Clara Direz first went on skis at the age of one and a half years in the presence of her mother. At the age of six she joined the Club des Sports des Saisies and played her first competitions. She is completing courses in physics, mathematics and mechanics at the University of Joseph Fourier in Grenoble and is aiming for a career as an airplane pilot.
At the age of 15 she competed in her first FIS races in Val Thorens . Shortly afterwards she started in Limone Piemonte in the European Cup and won her first points in her second race. A year later, she took part in the Winter Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck , where she initially lagged behind the medal ranks with fourth and sixth in Super-G and Super Combined . In the giant slalom, she won the gold medal ahead of Estelle Alphand and Jasmina Suter . Five times (2012 to 2016) Direz took part in the Junior World Championships , but was unable to follow up on her success at the youth games. She achieved her best result with ninth place in her first appearance in Roccaraso in 2012 . In her favorite discipline, giant slalom, she didn't get past 13th place in Hafjell 2015 .
On January 26, 2013, before her 18th birthday, she made her World Cup debut in the giant slalom in Maribor , after having won top positions in the European Cup. In the same year she won a bronze medal in giant slalom for the first time at the French championships in Peyragudes . She won World Cup points for the first time in December 2015 when she finished 24th in the giant slalom in Lienz . In the next race in Flachau she was able to write to the same result. At the end of the 2015/16 season, she only had to admit defeat to Adeline Baud-Mugnier at the state slalom championships and won the silver medal. The following winter she won her first European Cup giant slalom in Kvitfjell , but had to end the season prematurely after a fall in which she tore the cruciate ligament and tore the outer meniscus in her left knee.
In her comeback season, Direz contested six giant slaloms in the World Cup and, with 28th place in Lienz, was able to classify himself once in the points. A year later, she managed to score more points and qualified for the 2019 World Championships in Åre , where she finished eighth in the giant slalom. In December 2019, with seventh place in the giant slalom in Lienz , she achieved a World Cup placement among the top ten for the first time. Three weeks later, on January 19, 2020, she surprisingly won the parallel giant slalom in Sestriere , where she prevailed in the final run against the equally surprising Austrian Elisa Mörzinger .
France
