France’s Alexis Pinturault secured the alpine combined crystal globe with a big win in Hinterstoder, Austria, 0.99 seconds ahead of Switzerland’s Mauro Caviezel. Aleksander Kilde finished 1.25 seconds off of Pinturault’s time but was able to hang on to the lead in the race for the overall title. Pinturault’s finish put him just 38 points behind Kilde, enough to keep the standings interesting as the tour heads into a month of uncertainty surrounding the remainder of the World Cup schedule.

Inclimate, warm, and snowy weather in Central Europe has caused multiple race cancellations over the past few weeks, and the spread of the coronavirus in the Veneto and Lombardy region of Northern Italy has caused concerns that World Finals in Cortina is in jeopardy.

“I think I’m as confused as maybe everybody is and it feels that if we can’t make anything this is the situation,” commented Pinturault on the current state of alpine finals, which are still scheduled to be held in Cortina, Italy this March. “The [decision] maybe be coming from FIS, or the [French] Federation, or the government, and we don’t know when it’s coming so we can’t make any decisions. It’s a special and tricky situation, not just for our sport but for the whole world. The risk is quite high for the world. What’s a good decision, it’s hard to say.”

The race for the overall globe is still up in the air, as is the rest of the season’s World Cup schedule, but Pinturault is happy to have secured at least one globe prior to finals.

“It’s quite hard when you have only so many races to win this globe because you can’t make any mistakes, otherwise, you have no chance to win it, it’s not a discipline where you have little room,” said Pinturault.

Once again conditions were variable in Hinterstoder, but the race got underway all the same. Kilde was one of the few guys that crashed during Saturday’s super G. Fortunately, he was not injured. Thomas Dressen, on the other hand, reportedly dislocated both of his shoulders during his crash, but somehow still managed to ski to the bottom of the course on his own accord. In comparison to Dressen, Kilde felt fortunate to have walked away, able to ski in the alpine combined on Sunday.

“The crash yesterday, it really hurt, not just physically but also mentally, but it’s part of the game,” said Kilde. “You crash sometimes and you lose sometimes and sometimes you win. In the end, 1,082 points makes me happy overall about how the season has gone so far and I should not complain.

The best American finisher of the day was Ryan Cochran-Siegle in 18th, followed by Bryce Bennett in 21st. Both men had impressive super G runs. Going into the slalom, Bennett had been sitting in ninth, and Cochran-Siegle had been sitting in 11th. Ted Ligety competed in the super G but opted not to start in the slalom.

Looking ahead, the men’s tour has one last show at the downhill and super G in Kjvitfell, Norway March 7th, and 8th before World Finals. The women, on the other hand, will have an off weekend, as the Ofterschwang races have not been rescheduled. Their next competition will take place in Are, Sweden from March 13th to March 14th.

Men’s Alpine Combined Top 10

• 1. Alexis Pinturault (FRA): 2:04.90
• 2. Mauro Caviezel (SUI): +0.99
• 3. Aleksander Aadmodt Kilde (NOR): +1.25
• 4. Kjetil Jansrud (NOR): +1.41
• 5. Riccardo Tonetti (ITA): +1.45
• 6. Matthias Mayer (AUT): +2.07
• 6. Victor Muffat-Jeandet (FRA): +2.07
• 8. Marco Schwarz (AUT): +2.59
• 9. Loic Meillard (SUI): +2.83
• 10. Pavel Trikhichev (RUS): +2.99

For full results, click here.