Marion Thénault still proud despite just missing Olympic aerials super final
After placing seventh in her Olympic debut four years ago, Marion Thénault was aiming for a spot in the women’s aerials super final at Milano Cortina 2026.
The 25-year-old came just short of that goal, however, placing seventh in the first final round and missing out on the top six placement she needed to advance by just 2.04 points.
“I’m disappointed, obviously, not to be in the super final. Yes, it’s hard because I know I’m capable, but I landed a little too deep on my full-full-full and my layout full-full in the final. So it’s my fault, but it’s unfortunate,” Thénault said candidly.
Qualifications scheduled for Tuesday were postponed to Wednesday due to weather conditions. Right from the start, Thénault made her mark, executing a back full-full-full, a triple twisting triple back somersault. Her score of 108.61 put her atop the qualification rankings heading into the first final featuring the top 12 competitors.
That meant she was the last athlete to drop in for the first final, in which each aerialist would do two jumps with only their best score counting. She earned 103.89 points for her opening jump, which wasn’t enough to secure a place in the super final, as other skiers increased their degree of difficulty compared to qualifications.
A strong score on her second jump, which carried a lower degree of difficulty, could still have been enough to move her into the top six.
“You have no choice but to trust yourself. When you’re at the top, you can’t doubt or ask whether it’ll be enough. That’s not something I can allow myself to think about. So yes, I was confident. It was very good in the air. I just landed a little deep, but it wasn’t impossible,” Thénault explained.
“You’re not allowed to repeat the same jump. I didn’t want to attempt something I’d never done before, so I had to go with a simpler jump. If I had landed it better, I probably would’ve been sixth.”
She said she wasn’t distracted by the high scores posted by her competitors.
“I don’t really watch them. In any case, I know what I’m capable of. I don’t pay too much attention because it’s not useful in my preparation to know what scores are being given. I really focus on my own performance.”
The two jumps she performed in the final had very different degrees of difficulty. Thénault briefly summed up her strategy of opening with her triple: “I prefer to go all-in right from the start. It’s a personal preference.”
The 101.90 points she received for her laid out double twisting double somersault were not enough to advance to the super final.
Seventh for the second consecutive Olympic Games, Thénault did not hide her disappointment.
“I definitely had higher expectations for these Games. I was disappointed to finish seventh in Beijing, and I’m disappointed to finish seventh here. It’s so close to the super final again. But I’m proud of myself.”
At the conclusion of the super final, two Chinese athletes reached the podium, with Xu Mengtao winning gold and Shao Qi taking bronze. Australia’s Danielle Scott earned silver.
The Olympic Games are not over for Thénault, who will compete in the mixed team aerials event on Saturday. Four years ago at Beijing 2022, Thénault, Lewis Irving and Miha Fontaine captured bronze in the event, which was making its Olympic debut at the time.
