Player's Own Voice Podcast Transcript: Laurence St-Germain

POV podcast with Laurence St-Germaine

Eps 7-02

Anastasia:   With frost in the air and the snow tire switcheroo coming soon, this is my time to start daydreaming about ski season. Canadians have got plenty to dream about this year. Our young alpine team is going from strength to strength. My guest today is Slalom world champion Laurence St Germain. She freshened up the record books for Canada last winter, 63 years since the last Canadian woman won World Cup gold in slalom. Let that sink in!

She also just won a national award for outstanding citizenship in sport. And she's working on a second degree in the sciences.

There's more good things to say about Lawrence St Germain, but I'm feeling inadequate already.

[music]

It's player's own voice. I'm Anastasia Bucsis

Laurence, it's so great to see you. Listen, so much in sport can be kind of hyperbolic and kind of fluffy. Yknow, wow historic!  But you truly made history. The last time a Canadian woman won a slalom event was 1960. The Beatles had not even come to America in 1960.

[Sound up cbc sports:  "She's 1st right now! Canada's Laurence St-Germain!... crowd cheers]  

Anastasia:   Can you grasp what you did?

Laurence St-Germain:    Slowly. But honestly, there's still some parts that I don't even remember. Sometimes I just driving my car between Montreal and Quebec City, and I'm just like:  Yeah, I'm world champ. It still doesn't make sense. It's kind of strange, but it's. Yeah, it's pretty exciting.

Anastasia:   Was the day just perfect? I mean, what's the first memory that comes to you when when you think about it?

Laurence St-Germain:   When I'm looking , after second run, when I'm looking for the time because I looked for the time after both runs. Because the TV, where we can see the time when we're still in the finish, it was at a different place than it usually is. So I was looking for it and it was really far and I was I don't have really great eyes. So I was squinting my eyes and I was like, Is this 1 or 11? And I realized, no, it's one. And then I  was, freaking out.

Anastasia:   So the Canadian woman, Anne Heggtveit,1960, do you know her? Did she reach out? What did you know of her before you did what you did?

Laurence St-Germain:   Well, I knew she won medals because even I think in 1960, what I heard is it was world champs was the same year as the Olympics. So I knew I didn't even know she won world champs because I knew she won the Olympics, but I knew her name and who she was, obviously. But I've never met her.

Anastasia:   Well, I did some research on her and she seems awesome. She lives in North Carolina now, still doing her rowing machine.  1960!. What was the reaction from the ski community?

Laurence St-Germain:   It was crazy. Apparently at home it was well, I got so many videos from friends, ski clubs, people I haven't seen in so long, just videos of them crying because they're so happy for me. And I feel like that's when it really hit me more, the impact.

Still today, hearing the stories of what happened to people when they were watching my race is still the thing that's touching me the most because I remember so many times where I saw on the medals being won, like, for example, at Tokyo when soccer won. I remember I was waiting to start training with my trainer outside, in Quebec City, waiting for the shootouts. And, you know, you remember those moments when you see people win and to be part of memories of people when I won, it's mind blowing for me.

Anastasia:   You have just given me shivers because everyone knows where they were when the women won for the soccer. You know what I mean? And for you to have that experience. Unbelievable. I got to see it live. So I was very lucky. I was hosting a show here. I'm like, she is world champion!  

And you know, another moment that just touched my heart, though, was Mikaela Shiffrin gave you a really nice long hug.

Laurence St-Germain:   Yeah. Yeah. She was super nice. And you know for sure, I know she was disappointed in her performance and for sure she wanted to win like she was happy for me, But I feel like she would have been more happy if she won, but I know she was as happy for me as she would be if she won basically for herself. So she knew how special it was for for me. And she was really nice and super helpful because I was so overwhelmed.

Anastasia:   She was helpful?

Laurence St-Germain:   Yeah. During the pictures and yeah, at the medal ceremony at night. I didn't know what to do. And she was like, no, no, you stay there, okay? Look at this guy. Look at this guy. Getting the images for the pictures. Yeah, because there were so many photographers. And at some point, I mean, we separated, to take individual pictures. I was, looking everywhere, where do I go? She was like, No, you stay there. Super helpful, yeah.

