Norwegian Henrik Kristoffersen finished the first run in 16th but ended the day with his first World Championship slalom title.

Shocking the ski racing world, former US Ski Team member who is skiing for Greece, AJ Ginnis, earns the silver medal and the Italian 23-year-old Alex Vinatzer takes the bronze.

It’s Kristoffersen’s second world title after winning gold in the GS four years ago.

“I didn’t believe it was enough. It was a clean run from the middle part; up there, I thought it was too many mistakes and not fast enough,” the Norwegian said.

“I have won 23 World Cup (slalom) races, I was about 50 times on the podium, but this is my first gold medal. Maybe it’s the right time.”

During the second run, the first of the top slalom skiers to finish with a significant lead was Kristoffersen. However, there were still 15 skiers to compete. At that moment, he had a (-0.62) lead over German Sebastian Holzmann. He began his ascent up the leaderboard, and Kristoffersen watched from the leader’s throne for the next 15 racers before he knew he was champion.

Ginnis Story

For over a decade, Ginnis’s speed has been well known; however, his trouble executing on race day was equally apparent. This season he had scored World Cup points twice, but one of those scores was his first podium a few weeks ago in Chamonix.

“It’s just a dream, the last two weeks. History for Greece and the best moment in my career,” Ginnis said. “I can’t believe it. I don’t know what happened. During the run, I thought it was not enough and I just gave everything in the last gates.”

Ginnis formed his Team Greece three seasons ago before the 2020-21 season. Eventually, he hired his good friend and classmate from Green Mountain Valley School and former US Ski Team teammate Sandy Vietze and Vietze brought on his best friend and teammate from the University of Vermont, Frenchman Gabriel Coulet. Once the members were assembled, they began Ginnis’s slow and steady progress. However, in the summer of 2021, he experienced another season-ending injury which interrupted the program. However, none of the challenges Ginnis has faced in the past had stopped him and the knee injury couldn’t either.

Bronze medalist Italian Alex Vinatzer trained as a teen outside of Innsbrück, Austria, at the Stams Ski Academy. Uniquely, as a developing athlete, he trained with his Stams team in Vail, Colorado as part of a training exchange program organized by then SSCV innovative Executive Director Aldo Radamus. He remembers those camps fondly. The bronze is his first individual World Championship medal but the young Italian has also achieved two World Cup podiums.

First-run leaders struggle

First-run leader Manuel Feller of Austria dropped to seventh. Feller was chasing his country’s first gold medal of the championships two years before Saalbach-Hinterglemm will host the next FIS Alpine World Ski Championships.

Notably, Austria fails for the first time since 1987 to earn a gold medal at the World Championships.

Lucas Braathen shared the second position with Ginnis after the opening run but dropped to seventh, sharing that position with Feller.

Remarkably, the World Championships have delivered another round of surprises. Kristoffersen rose to victory from a 16th-place first run. The former US Ski Team athlete, bib 24. Ginnis, who skied for Dartmouth and manages his Team Greece won silver. And bib 17, Vinatzer, who had dropped out of the seeds this season, takes the bronze. Ginnis earns Greece’s first medal at a world championship in any winter Olympic sport.

Challenging second course

Notably, Germany’s coach Bernt Brunner, a former member of the US Ski Team, set an entirely different second run course, and he provided significantly more offset of the gates (swing) and rhythm variability. Consequently, most of the racers’ slalom skills were tested to determine the world champion. The second run temperatures were warm, but the surface remained excellent because of superb snow preparation and most of the course being in the shade.

The very talented group of Stifel US Alpine Team slalom skiers and Canada’s Erik Read could not find their rhythm in either course. However, this group is every bit as talented as the US group silver medalist AJ Ginnis was previously a member of.

First, run top 30 results and Analysis of the fastest three and North Americans.

Analysis of the fastest three and North Americans

The Associated Press and USST contributed to this report.