Alpine Skiingwomen's World Cup
instagram Valérie Grenier
Yes, this could be the season of the versatile 1996-born skier, who returned to winning ways in the giant slalom at the Hafjell finals and is preparing in Ushuaia with her national-team teammates: at Crans-Montana, Valérie will be chasing her first individual medal at a major event, but now that she is physically at her best, she could be an absolute protagonist right from the start of the World Cup, with the aim of returning to the top in super-G as well.
Tuesday 1 September 4 minutes reading time
She will celebrate her thirtieth birthday next 30 October, six days after the Soelden opener, where Valérie Grenier could prove to be much more than a dark horse.
Not only because she finished last season in excellent fashion, winning the giant slalom at the finals in Hafjell, but rather because the versatile Canadian can finally work at full capacity from spring through summer, after spending all of 2024/25 making her comeback (although she was immediately very good in the technical events, having missed the opener on the Rettenbach) and 2025/26 still in fits and starts, especially in the speed events, where Valérie is waiting to return to top form nearly three years after her horrific crash in the Cortina super-G in January 2024, which came immediately after her fantastic third place in the downhill on the Olympia delle Tofane.
At Mont-Tremblant, during last December’s home event, the North American skier born in 1996 returned to the podium (in the first of the two giant slaloms on the “Flying Mile”) more than 22 months after that gem in the premier discipline, before going on to triumph in Norway at the end of the season.
Grenier has already put in quite a few productive training days in Ushuaia, together with her Canadian national team teammates from the technical disciplines, ahead of a winter in which, alongside a certain degree of consistency in the World Cup, she will aim to return to all three disciplines, even if we are unlikely to see her compete in the downhill every time. Another objective will be winning her first individual medal at a major event.
The Ontario native, who grew up as a racer in Québec and has a special connection with Mont-Tremblant, has in fact only stood on one World Championships podium, in the team event at Courchevel Méribel 2023, namely the bronze medal won by her Canada.
At Crans-Montana next February, you can bet she will be extremely dangerous for everyone.
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