Alpine Skiing
@WOOlooMOOloo-2017
We tell an incredible renaissance, that of the slalomgigantist of Walloon origin.
Tuesday 13 August 2019 7 minutes reading time
Armand Marchant is literally a new man and, although the identity card indicates December 14, 1997 and his career in the world of high-level skiing is still to be experienced, the boy who wrote the history of Belgium in this sport has to tell, and how ...
After almost 950 days of battle, pain and sacrifice, the 21-year-old from Thimister-Clermont, a small town on the outskirts of Liège, had the courage to return and immediately get on the podium, in the slalom valid for the New Zealand championships staged a few hours ago to Coronet Peak (after having obtained a 19th place in giant the previous day, in the first race after the rebirth). Behind compatriot Van den Broecke and Canadian Fournier there is already him, the unfortunate talent that leapt to the headlines on 11 December 2016.
Not everyone will remember it, but that day the good Armand got a resounding 18th place in one of the most difficult slaloms of the World Cup, the one on the Face de Bellevarde in Val d''Isere: at the start with bib number 65, it was simply amazing in both heats, getting the best result in the history of Belgium in the maximum circuit, the first ever in points in slalom.
Twenty-seven days later, when the then 19-year-old Walloon was hunting for his first points even in a giant like Adelboden's, here is the drama: it's January 7, 2017, Marchant approaches the final wall of the Chuenisbargli (on a track now semi destroyed) and, stepping back onto the final abyss, sees his left leg give way. The slip and the impact (at low speed) against the nets do not scare at first sight, but the diagnosis is terrible with the fracture of the tibial plateau which, in reality, will prove to be much more serious than expected.
"The doctors told me they had never seen a limb in those conditions," Armand said sometime later, still dreaming of returning a year later for the PyeongChang Olympic Games. "Otherwise I will have the opportunity in Beijing 2022," he smiled, already demonstrating a fierce determination. He will not make it for Korea, indeed he will begin a very long ordeal with seven total operations on his left leg and the return on skis postponed until December 13, 2018.
Two and a half seasons lost, but the desire to return is so great that the Belgian gradually feels he can still experience those true athlete sensations, and here after the summer preparation he decides to fly to New Zealand, for the first seasonal races in the southern hemisphere that will bring him, as mentioned, immediately on the podium in the slalom (his favorite specialty) of Coronet Peak.
After that 18th place in Val d''Isere, Marchant told his story to Flavio Vanetti, a Corriere della Sera colleague: “I come from a family of cattle traders, I discovered skiing only when I was 12 thanks to holidays in the Alps with my parents". And precisely in Haute-Savoie, to be precise in La-Roche-sur-Foron, it was established in winter to begin his true career as a future ski champion, he was born and raised in a country of cyclists and footballers.
A few days before returning to the race in New Zealand, the young Belgian had thanked all the people who believed in his return, starting with the "family, friends, surgeon Peter Verdonk, my coach and almost second father, Raphael Burtin , my physio Thibaut Schnitzler, my former coach Thomas Frey and my fan club. I will make my dream come true â€.
And Armand did it, thanks also to the help of the supporters who financed his project through a crowdfunding platform (system that uses various athletes), still active for ten days.
Now the four races scheduled at Mount Hotham, from 19 to 22 August on the Australian snows, to level up again and shorten the road to that return to the World Cup which, after almost three years from that day in Adelboden, would close the circle of an incredible story.
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