Estelle Alphand complains: sad shadows of the ski career unveiled!

Estelle Alphand complains: sad shadows of the ski career unveiled!

Estelle Alphand, the daughter of the former ski star Luc Alphand, recently spoke in an interview with Le Monde about her challenging time under the former French head coach Anthony Sechaud. She describes this phase as "terrible" and makes serious allegations against Sechaud. He is accused of bothering and harassing athletes morally, which led to a stressful environment at Alphand. On her own behalf, she describes her experiences during her time in the French ski team as extremely negative.

In 2017, Alphand decided to switch to the Swedish ski team for personal reasons, her mother's home country. This was not only a sporting decision, but also a reaction to the stressful conditions under Sechaud. "Moral nuisance" and "harassment" were the order of the day for Alphand, although she achieved good results during the training. Often she only learned about the media of her missions in races. These discrepancies ultimately led to their decision to change the team.

support in Sweden

The move to Sweden was a liberation for Alphand. In the new team, she found the support that she was missing in the French team. Under the new trainer Manuel Gamper, she was able to successfully continue her career. Her services began to improve, which is documented by their participation in international competitions. A striking example is that in the 2023/24 season in a slalom race with the start number 35 in Lienz, Austria, her best career place.

Alphand was once considered a great talent, but could not show the expected performance under the French flag. The move to the Swedish team, which includes athletes such as Frida Hansdotter and Anna Swenn-Larsson, now seems to be a positive decision. Other former teammates, such as Marie Massios and Jennifer Piot, also confirm similar negative experiences under Sechaud. Massios ended her career due to the stress in 2018, while Piot describes the time as "hell". Sechaud himself denies the allegations and explains that there have been conflicts, but no conscious harassment.

The challenges in the World Cup

In the current season, Estelle Alphand, who, like Mikaela Shiffrin, belongs to the group of talented slalom drivers, described their previous results as mixed. At the beginning of the season she reached 25th place in Killington and the 23rd place in another slalom. Their services underline the challenges that athletes often have to overcome in order to be able to exist at the highest level.

The French slalom squad shows difficulties this season, with Adeline Baud Mugnier as the only French woman to take a 17th place in the second round. Under these circumstances, Alphand's decision to move to Sweden has become more important and gives hope that she can exploit her full potential.