And even aim for the small crystal globe? "Now, I may feel more legitimate to race for this kind of goal."

But more than the ambitions for the World Cup or even Beijing 2022, it is the satisfaction Faivre feels from the possibility of improving that fuels the motivation of the 29-year-old.

"My ambition, what I really want to do over the remaining seasons, in my career as an athlete, is to have the keys and the feedback on every race, on every run and even on every training (run) in order to succeed in adjusting my performance to the best of my ability every time."

To do so, Faivre will rely on his work ethic, which hasn't changed in almost a decade, even after he won two gold medals at the World Ski Championships.