Podiums had been denied him for more than a year in giant slalom, but in one weekend, Alexis Pinturault corrected the situation in the most beautiful way in his favorite discipline. The skier from Courchevel (Savoie) finished third in the event at Kranjska Gora on Sunday March 12, the day after his second place on the Slovenian track.
Like Saturday, it was Marco Odermatt who crossed the line with the shortest stopwatch and won his eleventh win of the winter. Already guaranteed to end the season with a second large crystal globe in a row, the Swiss also added the small specialty globe to his trophy cabinet after this victory.
If the noisy fans present near the finish were hoping for a surprise, they will have been disappointed: like the day before, the favorites held their ranks; only Henrik Kristoffersen and Alexis Pinturault swapped places on the podium.
The Norwegian was probably thinking of climbing another rank after his second run concluded with the best time of the heat. But Marco Odermatt had gained enough margin in the morning to keep thirty-two hundredths ahead of him, and seventy over Alexis Pinturault.
Back to the fore
The 31-year-old Frenchman may regret a last wall during which he returned several tenths to his two rivals. But the important thing was elsewhere this weekend, as he explained on Saturday after his first podium.
"It's almost a relief, we've been looking technically and materially for so long. We didn't take the right car, we ended up picking up the pace, finding the right settings, it took a while. You had to be patient, grit your teeth, and never let go. »
Alexis Pinturault thus confirms his revival, which began at the world championships in Courchevel in February. At the heart of a season without results, the Habs had raised their heads by pocketing the title of world champion in the alpine combined event, the third of their career.
He and his two inseparable friends from the weekend once again demonstrated this Sunday that there was not much room for others when they were hitting the slopes at their best level. Slovenian Zan Kranjec paid the price, finishing "first of the rest", one second and sixty-two hundredths from the gold medal.
