Pinturault finally golden in alpine combined

Dominik Paris, Ryan Cochran-Siegle and Aleksander Aamodt Kilde led the first run as the top three downhillers. The start of the downhill had to be moved down to the super-G reserve start due to the windy conditions. In the slalom run, the race’s top ten saw a complete makeover.  

Stefan Hadalin from Slovenia, was in 30^thposition after downhill, 1.88 seconds behind leading Dominik Paris. The first racer to ski the slalom run, he took the lead and kept it until Alexis Pinturault.

Pinturault, who has been in stellar shape this winter, was 24^thafter Run 1, 1.52 behind Paris. In the slalom finish, he took the lead from Stefan Hadalin who had the fastest slalom run. He ended up spending a long while in the leader’s chair watching his competitors fail to beat his time. Finally, it was the Frenchman who clinched gold. 

–     This gold means a lot of time and a lot of hard work and I am really happy to win today. It was a long and hard day with a happy finish, said Pinturault. 

The rest of the racers could not beat Pinturault and Hadalin’s times. However, Marco Schwarz, from Austria, sitting in 21^stafter the downhill, finished 3^rdand won the bronze medal. As a result, all medals went to slalom specialists.  

–     It’s unbelievable. I cannot describe how I feel, I am just so happy. I did not think I would win a medal when I was skiing slalom but I said to myself that I would take this chance, and I made it, said Stefan Hadalin, who won his first medal.

Marco Schwarz has, as Pinturault, been in great form before Åre 2019 and claimed his first Championships medal. A great start for the tech week for the Austrian.

–     It was definitely a great start for the week, I am really happy to win a medal in the first competion, said Schwarz. 

Dominik Paris, leader after the downhill finished 9^th. Kilde finished 22^ndand Cochran-Siegle 18^th.