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In Levi the enterprise of the first Belgian slalomist able to get points in the maximum circuit. It was 2016, then the accident in Switzerland and an ordeal ended. At 21, the career of a great talent has started again ...
Tuesday 26 November 2019 4 minutes reading time
We call it the miracle of Armand Marchant, and it would have been such even without the result obtained last Sunday in Levi from the 21-year-old Walloon.
It is a wonderful story that we have already told many times, describing the approach of a great talent on his return to the World Cup, almost 35 months after the last race held; the 28th place obtained in the first seasonal slalom is worth a lot for a boy who had already written the history of his country, being the first Belgian in points among the rapid gates in a race of the maximum circuit. He obtained as many as 13, with the 18th place brought home on 11 December 2016 in Val d''Isere, then on 7 January 2017 the drama, with the fall on the final wall of Adelboden's Chuenisbargli, in a giant that cost to a native of Liège (to be precise, it is Thimister where he was born and lives, even though he spends the winter in France) an injury of unprecedented severity.
Fracture of the tibial plateau, of the crusaders and of the meniscus, for a left leg on which the doctors had to intervene seven times; very few thought that Armand would be back, after 23 months he was able to put his skis back on, in December 2018, but only since last summer could he really begin to do it seriously.
Overseas races, collecting funds to support all the expenses, and immediately on the slalom podium in the Australian New Zealand Cup trials, to then win even in super g. "My goal is to compete in the World Cup, it's a specialty in which there can be a space for me, in addition to the slalom," said the Belgian.
And so from September, Marchant thought only of Levi's debut and tried to get the qualification right away, at the first CdM race after almost 3 years: at the start with bib number 48, he made it for 8 cents , getting that 28th place later confirmed after the second, albeit running with the handbrake pulled to get and take home some points, for the second time in his career.
A career literally broken in two and that now begins again, with a completely new chapter: "What a great feeling - the '97 class confessed - Ora face a ... Face", playing with the name of the Val d '' track Isere who brought it into history 3 years ago. Next December 15th, in the second seasonal slalom, follow that little boy who never stopped dreaming and believing.
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