Anastasia:   In your opinion, do you think she's the GOAT.

Laurence St-Germain:   Oh, 100% and she's not done. And yeah, and speaking of when people win, you know, I was so happy that when she beat the record, it was a slalom because she could have beaten it a bit before. And I was like, Oh, I wish she was at a race that I was there and I was at, the race at the bottom. And I had my my second best race after world Champs and it was awesome how everyone wanted her to win. So it's not just that she's the GOAT, like in her performance and how she obviously is an insanely technical skier, but even as a person, she's really great.

Anastasia:   I think that's what comes across even on TV. Like she just seems like a nice human.

Laurence St-Germain:   Yeah, Yeah, totally. She's super genuine.

Anastasia:   I'm glad. I also love that you said obviously she wanted to win, but she was as happy as she could be for me. Yeah, that's what sportsmanship is. Of course you want to win, but you've just had such an amazing year, though. Like you just won an award with Alexandria Loutitt as well, the ski jumper. Yeah. What was that for?

Laurence St-Germain:   It is for snow sport, all snow sport basically, for performance and commitment to the sport in the community. So that was pretty pretty special to not just win  because of my performance, it was awesome.

Anastasia:   That's cool. What do you do in the community?

Laurence St-Germain:   Well, I'm an ambassador. I guess you can say with Vie Actif, which is an organization to help girls stay in sport. And I just love being involved with that  organization. And I'm also an ambassador for this charity called {Atttard?}  to help people come back after strokes and stuff like that. And I'm also athlete rep for my team.

Anastasia:   I'm going to ask you about Biomimetics in a little bit because I know you're really into school as well. You're brilliant, but let's just stay on world championships for a second Greatest world championships in Canadian history. Two times gold, four times podium. What is the team doing well that is so different from previous years?

Laurence St-Germain:   it's hard to say what we did different in the past year, but I think if you see everyone that did so well, its people that had time to perform, you know. For me, I've had my share of ups and downs and being kicked out of the team and coming back and then and Valerie, who had well, two podiums this year and a podium at World Champs, she had multiple injuries.

And then Jack Crawford was always really good. But, you know, he showed up in the development team and had time to grow and Cameron Alexander the same. And I feel like that's what we did well with those athletes is give them time. And it just shows that you don't have to be the goat at 16 and you can still make it a bit later. And for sure Cam and Jack are a bit younger, but still I feel like having a strong team that stays together and builds up together is what's different about our our team. Yeah.

Anastasia:   I talk to a lot of athletes, I have that privilege, and a lot of folks have said almost exactly what you've said. I think sports are now realising you don't have to be Connor McDavid at 16 years old to do what you did. You know,I don't know when that shifted, but it's going the other way and that makes me really happy.

Laurence St-Germain:   Yeah.

Anastasia:   At 16. I don't even know what I was doing.

Laurence St-Germain:   Yeah, because there's always Mikaela Shiffrins, you know, that start Norams and start their first World Cup and almost podiums Yeah .

Anastasia:   At 15!  Yeah.

Laurence St-Germain:   But we can't expect that all athletes are going to be like that, otherwise honestly sports is not going to be fun.

Anastasia:   What age were you thinking, I might be kind of good at this,  then, because you've been around and (I say this with so much love) for a while, like 8 years on the circuit now?

Laurence St-Germain:   Yeah. 2015 was my first World Cup.

Anastasia:   And when were you like, I could become a world champion.

Laurence St-Germain:   Um, the day after world championships.

Anastasia:   I love it. That's one of my favourite answers ever. The momentum, though, in that team. Did the momentum shift or do you think you went into worlds with that amount of momentum?

Laurence St-Germain:   I think it shifted right before for me at least. I was skiing great in training all year, but I couldn't put it together in the race. You know, I had great intervals then did a mistake and mistakes I didn't really do in training. And I think after the last race before world champs in Czech Republic, it really clicked what I was missing and I was looking at other athletes and watched so much video of Shiffrin, Lena Duerr, Wendy ( Holdener)  all the girls that are constantly on the podium. And I think mentally it's like the first day I told myself that I could let myself do it and let myself be in this position after first run, because sometimes it is, oh, I can do it. But oh, what if I'm in second place after first run and I can't handle it, you know, but that day everything, everything was flowing. And I think also having Val crushing two runs and winning both runs was such a statement. And it for sure helped me believe in myself that I could do it too.

