Windsurfer Arnaud Gaudet had a frustrating outing in the slalom alongside the World Cup in Bad Gastein on Tuesday in Austria, when he placed 12e.
Opposed to the German Stefan Baumeister in the round of 16, Gaudet was ahead at the intermediate time, except that a technical error slowed him down and it was finally with a delay of 1.92 seconds that he crossed the finish line.
“I fell in a heel-side turn because my (left) arm caught a gate flag. Normally, the flags come off easily, except that here, I almost dislocated my shoulder. It completely flipped me over and I fell,” said Gaudet, adding that only when he analyzes the video will he have a better idea of what exactly happened. “It cost me my race and it’s boring! (…) I am sure that if the flag had come down as it should have, I would continue on my feet. My bad. »
Gaudet was the eighth fastest in qualifying where his Quebec teammates Jules Lefevbre and Justin Carpentier finished in 30e and 45e places, which ended their day.
“The day started very well,” continued the bronze medalist in this event at last year’s world championships. “I was the fastest on the blue course on the first descent. In second, I made a small mistake which dropped me to eighth place. »
First in qualifying, Italian Maurizio Bormolini won his second victory of the season, beating Austrian Arvid Auner. In the all-Austrian final, Fabian Obmann got the better of veteran Benjamin Karl.
Even though Gaudet matched his best result of the season, that of the parallel slalom in the Davos stage last month, that still doesn’t satisfy him.
These are small mistakes that cost me dearly in the last two slalom races. I’m not really happy with it and I know I can do better.
Arnaud Gaudet
The only Canadian registered, Kaylie Buck ranked 22e.
For his part, Jules Lefebvre is back on the World Cup circuit this season. Last year, the Montrealer mainly focused on Nor-Am circuit competitions and his studies in software engineering at Polytechnique Montréal. He finished at the top of the overall rankings, earned his bachelor’s degree, plus a spot in this year’s World Cups, even though he’s not yet officially a member of the national team.
“The plan is to do all the World Cups. Despite a good volume on snow this fall, I was not very fast in training compared to the other athletes and I suspected that I was missing something,” indicated Jules Lefebvre last Saturday, after having signed the best result of his career on the circuit. “It seems to be happening slowly and consistency will eventually arrive! »
Arnaud Gaudet should be in the mixed team competition on Wednesday with Kaylie Buck.
reference: www.lapresse.ca