Perrine Laffont: "The competition with Jakara Anthony and Kawamura Anri adds a little spice"
France’s reigning Olympic moguls champion, Perrine Laffont, took time out of her busy pre-Games schedule to talk about managing stress and her goals for Beijing 2022, which begin on 4 February.
Freestyle Skiing
French freestyle skier Perrine Laffont, the reigning Olympic moguls champion, begins her Beijing 2022 campaign on 3 February 2022. And while the pressure must be on, the 23-year-old three-time world champion revealed to reporters in a recent press conference that she is in a completely different state of mind to the one she was in prior to Sochi 2014 and PyeongChang 2018.
"The women have progressed tremendously. You can see that I have genuine competition and no day is easy,” she explained. However, despite the challenges that await her, the skier from the Pyrenees is putting zero pressure on herself. “Nobody will take away my title,” she continued. “I will be Olympic champion for life, no matter what happens in Beijing.”
Despite dealing with a number of challenges this season - including a fall in Alpes d’Huez - Laffont has made it onto five World Cup podiums, with three victories to her name. She is currently second in the overall World Cup rankings, trailing Japan’s Kawamura Anri and ahead of Australia’s Jakara Anthony, her two main rivals for Beijing 2022.
Read on to see what the athlete had to say about dealing with stress, her goals for Beijing 2022 and how her competitors are raising the bar for women’s moguls.
Are you feeling stressed about Beijing 2022?
Perrine Laffont (PL): It’s going to be a high-pressure race with lots of stress and adrenaline - after all, it’s the Olympic Games. I know expectations are high and I am expecting a lot, so I don’t think it will be the easiest race of my career. I just have to accept that and manage it in the best way I know how. In 2018, I had limited experience, but now I have more. I think I’ll handle the competition better. It’ll be hard, but I’ll give it my all.
How do you see yourself in comparison to Jakara Anthony and Kawamura Anri?
PL: Over the past years, I’d complete my run, win and there’d be a gap [to my competitors]. Now that gap has gone, the other women have reached my level. It always feels a bit weird, after three seasons of winning everything, to see other women getting closer. I have to accept that because that is what elite sport is like. And it’s also cool because it adds a little spice. Now you see I am in a real competition and no day is easy.
Jakara Anthony and Kawamura Anri will be very strong opponents - something you would have seen over the last races where the three of us have been on the podium every time. I just have to focus on myself. There’s no point in wasting energy studying their skiing. That’s the job of the coaches, not me.
What will give you the edge over your competitors?
PL: The difference is in the details. It will come down to the skiing, the speed and the jumps. We will need a perfect run with great jumps and fast, clean skiing. The skiing counts for 60 per cent, so we need to be good at everything, including the mental aspect.
Do you feel more pressure to retain the Olympic title than you did at PyeongChang 2018?
PL: I can’t remember my state of mind before PyeongChang, but it couldn’t have been worse because it was 2018 and I wanted nothing more than the gold medal. I wanted it then and didn’t want to wait another four years. This year, I don’t really feel pressure to retain my Olympic title as I’ll always be an Olympic champion - all my life - even if I don’t win in Beijing. Nobody can take that title away, so I don’t feel any pressure about that.
What differences are there between the Perrine Laffont of 2018 and the one of today?
PL: Firstly, it would be the technical side. My jumps have evolved. The run I am planning for Beijing is far more complicated than PyeongChang. My skiing has also changed. I think I’m a lot faster and cleaner because of all of the physical training we’ve done. Then there’s the experience. I was only 19 in 2018, today I’m more of a woman.
What do you know about the slopes of Beijing?
PL: We’ve received the track plan and the slope is at a 28 to 29° angle, so it’s pretty similar to Deer Valley [the last World Cup stage before Beijing 2022, which Laffont won]. The distance between the moguls will also be the same as Deer Valley, so you land four metres after the first jump and 3.5 in the middle section before the second jump. We watched some videos and it looks like the one from 2018 [PyeongChang].