With six CoC-wins and Gold and Bronze medals at Worlds and Junior Worlds, France’s Coline Mattel was the breaking jumper of the last winter season. Ladies-Skijumping.com editor Stefan Diaz talked to her about this successful winter and her preparations for the upcoming World Cup.
Ladies-Skijumping.com: Coline, the last season was the most successful one in your career so far. You won two medals, a golden one at the Juniors and a bronze one in Oslo. Which of the two means more to you?
Coline Mattel: Don’t even ask, for sure the bronze medal at the Worlds. Of course the Junior gold medal means a lot, but the bronze was at the World Championships, moreover in Oslo – it is the highest level with everybody competing and so on.
Ladies-Skijumping.com: There were thousand of people attending the competition in Oslo and even more came to see the victory ceremony. Did you expect so many people to be interested in Ladies Skijumping?
Mattel: No, I didn’t. I heard that they were expecting a lot of people, but I didn’t think that they would come finally, because of the bad weather. We have never had even a quarter of all those people watching a comp before. That was really impressive, particularly the medal ceremony.
Ladies-Skijumping.com: It was very foggy during the competition. Were you able to get a feeling how many people were there anyway?
Mattel: Yes, because of the noise. When I was on the bar just before my jump I heard people scream and so on. I even was unable to hear my coach giving me the starting sign. Particularly I liked it, that there was a little group of supporters from my town. That was really nice.
Ladies-Skijumping.com: Among the spectators were also IOC members. hey finally made their decision and included this great sports to the Olympic programme. For the 2018 games Annecy is a candidate city. It is not too far away from your hometown. Did you already think about how it would be to compete there, in front of many supporters from your town??
Mattel: For sure I did. Of course I’m waiting for the decision before imagining anything. I did likewise with the decision for the Olympics… But anyway I can’t stop imagine how crazy and amazing it would be, just to compete at home.
Ladies-Skijumping.com: Let’s change the topic a little now. Let’s take a look back at this winter’s Continental Cup. You won six CoCs this winter. In interviews after the competitions you always told me, that you are happy when you have two good jumps and the result does not matter. But are you proud of what you achieved in this winter anyway?
Mattel: For sure! I always said, and I’ll keep saying, that I’m most happy when I know I jumped best of my ability. But of course, i love to compete and I’m really happy about my season!
Ladies-Skijumping.com: You were under the best jumpers last winter, so many people easily forget that you are still very young. Is it easy for you to combine jumping and school???
Mattel: Well. I’m attending a sports school. People normally make it in three years but we do it in four. We’re free almost the whole winter and some weeks in autumn, for training camps and competitions. So it’s quite adapted, but despite free weeks I missed a lot of lessons and I also had a lot of work. It is hard to take homework with you and do it between two competitions or at home when you have only 4 days free between the trips. And now after I spent the winter jumping, it’s hard to go back to school and work like “normal” people.
Ladies-Skijumping.com: When are you going to restart training this summer?
Mattel: In the beginning of May I restarted physical training and I’ll restart jumping within the next two weeks.
Ladies-Skijumping.com: Are you going to do more training then in the years before, because there will be a World Cup next winter?
Mattel: I think so. Normally I do training with my club team, they are almost all some years younger than me. Until now i did almost the same training they did more or less, sometimes it was just more of it I did. But yes I think now it’ll be more intensive, I mean it already was serious training and so on before, but my home trainer will make a program especially for me now.
Ladies-Skijumping.com: So we can expect a really strong Coline Mattel next season. If you take a look at the World Cup calendar: There are many new places scheduled, such as Moscow or Hinzenbach. Is there any place you look forward to in particular??
Mattel: Yes, Norway particularly, I love competing there. Hills are nice and I love this country. But I also look forward to go to the places we’ve never been, like Moscow. Well actually I really look forward to the winter and the World Cup, I think it really wont be the same as CoC.
Ladies-Skijumping.com: Coline, thank you very much for the nice interview. I wish you good luck for your training. Stay without injuries.
Mattel: No problem!! I’ll try it.