Murisier just off the podium – Olympic gold in the station wagon: Strolz follows his father – sport

What a story! 34 years after his father Hubert, Johannes Strolz also became Olympic champion in combined. Justin Murisier is fourth.

The medals

• 1. Johannes Strolz (AUT) 2:31.43 minutes
• 2. Aleksander Kilde (NOR) +0.59
• 3.James Crawford (CAN) +0.68

In 1988 Hubert Strolz won Olympic gold in Calgary in the alpine combination. 34 years later, son Johannes followed suit. The sensational winner of the Adelboden slalom won well ahead of Aleksander Kilde and James Crawford thanks to an amazing descent and a strong slalom.

Strolz finished the descent in an excellent 4th place, losing just 0.75 seconds to Kilde. Strolz, who was on the downhill skis of Super-G Olympic champion Matthias Mayer, said after the first half of the combination: “Mayer’s skis are going like hell.” And the 29-year-old also said between the two runs: “I’m trying to fill in my father’s huge footsteps.” He filled them in perfectly.

Kilde, who started the slalom first, won his second medal in Beijing after winning bronze in the super-G. James Crawford landed a real coup by winning the bronze medal. The Canadian speed specialist – never on the podium in the World Cup – put on an amazing slalom and missed silver by just 0.09 seconds. Four years ago in Pyeongchang, Crawford had finished the combination in 20th place.

The Swiss

• 4. Justin Murisier +0.86
• OUT in slalom: Loïc Meillard
• OUT in slalom: Luca Aerni
• OUT on the descent: Yannick Chabloz

Little was missing for a Swiss medal. In the end, Justin Murisier was 0.18 seconds behind the bronze medal. The giant slalom crack put everything on one card in the slalom as sixth downhill (1.02 behind Kilde). The Valaisian was able to catch up with Crawford by 0.82 seconds. But that was a bit too little. Murisier would have been the 6th overall Swiss medalist in the men’s combined event.

The other Swiss disappointed. Boy Yannick Chabloz fell on the descent and broke his arm. Loïc Meillard (17th) and Luca Aerni (20th) lost a lot of time in the morning and thus practically lost their chances of winning a medal. In the slalom, both went “all in” with high numbers – and were eliminated. Murisier is the only Swiss figure in the classification.

Here’s how to proceed

The men’s giant slalom is on the program on Sunday. Already on Friday the women contest the Olympia-Super-G.