255,500 km/h.
What if Simon Billy broke his own speed skiing world record?
On March 21, 2023, the 32-year-old Frenchman won his second world champion title in a row at home, in Vars, during the speed ski world championships, beating the world record dating from 2016 obtained by the Italian Ivan Origone (254.958km/h).
On March 23 (if the weather conditions do not force the organizers to change the date), Simon Billy and his competitors will set off from the top of the Chabrières piste.
With its 2750 m altitude and 98% slope, the slope is the only one approved in the world for speed ski record attempts.
“We had a capricious winter with a lot of snow in the southern Alps,” Simon Billy told Le Parisien.
This is a positive point because we are sure of being able to start from the top of the track.
We need to have rather warm temperatures.
The weather forecast is pretty cool so we have the window to get transformative snow.
We are rather optimistic!
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But before thinking about the record, the competition to crown the new world champion in the discipline begins this Saturday March 16 in Vars.
“If all goes well, the final of the world championship will also be the world record attempt so we are aiming for these two objectives on the same run,” the French skier told us.
Born in Montpellier, Simon Billy knows the Alpine town very well since he grew up there with his brother, Louis, and his father, Philippe, himself a former world speed champion (1996) and world record holder (243.902 km/h in 1997).
“Some other speed skiers are a little jealous and tell us we're lucky.
It's not luck, it's a lifestyle choice!
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And the ski resort, which hosts the Speed Masters for the sixth time (after 2009, 2013, 2019, 2022 and 2023), returns it more than well: after a bronze medal in 2013 and a silver medal in 2019 , he went for gold in 2022 before retaining his title last year.
Already among the juniors, he won the world championships there in 2009. “I have a connection with Chabrières,” explains Simon Billy.
I'm in my element when I'm here.
It's the place on earth where I feel the best.
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His terrible fall at more than 230km/h in 2017 forgotten, Simon Billy hopes to do it again and win a third consecutive world champion title with an improved world record at stake.