Alexis Pinturault. Photo: GEPA pictures.
COURCHEVEL, France — First-run leader Alexis Pinturault held on to win the gold medal in the men’s combined Tuesday at his home world championships.
The slalom course for the men’s alpine combined was very challenging. The top was steep and the bottom is very tight and tricky. No one was able to finish without challenge.
The first skier on the course was the hometown hero, 31-year-old Alexis Pinturault. He won in front of the French crowd in his hometown. He delivered the fastest super-G and was third fastest in the slalom to win his second World Championship combined of his career.
Pinturault is a Courchevel native and his family is running a hotel close to the L’Eclipse course. He previously won the world title in 2019, but was beaten to gold by Schwarz two years later. He also took Olympic silver in 2018.
“In my village, where I live, to win a gold medal here, that will be a super memory,” Pinturault said after earning his 10th career medal, and third gold, from major championships.
“A perfect day, a super performance in the super-G and also a good performance in the slalom. For me, this is a sensational day.”
The Frenchman has been struggling this season, with a third place from a super-G in Beaver Creek in early December his only podium result.
“It’s amazing what’s coming out today and I hope to enjoy it because it was pretty difficult some months ago,” Pinturault said
Pinturault’s primary competition going into the final run was Austrian Marco Schwarz. Schwarz started the slalom with a (+0.06) deficit and looked to have taken the lead with only the last tricky gates to ski. However, Schwarz struggled and ended the day second (+0.10).
Just like Pinturault, Schwarz also had only one top-three result on the circuit.
He trailed the Frenchman by just 0.06 after the super-G portion, but won time on every split in the slalom until near the end of his run.
“I had a little mistake before the finish line but all in all it was a good day,” Schwarz said. “I lost gold right before the finish. But I made it to the finish and am happy with my silver medal.”
Schwarz has a medal of every color after bronze in 2019 and gold in 2021. “I’m pretty happy about that,” he said.
Notably, Schwarz’s teammate, Raphael Hasser, whose sister was third in the women’s event, was third in the men’s. The super-G/GS specialist surprised many with a good slalom run on a challenging course. In his first appearance at an elite World Championships, Hasser earned the third Austrian podium in the first two days. The Hassers became the first sibling duo to earn medals at a World Championships since the Kostelic siblings in 2003.
Skiing well in both disciplines, USA’s River Radamus earned fourth place. Radamus was able to make up time on the winner in the slalom, but missed the podium by (+0.25).
“It’s nice, but honestly, you don’t come to world championships hoping to get fourth,” Radamus said.
Two of the pre-race favorites, Atle Lie McGrath (fifth) and Loic Meillard (sixth), were fastest in the slalom but could not overcome their super-G time deficits.
Today the podium was decided and the drama was over after the first three racers finished the slalom. It will certainly add to the questions about the validity of alpine combined. Today 22 racers finished with a time differential of (+22.07) among them.
Result of the men’s alpine combined and Analysis of podium winners and North Americans
Analysis of the fastest three and North Americans
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This is a developing story, stay tuned for updates.
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