Not very successful since the start of the season – only a single podium gleaned this winter in the World Cup during the Beaver Creek super-G – then feverish and cold last weekend, Alexis Pinturault did not show up at the start of the combined Worlds in the best conditions, this Tuesday, February 7. But, at home, in Courchevel (Savoie), where the 31-year-old skier cut his teeth, the Frenchman responded on the Eclipse track by winning the super-G this morning, before finishing first in the from the slalom, in front of two Austrians, Marco Schwarz, combined world champion in 2021, and Raphael Haser.
“I find it hard to realize… (…) I was extremely determined since I arrived here. I had only one idea in mind, to flourish on these World Championships, to try, to push, to give the maximumreacted, moved, Alexis Pinturault at the microphone of France Télévisions. I knew how lucky it was [de concourir à domicile]. »
After his first place in the super-G, Alexis Pinturault explained: “Sport smiles on the bold so you have to try to be. (…) It’s extremely tight, especially with Marco Schwarz, who is probably a better slalom specialist than me. » After his morning victory, Alexis Pinturault already felt on his neck the breath of Marco Schwarz, second only six hundredths behind at the end of the super-G.
Third slalom time
To win his second world title in the combined after that of Are (Sweden) in 2019, the Savoyard, vice-world champion in the discipline in 2021, worked on the slalom at the start of the afternoon, who, however, has not even managed to qualify for the second rounds of the discipline on the World Cup circuit in recent weeks. Starting just after the Frenchman, Marco Schwarz, who counted up to 30 hundredths ahead in the first part of the route, cracked a few meters from the line. The other skiers then set off with too many disbursements to hope to catch up on Alexis Pinturault.
In the cumulative time of the two events of the day, “Pintu” – third time in the slalom, 53 hundredths from the Norwegian Atle Lie McGrath – retained first place, synonymous with the gold medal, the first for the Habs at these Worlds ” home “.
After two checkered seasons, this title relaunched the career of the Savoyard, with 34 World Cup victories, three Olympic medals and six individual world medals, the greatest record of French skiing.
He also launches perfectly these Worlds of Courchevel-Méribel (until February 19) for the French team. Next meetings, Wednesday February 8, with the women’s super-G, and Thursday February 9, with the men’s super-G, where Alexis Pinturault, very regular this winter in the discipline, will be a credible candidate for the podium. At the microphone of France-Télévisions, Tuesday, the Courchevel skier recalled his “extreme determination”. His victory in the combined has no doubt already relieved him of enormous pressure.