“The federation puts priority where it can”: twelve years after Coline Mattel’s Olympic medal, France’s women ski jumpers struggle

Since Coline Mattel’s bronze medal at the Sochi Olympics in 2014, the women’s ski jumping World Cup circuit has advanced a lot. That development has been hard for the French to follow, and they now begin their Olympic campaign on Saturday in Milan‑Cortina while still searching for form and resources.

This Friday morning was a final rehearsal for the jumpers. On the eve of Saturday’s small‑hill competition (18:45) everyone was allowed three training jumps. After a middling evening on Thursday Joséphine Pagnier was slightly happier. “It was better than yesterday, but I still didn’t feel great,” she said.

Pagnier, who trains in La Chaux‑Neuve (Doubs), suffered a tumble in a flight of stairs on the Olympic site the day before — a fall without consequences but emblematic of a difficult season. Twelve years after Coline Mattel’s bronze at Sochi, the first Olympic medal in the history of women’s ski jumping, it would take a huge surprise for a Frenchwoman to come back from Italy with a medal.

“I grew to be afraid of jumping,” Joséphine Pagnier admitted.

Pagnier had once followed in her predecessor’s wake: 16th in the overall World Cup in 2022–23 and seventh the following season, with two big‑hill wins at Lillehammer and Engelberg — unprecedented for a Frenchwoman. But since then she has regressed and has struggled to return to those standards after a very troubled start to the season both on the field and mentally.

“It was awful. I came to be afraid of jumping,” she shared. Damien Maître, coach of the French women, said he was relieved to have her at the Games after she had considered stopping at the end of the year. “She’s a very professional, very diligent athlete. But she chased something unattainable for a long time. That created chronic stress that really damaged her confidence. It was critical.”

This season Pagnier — about to take part in her second Olympics — ranks 25th in the World Cup overall but has found top‑20 form again after a late‑season break and beneficial psychological support. “The sky is starting to clear,” she said. “I’m finding pleasure again and freeing myself little by little. After that, it’s getting denser: a jump that used to put you in the top‑15 now leaves you much further back.” Behind her the young teammate Emma Chervet (22) approaches Milan‑Cortina as an experience ahead of 2030 in the French Alps.

For their predecessor Coline Mattel, France has simply fallen too far behind the big nations. “The dynamic around jumping is not the same as in countries like Austria, Germany, Norway or Slovenia, where there are small hills everywhere and champions who make kids dream,” Mattel points out. Lacking means, ski jumping also suffers from its position in the hierarchy of winter sports in France. “The federation puts the priority where it can with the resources it has,” the Olympic medallist adds.

The gap is already substantial and keeps widening. “There are far more people fighting to get through qualification and into the final round. You have to be an exceptional athlete,” Mattel says. “Now differences are made on small details. It’s a bit like F1. If you’ve got 1% more in equipment, that’s where the difference is made.”

Before getting to those fine margins, the FFS must simply attract more participants. “Counting everyone, there are perhaps 50 women jumpers in France,” says Étienne Gouy, director of ski jumping and nordic combined at the French Ski Federation.

The article includes reporting from Val di Fiemme and quotes from Quentin Coldefy; it places the French team’s struggles in a wider context of resources, development and psychology as the women prepare to jump at the Olympic Games.