Can you feel the stress building as we are only three months away from the Beijing Olympics?
Margot Boch:
Yes, of course.
The time has come for the World Cup to resume and we know what is at stake.
Suddenly, the pressure gradually rises.
To discover
The results of the 2020 Olympics
The Olympic medal table
Carla Sénéchal:
Three months, on our sporting scale, it's tomorrow. We had been warned that an Olympic year was much more stressful. To tell the truth, we did not believe it too much, we wondered how it could be, already that the bob itself is stressful (smile). Except it's true, we feel more stress, but it also comes with a lot of excitement.
Where are you in your quest to qualify for Beijing?
Margot Boch:
Exactly, it will start there, mid-November, until January 16. We will have to score as many points as possible on each World Cup stage in order to be able to keep our place in the World Top 20. Last season we finished 11th which is pretty good news. But we know that in an Olympic year, everyone arrives stronger, more motivated, with very high goals.
For the moment, however, nothing guarantees that you form the Olympic duo because internal selections still have to take place…
Margot Boch:
Yes, there will be selection tests in December between the pushers and the best will be the holder at the Games, the second being a substitute.
Carla Sénéchal:
Hence additional pressure for me (laughs). It is not easy to live with. Bob is a team sport, but also something individual because my teammates are also my opponents. But so far, this competition has offered good momentum, great competition by forcing us to push our limits and constantly improve. Now, in my position, what is complicated is that I have everything to lose and the others everything to gain since I was the holder last season. But I'll win it all (smile).
As a pilot, Margot, you don't have a say ...
Margot Boch:
No, it's the girls' time that will speak.
It is sport that takes precedence.
I know that no matter who is behind me, the person will give everything.
Obviously, it will be different depending on each.
Whenever we are told that we could be the first, we get chills.
Carla Senechal
Does being able to be the first French women to participate in the Bobsleigh Games add pressure?
Carla Sénéchal:
Whenever we are told that we could be the first, we have chills. No matter how hard we try not to think about it, we are reminded of it all the time. But that's not extra pressure, it would just be the icing on the cake. We just want to be the first, that would be an amazing story.
Sportingly, today, what do you need to improve?
Margot Boch:
A bit of everything. We obviously have to improve our start, namely the thrust, which is very important. For the moment, in this area, we are still quite far from the best. And then there is the driving also which, if we improve it, can save us a few hundredths which will allow us to gain one or two places in the hierarchy.
Carla Sénéchal:
We have a weakness on the push because we are small.
We fight to gain a few pounds in order to lighten our bob, which was very heavy to push.
We have gained weight and physical strength, and we hope that will pay off in competition this year.
But we are still very far from the German school, with girls who are forces of nature.
Genetically, they are very strong and we have difficulty understanding how they work, their training, their strategy, their technique… We try to unravel their secrets but it is not the easiest (smile).
Does progress in pushing only require weight training?
Carla Sénéchal:
We have worked on a lot of aspects. First, we continued to work on our strengths, so pure speed. Second, we have focused our work on our shortcoming, pure strength. We did more training volume, with new methods. We have enlarged our circle of coaches to have more skills at our service. Personally, I went back to my old track club with whom I raced for 16 years to review my whole running strategy. Finally, last point, I reviewed my pushing technique, which was my big weak point because I only started bobbing four years ago. In preparation, we glimpsed some progress and can't wait to see what comes out.
Regarding piloting, how does it work? By multiplying the descents?
Margot Boch:
Yes, we have to do as much as possible. This lasts about a minute and during it you have to correct as many points as possible. If, over a winter, we manage to make 200 or 300 runs, that's already huge. Every downhill counts as an Olympic year and you have to understand what you're doing.
Are there any simulators, on the model of what is done in motorsports?
Margot Boch:
We are starting to hear about it in Germany, which is still ten steps ahead. But for us, for the moment, we do not have this. That's why I told you that every descent counts. Per training day, we can do three or four runs, it's limited, and when competition resumes, over a World Cup week, we have six training runs and four racing runs.
In Beijing, there will be a new discipline on the program…
Margot Boch:
Yes, the monobob which is an important new discipline for women because if we want to qualify the two-man bob, we have to go through the monobob.
And it is above all a chance for a medal in addition.
It's clearly more stringent than elsewhere, even though I wasn't quarantined, just in a bubble for three weeks.
Margot Boch
Margot, you recently visited China to recognize the bobsleigh track. How did it go ?
Margot Boch:
The site is really amazing. It's magnificent, I have never seen such a beautiful infrastructure. Regarding the track, I had good feelings, very different from those I experienced on traditional World Cup tracks. This discovery was really interesting and exciting when thinking about the Games.
The sanitary rules in this country seem stricter than elsewhere. How did you experience them?
Margot Boch:
Yes, it is clearly stricter than elsewhere, even though I was not placed in quarantine, just in a bubble for three weeks. We had absolutely no right to go out and we had to stay between us, being tested daily for three weeks non-stop.
This health context, with in particular the absence of a foreign public, does it take away a little magic from what could be your first participation in the Olympic Games?
Carla Sénéchal:
This inevitably generates disappointment. Taking part in the Games is our dream as a little girl and our family shares it with us. They wanted to accompany us to China, to support us there and they are very disappointed not to be able to be there. Now, considering what happened in Tokyo last summer, it's no surprise and with Margot we have prepared for it.
Have you had the opportunity to interact with athletes from other disciplines who have already experienced the Games?
Carla Sénéchal:
As far as I'm concerned, I was present at the Coq Sportif event and it was just incredible. I wondered what I was doing there, alongside the best French athletes like Perrine Laffont, Alexis Pinturault, Emilien Jacquelin… I had stars in my eyes and I didn't realize what was going on. Everyone was hyper accessible, smiling, listening. It was two wonderful days.
Often, it is said that the first Games allow you to learn for the next ones. Is this also your state of mind?
Margot Boch:
No, clearly not (smile).
We don't want to go there just to learn and participate.
We want to go get something good.
Obviously, a medal seems inaccessible but a place in the Top 10 would already be great.
And why not better because the Games are often the race of a lifetime and anything can happen.
