She depends on donations: slalom world champion is worried about the start of the season

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On February 18, 2023, Laurence St-Germain (29) celebrated the greatest success of her career. The Canadian deceived the big favorite Mikaela Shiffrin (28, USA) at the World Ski Championships in Courchevel/Méribel (Friday) and sensationally crowned herself world champion in slalom. Before that, her best result in this discipline was 6th place.

Yet St-Germain is now concerned about the start of the new season. Not because she was hurt, but because she didn’t have enough money. The Canadian Ski Association is also short of money and is therefore demanding 20,000 Canadian dollars each (the equivalent of about R13,230) from its athletes so that they can be part of the team.

Skiing is not that popular in Canada

Despite the World Cup title, this is quite a chunk of money for St-Germain and not so easy to find. “I’m still looking for sponsors and I haven’t exhausted my partnership options yet,” she tells Radio Canada.

Teammate Valérie Grenier (26) thinks the same way. She was the seventh best giant slalom skier last season and was on the podium twice. In Kranjska Gora (Sln) she celebrated her first World Cup victory and in Soldeu (And) she came third. Although the two have become better known, skiing in Canada is not nearly as popular as it is here. Grenier tells Radio Canada she has only raised about a quarter of the amount needed for the association.

In order to still be able to compete for victories next winter, the two are forced to appeal for donations via social media. They hope for the support of their fans to continue experiencing their passion. They also held a gala in Quebec in early October with their teammates Sarah Bennett (22) and Simon Fournier (26) to raise money. “We hope that some people will want to contribute to our season,” St-Germain said beforehand. It is not known whether sufficient money has been raised. (beer)

Source : Blick