Born into a family of experienced skiers, Lucas Richard was immersed in the world of skiing from an early age. \u201cI was put on skis as soon as I learned to walk,\u201d says the Savi\u00e8se native. His passion for alpine skiing then came to life as he watched the \u201cbig names\u201d tackle the resort\u2019s race course.<\/p>\n
Inspired by Didier Cuche\u2019s exploits, Lucas Richard nevertheless fell out of love with his sport at the age of 15 and stopped racing. A friend then encouraged him to try competing in ski cross. \u201cI seized that opportunity, and I have never left the sport since.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was a choice that paid off immediately. From his very first runs, something clicked for Lucas Richard. \u201cI loved it straight away,\u201d he says, adding: \u201cThe atmosphere was completely different.\u201d Despite the lack of facilities in Valais early in his career, the Savi\u00e8se skier used his strong results to find a productive training environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom my first races, I achieved the results I needed to move up to the Europa Cup,\u201d he explains. This gave the Savi\u00e8se skier the opportunity to train with the Swiss-Ski squads soon afterwards. It was a golden opportunity, although he had to fund it himself.<\/p>\n
But his first season on the European circuit ended with a serious injury: a torn cruciate ligament. Despite this period of doubt, Lucas Richard returned to competition and went on to become junior world champion in Veysonnaz in 2022. \u201cWinning in front of my family and friends was magical,\u201d he recalls.<\/p>\n
Last year, Lucas Richard finished on the podium in the overall Europa Cup standings. That result secured him a permanent World Cup place, allowing him to compete in every race of the season. It was a first for a skier from Valais. This season, the Savi\u00e8se native can finally devote himself entirely to ski cross, having recently completed a bachelor\u2019s degree in economics.<\/p>\n
Since last summer, the Valais skier has been working in a completely new environment. He trains with new coaches, a new team and, above all, the best skiers in the country. As the youngest member of the Swiss men\u2019s team, he says: \u201cI learn from the advice of the more experienced athletes.\u201d<\/p>\n
With a significant step up from the Europa Cup to the World Cup, the newcomer expected a challenging year. \u201cI knew it would be difficult to compete with skiers who have been racing on these courses for ten years,\u201d explains the Valais athlete. \u201cMy aim is to gain as much experience as possible this season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite that change, Lucas Richard qualified for the finals at the very first race of the season. Since then, the Savi\u00e8se skier has been pleased with his performances: \u201cI feel as though I am making steady progress.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although this is Lucas Richard\u2019s first full World Cup season, he had already competed in the Veysonnaz races in previous seasons, without making it through qualifying. \u201cThis year, I would like to qualify, and anything else will be a bonus.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI do not feel any external pressure because the race is close to home, but of course I think about it a little more,\u201d explains the skier who won his junior world title on the Piste de l\u2019Ours. He adds: \u201cLast year, I had a few problems on this course, but I feel I have improved.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the Olympics just a few weeks away, Lucas Richard will not be taking part in the ski cross events in Livigno. In his first World Cup season, the challenge was too great.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am still at the very start of my career; I have time ahead of me,\u201d he says reassuringly. \u201cI still have time to build up years of experience before the next Olympics.\u201d Having forged an unprecedented path to the World Cup, Lucas Richard could therefore become the first skier from Valais to represent Switzerland in Olympic ski cross.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Born into a family of experienced skiers, Lucas Richard was immersed in the world of skiing from an early age. \u201cI was put on skis as soon as I learned to walk,\u201d says the Savi\u00e8se native. His passion for alpine skiing then came to life as he watched the \u201cbig names\u201d tackle the resort\u2019s race […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":685,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-732","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fis-ski-cross-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcupveysonnaz.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/732","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcupveysonnaz.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcupveysonnaz.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcupveysonnaz.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcupveysonnaz.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=732"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worldcupveysonnaz.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/732\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcupveysonnaz.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcupveysonnaz.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=732"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcupveysonnaz.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=732"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcupveysonnaz.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}