Anastasia:   You're also from the same hometown as Pierre Harvey and Alex Harvey. So you've grown up with champions. What is the village around you doing so well to make so many amazing snow sport athletes?

Laurence St-Germain:   I think we're just… it's such an active town. For example, in Pyeongchang, we had three athletes. Anne-Marie (Comeau) was also there in cross-country. And I think just having athletes around, everyone playing outside all the time has just built up good athletes in general.

And we have for sure, for cross-country skiing this centre, one of the national centres there. So that helps. And for me I think in Quebec City we have Excellence Sportive Québec-Lévis, that's a really good regional program that helps athletes have resources to try to perform and come back when they have injuries and everything. So that really helps.

Anastasia:   I bet a lot of people were having a celebratory beer after you won.

Laurence St-Germain:   Yeah, I think so.

Anastasia:   So two runs. What was your mindset between that first and second run? Did you know where you were and what were you telling yourself in that start hut?

Laurence St-Germain:   I was really stressed in the start hut. Well, even right after I crossed the finish, I was obviously really stoked. And then when I was getting dressed, I was kind of just thinking about how stressed I was going to be in second run. And I told that to my team-mate and she told me that  I didn't do anything different than in training. It wasn't out of the blue, you know, what I did.  So I shouldn't be stressed to try to do the same thing because I've done it many, many times. So that really calmed my nerves.

And then between the runs, every time I was thinking about, Oh my God, I'm in third place, I was visualising my my course to make sure I had the right plan to make a good run, you know? And then at the start, I was really stressed. I was almost faking, to be funny, you know, I wanted my physio and my technician to be relaxed, because it was new for them to, you know, being in that position. So they didn't know how I was going to react, but I wanted to make them know that I was kind of okay so they could joke around and say whatever they wanted and just to be chill.

But also I forgot to take out my….there is a sticker inside my goggles when they're brand new lenses and I forgot to take it out. So when I put on my goggles, well it was maybe five people before me because I always switch goggles because I get really sweaty in the starts and I don't want them to fog. So right before I go for the first time, when my physio gave them to me, I put them on my face right away and thought, wow this is really blurry!

Laurence St-Germain:   And I see the face of my physio and my technician, like ready to act, like something's wrong, what do we need to do? And then I just think, Oh, take off my goggles peel out the plastic, and they're like, Oh my God.

[music]

Anastasia:   You're a world champion. Congratulations. You folks have to chase glaciers and you're travelling everywhere. But you are, as I mentioned, in school. Biomimetics. What does that mean and what is the application? Please educate me.

Laurence St-Germain:   Well, I'm actually in biomedical engineering and biomimetics is how we can bring things into nature to the body to create things, basically. So hopefully I could work with making prostheses and helping people be active and that would be my dream job or more in robotics and stuff like that because I have a degree in computer science before. So I want to merge both and and try to improve people's lives.

Anastasia:   What drew you to that field? Is there one thing that you're like, That's what I want to do?

Laurence St-Germain:   Well, when I was at UVM (University of Vermont) in Computer Science, I had a scholarship there to ski for for the school. And my third year, I wasn't sure if that's really what I wanted to do. I couldn't see myself just doing computer science after being an athlete and being so connected to the body. And I was looking at a master's degree. But since computer science is not in engineering, I couldn't really find what I was looking for and I kind of fell onto this while looking at courses and stuff on the biomedical program at Polytechnique in Montreal. So I figured I would try, but it's, really hard to get in because they  only take 45 people a year. So it took me two years to get in, but I'm glad I did. I love it.  

Anastasia:   That seems like a pretty extreme course load. How do you balance training with school? That's a very genuine question.

