Jett Seymour scoring his first World Cup point: Photo GEPA

February 4th, CHAMONIX, France: The Swiss dominated the podium. Ramon Zenhaeusern won and his teammate Daniel Yule finished third. However, the day’s story is former US Ski Team Athlete skiing for Greece AJ Ginnis. Ginnis skied today with bib 45 and ended the day second. The other two athletes in the top five were Norwegians Alte Lie McGrath and Sebastian Foss-Solevaag. 

Zenhaeusern finished 1.02 seconds ahead of Ginnis, who became the first skier from Greece to earn a World Cup podium.

Olympic champion Clement Noel, who led after the first run, and Norwegian favorite Henrik Kristoffersen straddled gates and failed to finish their second run.

AJ Ginnis

Former US Ski Team athlete who skis for Greece, AJ Ginis, ran 8th and used outstanding athleticism and strong transitions to cross with a significant lead. Using the fastest second run, Ginnis held his lead for the following 21 starters. The very talented Ginnis ends the race in 2nd place and scores World Cup points for only the fourth time in his career. He had accumulated a total of 40 World Cup points in his previous three top 30 results, today he scored 80.

Ginnis answered the question of what went through his mind crossing the second run finish line with a green light indicating a lead. The Answer was simple, “finally.” He had heard from his coach about the more difficult sections of the course but felt he had no difficulties. He had wondered immediately after finishing, before seeing the green light, if he hadn’t taken enough risk. However, then Ginnis realized he had a massive lead. He also knew some of the world’s best were in the finish, and many of the world’s best were yet to come.

Ginnis added, “Then people started finishing, and it’s not even close. They kept losing all their time advantage by the third split. And I was like, oh my. I’m just sitting there, dumbfounded, and then Yule comes down four hundredths behind, and then it hits me. I knew I was on the podium. I also knew that first-run leader Noel was still at the top and I thought he would push me to third, but when he straddled, I only felt insanity. My only thought was, okay, I guess this is real.”

Stifel US Alpine Team

Stifel US Alpine Team member Jett Seymour scored the first World Cup points of his career. Seymour has experienced significant Europa Cup success but has struggled through 26 World Cup starts to finally achieve at the elite level. Steamboat Springs’s Seymour, a University of Denver All-American, skied the challenging second run course with an aggressive athletic approach and crossed into 2nd place. Seymour scores his first World Cup points and ends the day in 7th. Luke Winters was the first Stifel US Alpine Team member to ski the second run and although he skied well, he crossed into 5th place but was able to end the race in 12th. 

Seymour responded, when asked about his first World Cup points, “I’m still decompressing. I’m still pretty nervous, honestly, for the run, but I’m pretty stoked and I don’t really know. Seymour added, “I’ve been skiing,well the last two years and it just hasn’t come together and I’ve had to push through a lot of mental struggles and I wouldn’t be able to do it without Ben and Luke and, and all my coaches over the last two years. I tried to stay as patient as possible and I’m just, I’m very excited that I was finally able to put one together. 

Luke Winters has led the US Slalom team for the last three seasons but he didn’t have much to say about his 12th place but was excited for Seymour. “Jett Seymour went from bib 59 to top 10 and scored his first World Cup points, So hell yeah. That’s all I gotta say.”

The second run was a thorough test of skills

As the final run first skier, Britains Laurie Taylor descended the course; it was evident that the Austrian course setter had designed a more complex second run. His racers struggled on the more straightforward first course, so a different approach was expected. Notably, the Austrian course was a comprehensive skill test. The excellent snow conditions created opportunities for all the qualified competitors. However, unlike the first run finish rate, only 23% of the 30 final run racers, seven total, did not finish. 

Slalom standings after Chamonix

Lucas Braathen, who leads the discipline standings, sat out the race after undergoing surgery for appendicitis this week. The Norwegian is doubtful for the world championships, where the men’s slalom is the closing event on Feb 19.

Braathen had his lead in the slalom standings reduced to 36 points over Yule, while Kristofferen is 41 points behind in third.

Analysis of the fastest three: North Americans and results

Results from the February 4th Chamonix slalom

The Associate Press assisted on this article