We imagined another final for these world championships in alpine skiing in Courchevel and Méribel (Savoie). The tricolor Olympic champion Clément Noël indeed missed the slalom podium by nothing this Sunday. The Norwegian Henrik Kristoffersen took the opportunity to triumph over the Greek AJ Ginnis, author of a historic performance. For a dust of time, namely three hundredths, the Vosges skier at the same time missed a great opportunity to finish the Worlds in style in front of an enthusiastic public. The regrets are great for the 25-year-old athlete, author of a fault which made him fall back to eighth place in the first round.
Solid without being brilliant on a difficult second course, he saw the bronze medal go to the Italian Alex Vinatzer. “Three hundredths is very, very little, I could have found them almost everywhere, especially in the first run, commented Clément Noël after the race. There must be a fourth. It’s a shame it’s me, because we’re in France, the public was really there. It was a crazy atmosphere and the icing on the cake is missing. »
Pinturault, the only tricolor medalist at the Worlds
This frustrating performance resembles the season of the French skier, who has only finished four of the ten races he has contested this winter. “In the last two stages of the World Cup, the skiing was pretty good. Frankly, if I don’t make a mistake in the first run, I’m one of the first, ”he wanted to remember.
The Blues leave their Worlds with only two medals, won by Alexis Pinturault (combined gold, super-G bronze) in the first week. If he only took 20th place in the slalom this Sunday, “Pintu” therefore saved the French team from experiencing a disastrous sports record.