Laurence St-Germain:   Well, I'm part time, now, so it's easier. So I take less courses in the winter. Well, last year I took four courses in the fall, three in the winter, and then this year I'm taking three and three. That's my plan. But I have really good support at the school. I can do my exams online and if I have to submit something in class, they let me do it by email, obviously. And they're really good. And honestly, with COVID, a lot of professors are reusing videos that they took during COVID or even if they don't use it for the class, the sometimes they send them to me, the ones that they recorded in 2020. So  that helps. I can watch classes instead of just missing them.

Anastasia:   So what does a day in the life look like then?

Laurence St-Germain:   Well, it depends. If I'm home, I'm just running around everywhere and going to class. And actually it's almost easier when I'm away skiing because I have such a strict schedule that I know exactly where I'm going to be sitting down and study. And it just brings a rhythm for myself. But I wake up at six, go skiing, come back, have lunch, then make coffee I'm a big coffee fan, and then I study for 2 hours, dryland practice, back to studying, physio, dinner and then if I'm behind, I study again. But, lots of studying

Anastasia:   Where's your favourite place to ski?

Laurence St-Germain:   Well to race, for sure. Killington. I love skiing at home and skiing with the ski club and I'm from Mont sainte Anne, so because it's just homey and people are happy to see me and I'm happy to see people I haven't seen in a long time. So yeah, I guess at home.

Anastasia:   And so I  love skiing of course. And watching it like there's just so much history. And when you see, you know, Arnold Schwarzenegger at the bottom of Kitzbühel, it just immediately gives you this feeling of apres ski and you're celebrating history and just, all that's good with Alpine, but. Do you feel like we're coming into to kind of a new time of history just with the fact that, you know, you watch Kitzbühel and only snow is on the course? Like, are you seeing climate change in real life? I always wonder that with athletes that are based on snow, because I know with skating there's so many skating epic races that will never be held again because it just doesn't get cold enough.

Laurence St-Germain:   Yeah, no, it's quite sad. Even I was going through my bibs the other day and I saw my bib from Zagreb last year where the snow was made in the machine and they put it on the race hill and it was so muddy that my bib is full of mud because I lay down to do my warmup at the start. And you just ask how can there be mud on a bib for winter. That doesn't make sense.  But it makes it really stressful to have races, or even… at Killington every year we are like, how is it going to be? They always manage to do it in three days, but we see the pictures right now we see pictures of the first race and it's just just gravel and rocks on the on the race hill.

So it's really sad that our races are going to be for sure eventually really condensed because in Europe it's really tough, but hopefully maybe it's going to bring more races to Canada, like Tremblant this year, which is super exciting. But no, it makes it tough and stressful for for our sport for sure. Slalom is a bit easier, but speed races, it's tough.

Anastasia:   Yeah well you will get your Ph.D. in a bjillion things, Biomimetics. And then maybe you'll cure climate change, but you never know. You're world champion. You can do whatever you want!,

How are you feeling going into the season? Having a new label as world champion?  

Laurence St-Germain:   Well, mixed feelings, like really stress, and really excited to see what I can do. For sure, I have more pressure. Not pressure from anyone else, literally just for myself, but hopefully it's going to be good pressure. So far I've been doing okay under pressure, so I hope I keep it that way in. But yes, exciting. I've been skiing good this summer. I think. I was really happy that I skied already, at the first camp I was skiing the same as at Spring Camp, so I didn't have to catch up to my last season level, so I was really stoked on that and I was able to build up on it really fast. So it was a really good summer and new coaches this year and so it's going to be an exciting season, I think.

Anastasia:   It's going to be super exciting to watch. And I just love that story where you're like, Shiffrin helped me. If those are your competitors, it seems like you're in good company. Yeah. So it's going to be a good season. I'm feeling it for you. I really appreciate you just connecting and having a chat and truly congratulations. You did something so special for the country and best of luck for the season. It's going to be super exciting to watch you.

Laurence St-Germain:   Thank you. Thanks.

[music]

Anastasia:   Laurence  St-Germain joined us from beautiful Quebec City. There's a video version of this chat at CBC Sports YouTube channel.

Players own voice podcast is a CBC sports production. We're available on CBC Listen, and everywhere else you get your podcasts.

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Olivia Pascquarelli edits our audio.

Adam Blinov wrote our theme music.

David Giddens is our producer.

Thanks so much for listening.