The Norwegian Henrik Kristoffersen, who advanced 15 places between sleeves to win the slalom, signed the great comeback of the Alpine Ski World Championships in Courchevel and Méribel (France), which concluded this Sunday with the ‘bombshell’ starring Alexander AJ Ginnis, who , by capturing silver, achieved the first medal in history for Greece in the beautiful winter sport.
Kristoffersen, 28, who was proclaimed giant world champion four years ago, had celebrated 23 of his 30 victories in the World Cup in slalom -in which he won the Crystal Ball three times-, but he did not count among his successes a great title in his best discipline; the one he achieved this Sunday, by winning the last round of some championships that closed on the L’Eclipse de Courchevel track, in which he improved Ginnis by two tenths -who maintained the surprising position he had achieved in the first round- and in 38 hundredths the Italian Alex Vinatzer, who captured the bronze medal.
The victory of the Norwegian, who from this season competes with the new brand of skis that until recently was one of his almost unbeatable rivals, the Austrian Marcel Hirscher, absolute record holder of global victories in the World Cup -eight, in a row-, It also meant another comeback: that of Norway, which advanced three places and finished second in the medal table of the forty-seventh edition of the Alpine Ski World Championships, led by Switzerland.
The Austrian Manuel Feller, minimizing his hip problems, led the test after the first round, covering the 61 gates of the hard L’Eclipse de Courchevel track -with a start at 1,485 meters and a drop of 205- with thirteen hundredths over the Norwegian Lucas Braathen, leader of the World Cup in the discipline, and AJ Ginnis who, with the same time, shared the provisional second place.
Braathen, who only three weeks ago had to undergo emergency surgery for appendicitis in Zell am See (Austria) and who skipped the giant in order to reserve himself for this Sunday, proved to be at his best and was left with the provisional second place shared with the skier from Athens; that in Chamonix (France), in the last slalom before the World Cups, he had become, by finishing second, the first Greek to get on a World Cup podium.
Ginnis was once again among the best, with the number 24, in the first round. And he ended up making history again, by becoming the first skier of Greek nationality to win a medal in a World Cup. Almost everyone would have bet on him to stay out of the podium among the four that occupied the first four positions after the first round; But the opposite happened. And AJ was the only one who went up to the drawer.
The German Linus Strasser, at 14 hundredths, who occupied the provisional fourth place, finished ninth; and Braathen and Feller shared the final seventh place.
The Norwegian Sebastian Foss-Solevaag, who defended the title achieved two years ago at the Italian resort of Cortina d’Ampezzo, was fifth, 35 hundredths behind, before finishing nineteenth in a test in which mental strength was key. And in that section, Kristoffersen and Ginnis more than proved to deserve the gold and silver.
Three Swiss were the first to hit the track. Loic Meillard, who had won silver in the giant on Friday, went off course at the third gate; Daniel Yule -1.37 behind Feller- was practically throwing in the towel; and Ramon Zenhäusern, Olympic silver medalist in Pyeongchang (Korea) five years ago and winner in Chamonix, set the twelfth time on the first downhill, before sharing ninth place with Strasser.
The French Clement Noel, Olympic slalom champion last year at the Beijing Games and, therefore, one of the favorites in the most open test of all the championships, occupied, after a small error in the middle part, eighth place , at 64 hundredths: behind Vinatzer -sixth, at 44; and that he would end up celebrating the podium- and the Austrian Fabio Gstrein -at 56-.
Marco Schwarz, who in the French Savoy had won bronze in the giant and silver in the combined, shared ninth provisional place with the Italian Tommaso Sala, at 71 hundredths. Sixth in the super-giant and fourth in the descent, ‘Blacky’ moved up three places to finish sixth, as the best Austrian, completing some outstanding World Cups.
Kristoffersen did not go from sixteenth, to nine tenths, despite starting, on paper as one of the favourites. But in the second sleeve he starred not only in the comeback of the event, but also in all the World Cups.
The first valid reference in the second round was set by the Croatian Filip Zubcic, who would finish eleventh. Kristoffersen improved Zubcic’s partial, with which he ended up being the fastest in the decisive act; and he arrived provisionally leading the race with the best eight to go.
Neither Noel, nor Gstrein, nor Vinatzer improved the Nordic. Neither did his compatriot Foss-Solevaag, nor Strasser. And Braathen was flying, but he missed in the last third of the track.
There were only two left at the gate and Kristoffersen already had a medal secured. Though he didn’t know what metal he would be.
Giannis did not improve on the Norwegian, but he was satisfied with having made history twice in less than a month; and tonight he will burn France. And Feller, who got the better of the pressure, served third place, on a bronze platter, to the Italian Vinatzer, who also climbed a podium in which euphoria overflowed.
