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WATERSKI MagazineHe smiles often. His father, his dog, his wife, all bring a thin crease of teeth to the face of Patrice Martin, one of the greatest – and possibly last – traditional overall skiers in history. The frequent grin might surprise people who only see the tournament-psyched Frenchman on World Cup weekends.
On his smallish skis, Martin has built a reputation as the most autonomous athlete in the sport, if not the best. (He's favored to win an unprecedented fifth world overall title in September.) Yet Martin, one of three active skiers on this top 10 list, has spent all of the past 20 years scaling an endless wall to the other side, where his greatness might be acknowledged.
“I don't mind what people say about me,” says Martin. “I know what I have to do to win. If I had to die to win a world championship, I would die.”
This is the kind of comment that perpetuates Martin's me-against-the-world image. It's something he started to develop when he set a world tricks record at age 11 and approached the French Water Skiing Federation expecting pats on the head.
“They said I had to win a world championship,” remembers Martin. He won the first of his four world championships in tricks four years later. On the victory stand in Toronto, the then-5-foot-tall Martin stood on the top step, but still had to look up at the second- and third-place finishers. The reaction back home?
“I was told you have to be an overall skier to be considered the best.”
Martin became obsessed. He punished himself in the slalom course and on the ramp, then won the 1984 European overall championship, knocking off then-king Mike Hazelwood. Europe is nice, the French skiing governors said, but it's no world championship.
“If I want to do something,” says Martin, “I will do it. I don't need someone to tell me to do it.”
In 1989 Martin won his first world overall title, and he hasn't relinquished the crown since. There was a close call in 1995 when he dislocated his elbow three weeks before the Worlds in France. Four days before the tournament, Martin couldn't hold the handle through a single slalom turn. When his name was called, Martin, in great pain, ran 38 and then, needing a wake-7-front in tricks to ensure the overall crown – something he hadn't done since before the injury – he pulled it out.
“Some say I should get out on top,” says Martin, who last year broke the world record in tricks for the 20th time, became the ninth man ever to get into the 41-off slalom pass and came within 2 feet of jumping 200. “But there's nothing that says I can't improve.”
His smile turns into a hearty laugh. A few bystanders glance at him. They recognize one of the greatest skiers ever, having fun. – Robert Stephens
