Video as therapy. Disappointed by the turn of its 2025 World Championships in France, at Les Contamines, where she won the medal (4th in classical, 5th in sprint) at the end of a season marked by five podiums in the World Cup including two victories, Laly Chaucheprat has long questioned herself. “I hesitated to continue after the disappointment of the World Championships in a sport where you don’t make money,” she said.
“Showcasing this pivotal year for our sport”
In late July, the Haute-Savoyard finally cleared her head to give meaning to her practice. A renewed motivation thanks to the accomplishment of a personal project: filming her season and revealing the behind-the-scenes through a film she hopes to present in early October in Annecy at the High Five. “I want to showcase this pivotal year for our sport,” summarizes the producer, and main actress, of a project filmed with the hope of finally seeing telemarking enter the Olympic program next June. “My whole life revolves around this so I want to show the practice outside of competition to address mental health and all the questions we may have. Should we continue? Should we fight for a sport that may not necessarily be recognized?” questions the instructor for seven years at ESF Passy Plaine-Joux. Her way of funding her seasons and her over a hundred (104) starts in the World Cup.
This future documentary, Laly Chaucheprat owes it to an unusual encounter. A chance conversation on the plane to the Algarve (Portugal) where, crazy coincidence, she finds herself sitting next to a certain Hugo Sammons, a videographer in life. “I was looking for a free and capable cameraman to accompany me throughout the season,” says the Haute-Savoyard, delighted to come across the adoptive Lyonnais with whom she will learn to have attended the same primary school on the Plateau d’Assy.
Their collaboration will take the viewer to Europe and the United States. An unprecedented filming, dear to her eyes. “Since Covid, there are no more World Cup stages down there so it was close to my heart to run there at least once in my career,” recounts the Haute-Savoyard who left in mid-March to compete in the American championships at Eldora, Colorado, where part of her family resides. And finally, rediscovering the spark for a sport she has been practicing since the age of 15.
