'Dream come true': Canada's Val Grenier wins bronze in World Cup giant slalom on home snow at Mont-Tremblant
CBC
Some bronze medals are worth their weight in gold. Valerie Grenier's third-place finish in women's giant slalom at the Mont-Tremblant World Cup certainly fits that category.
Grenier climbed two spots in Saturday's second run, finishing with a combined time of two minutes 17.18 seconds to take bronze in the first of two races at the ski resort northwest of Montreal.
The 29-year-old from St-Isidore, Ont., who grew up skiing at Mont-Tremblant, was one second behind gold medallist Alice Robinson of New Zealand.
"It's incredible. I don't have many words to describe how I feel," Grenier said in the mixed zone at the bottom of the Flying Mile course. "I'm having a hard time believing it. Feels like a dream come true."
"I really wanted it to happen this weekend," she added. "Winning a medal here at home is really high on my list."
The medal also helps soothe her 11th and 13th-place finishes in the first two races of the season, results Grenier called disappointing.
"I knew I was capable of better than that," she said. "To finally put down two clean runs, like I said I wanted, feels really good."
"I think it's the dream of a lifetime for her. And for us too, getting a podium here is the sum of all the work we've done," said her coach, Laurent Praz. "It also rewards the work of everyone on the team and the volunteers at Tremblant. A podium here is worth much more than a podium in Europe."
Grenier reached a World Cup podium for the first time since finishing third in the downhill at Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, in January 2024, and for the fifth time in her career.
Two days after stepping onto the podium in Cortina, she suffered serious injuries to her right leg and knee that sidelined her until the 2024-25 season.
Once she secured her medal Saturday, she was visibly emotional in the finish area.
"It was a big reaction, big tears in my eyes," Grenier said. "I still can't believe it happened. With my teammates jumping into my arms, it made me cry a lot. I've been waiting for this for a long time, especially after the injury. It took time, and seeing that I'm back on the podium feels good."
Robinson finished ahead of silver medallist Zrinka Ljutic of Croatia (2:17.12) to earn her second straight victory.
"I was a bit nervous this morning because the conditions here were so different compared to last weekend, so I wasn't sure the good skiing from last weekend necessarily meant it was going to be good this weekend," she said. "I'm really happy to roll it through in these conditions which were really tough today."
