Gagnon ‘expecting a little more’

Marie- Michèle Gagnon has empirical evidence t hrough her t raining times that she can keep up with ( and beat) the fastest women in the world on skis, especially in the technical events.

Now, the 27- year- old Olympian believes it’s simply a matter of upping the mental game in her quest to reach the podium at the 2017 world championships and the 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea.

“I’m a really intense person,” Gagnon said Friday after finishing sixth in the combined event at the world championships in St. Moritz, Switzerland. “I do everything as much as I can, as best as I can. We call it soul skiing ... that’s the feeling I’m looking for. When I have that feeling in training and in races, that’s when the magic happens.”

Heading into Friday’s race, Gagnon hoped to build on the magic of teammates Erik Guay and Manny Osborne-Paradis, who won gold and bronze respectively in Wednesday’s men’s super- G. Confidence is contagious and Gagnon stood at the top of the mountain determined to add to the Canadian medal count.

“For me, it’s a good solid result to have a top six, but I guess I was expecting a little more,” Gagnon said. “After the race I got quite emotional for some reason. I guess it was maybe a little bit of mental fatigue because I really was focused all week on this downhill business, which is not easy for me.”

The combined event features a downhill and slalom run with the winner posting the best combined time. Gagnon is a technical specialist. Downhill just isn’t her bailiwick.

“I think I wanted a little more,” she said. “I wanted to be on that podium. I knew it was possible.”

Gagnon, of Lac-Etchemin, Que., is known for her physical toughness. At the 2014 Sochi Games, she dislocated her left shoulder by straddling a gate near the top of the slalom course, tumbling face first on the hard-packed snow and sliding down the steep incline.

Instead of heading home, she skied in three events with the use of one arm and somehow finished ninth in slalom.

Three more medal chances await Gagnon at the world championships in slalom, giant slalom and the team event. Guay and Osborne-Paradis will attempt to reach the podium again in the men’s downhill Saturday.