Marie-Michèle Gagnon kicks off World Ski Championships with sixth-place finish
Calgary, AB, (February 11, 2021) – After days of cancellations and delays, the 2021 Alpine World Ski Championships from Cortina d’Ampezzo, ITA finally kicked off this morning with the women’s super-G. Coming off her third-place finish in Garmisch, GER two weeks ago Marie-Michèle Gagnon (Lac-Etchemin, QC) kicked out of the gate with an extra “10 percent” of confidence. She charged the course, with a vertical drop of 630m under bright blue skies to finish in sixth spot.
“Today went well, overall, I’m happy with the solid result. I was pushing to get on to the podium, but I lost a bit of time in the middle,” Marie-Michèle said after her race.
Marie-Michèle’s sixth-place finish ties her best World Championship result when she finished sixth in the 2017 alpine combined in St. Moritz, SUI. Looking forward to a weekend of speed including the downhill and the delayed alpine combined on Monday, Mitch has her foot on the gas and isn’t letting up anytime soon.
“I’m feeling solid on my skis so I’m excited for the downhill. You can build up the confidence with the training runs,” Marie-Michèle said. “We have a window of good weather right now so it will be a busy couple of days.”
Teammate Valérie Grenier (Mont-Tremblant, QC) made her return to speed events today after coming back from an injury that kept her out all last season. Val started strong but missed a gate and did not finish the run. Val has been focused on the giant slalom this season, finishing in 13th in Courchevel, FRA earlier this season.
Marie-Michèle will be the sole Canadian in the start gate on Saturday for the women’s downhill where she looks to build on her early success from this World Championships. Catch all the action on CBCSports.ca beginning at 5:00 AM ET / 3:00 AM MT.
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