When you look at the high-flying acts of freestyle skiers, you tell yourself that these people are not afraid of anything.
And yet… Antoine Adelisse, 24, the only French representative this weekend at the X-Games in Aspen (United States), the Mecca of extreme sport, has a few flaws in his snow stuntman armor.
"In fact, there are a lot of things that scare me, smiles the best French slopestyle specialist
(Editor's note: sequence of jumps and figures on a descent decorated with rails and springboards)
and Big Air
(Editor's note: unique jump of a large springboard)
.
I challenge myself all the time.
Whenever something terrifies me, I have to do it.
I love finding myself in these situations where I am really not comfortable.
"
Thus, the skier of La Plagne will soon be parachuting… because he doesn't really want to!
"It can also be silly things," continues the winner of the X Games Europe in Big Air last year.
Lately I've been riding a horse.
I was scared to death but I rode on it, I galloped and I found it amazing!
I also took a snake in my hands.
I was watching a video saying that I will never touch one.
Then I saw a colleague who has a boa… ”
"I like when I have to overcome a difficulty"
Adelisse often has her spatulas in the air and her head down.
Who could believe that the native of Nantes has vertigo?
“As a kid, I picked up on a climbing wall and it really marked me,” he recalls.
Two years ago, I was scared but I went back.
I like when I have to overcome a difficulty.
On the other hand, I do not experience any feeling of vertigo in my sport.
You, that seems huge to you, but we feel like we are in control.
That is not always the case… "
Antoine Adelisse.
Gregory Ratel
In his disciplines, not much scares him.
“But forward rotations scare me a lot,” he says.
So last summer I did just that in training.
Adelisse admits it.
He probably does not understand all the risks associated with the practice of his acrobatics.
READ ALSO>
Freestyle skiing: "I'm not a hothead," says Kevin Rolland
“I'm a big kid,” sums up this Olympic fan, who will aim for two medals in Beijing in 2022 after seeing Sochi and Pyeongchang.
I have matured in my technique but I am still a kid in my head.
I absolutely must be in the fun.
This unconsciousness sometimes allows me to do things I never thought I was capable of.
"
A sort of mental helmet to avoid hard knocks.
“I made the crosses, the ribs, I put boxes, he analyzes.
Will I ever realize all of this?
I do not think so.
In any case, I do not hope so!
If I realize it, it will mean that I took a big impact.
And if you calculate everything for fear that fear sets in, performance is no longer possible.
"