Armand Marchant, a phenomenon stopped only by bad luck: "I'm getting where I dreamed"

The 22 year old Belgian, who in Zagreb equaled the best result in the history of his country with 5th place, exactly 3 years ago he destroyed his left leg in Adelboden. Now the rebirth is definitive, with the compliments of Jacques Theolier himself.

Monday 6 January 2020 7 minutes reading time

We have talked about his story on several occasions, since he returned to the Australian New Zealand Cup last August almost 1000 days after that morning in Adelboden which seemed to have definitively broken the dream of a predestined. At the cost of appearing boring, but we cannot do otherwise after the extraordinary 5th place obtained on Sunday in the slalom in Zagreb, here we are again to tell what Armand Marchant has done, the 22 year old Walloon more and more in the history of his country; the boy from Thimister-Clermont, on the outskirts of LiÃ¨ge, who grew up agonistically in France at the school of Raphael Burtin, equaled the best ever result for skiing in Belgium, which went back to 5th place taken by Henri Mollin in the combined of February 1981 in Sankt Anton. The feat, however, is such if you think about what Marchant had to overcome, a phenomenon stopped only by bad luck and with much wider prospects in slalom, but also ready to try his hand in giant and especially in combined, on which he focuses very; on 11 December 2016, at just 18 years of age (he would have turned 19 three days later), Armand had scored the first points of his career with 18th place in the Val d''IsÃ¨re slalom, before meeting his fate on the his way a few weeks later to Adelboden. On 7 January 2017, the final wall of the Chuenisbargli tackled in the giant's 1st round presented him with a very salty account: a stress too strong for his left leg caused him a simply devastating injury, with fracture of the tibial plateau, the crusaders and the meniscus of a knee which doctors defined in "never seen before" conditions. Seven operations were needed, an ordeal that seemed to never end, almost two whole years without being able to even put on the skis for a tour, until the desire and sacrifice in the gym, day after day, led Marchant to find, since last spring, the right sensations to try to get serious again. In the summer, the trip to New Zealand, paid for at his expense and with a crowdfunding platform that allowed anyone who wanted to help him in his adventure, the first podiums in the Australian New Zealand Cup and the decision, already taken in September, to return in the World Cup in Levi. On his debut he immediately qualified, to settle for the 28th final place, then back to Val d''IsÃ¨re, three years after the result that made him discover to the world, fate wanted the same 18th place to arrive and those 13 points collected like that first time. Zagreb was simply the consecration of a huge talent, capable on Sljeme of clearly signing the best time in the 2nd heat, with 46 cents on the great Alex Vinatzer seen on Sunday, for a 5th place two tenths from the podium of the same blue and less half a second from winner Noel. With the compliments that arrived yesterday evening from Jacques Theolier himself who knows the wonderful story of this very special boy: â€œAnd if I had done better in the 1st heat, I could have played that podium - he confessed in the post race to the Belgian media the good Marchant - that's fine, we would miss more, but now I can say to get closer to the level I dreamed of. Since the beginning of the season, I have always managed my heats without going 100%. The track here was perfect and I was able to express my skiing to the fullest. It's a great emotion, after all I've been through. " The road was all uphill, but Armand did not want to look over his shoulder: â€œI have to keep the same spirit and at the end of the season we will reckon with the results. I took a very big step with an important heat, now the goal is to make two of them at the same level. And another goal is to improve my starting bib (in Campiglio it will be already in the 30s, after starting yesterday with the 40, ed) ". And to those who ask him about the record in the technical specialties that his compatriot Sam Maes took away from him, 12th in the giant of Kranjska Gora last March, the answer is with a smile: â€œNow I can say that I have again the best Belgian result in pocket". And he won't be content with just that, be sure.

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