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Alexander Schmid during his first run
Photo: Alexander Hassenstein / Getty Images
Ski racer Alexander Schmid missed a historic German World Cup medal due to a failure in the giant slalom.
After the first run in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, the 26-year-old was unable to finish his third place in the final - he was eliminated on the icy slope due to a driving error.
Schmid could have provided a German for the second giant slalom medal at a world championship.
Markus Wasmeier won the only gold medal so far in 1985 in Bormio.
At the same time, the German Ski Association (DSV) was denied the fifth medal at the World Cup.
Because top favorite Alexis Pinturault was also eliminated as the fastest after the first run and other favorites also failed, three surprise athletes came on the podium.
Pinturault's French compatriot Mathieu Faivre won his second gold medal after the parallel event.
Silver went to Luca de Aliprandini from Italy, ahead of the Austrian combined world champion Marco Schwarz.
"Very bitter," said Schmid when he reached the finish area: "It takes some time to digest." Before that, he had already missed a medal in fourth place in the parallel race.
As a consolation, he has bronze with the team.
"I'm really sorry for Alex"
As the second German giant slalom starter in Cortina, Stefan Luitz came in seventh place (+1.99 seconds).
"I'm really sorry for Alex," said Luitz.
"He really did it, he drives an incredibly fast turn."
On a very difficult and long course, Schmid surprised with third place in the first run, only Pinturault and de Aliprandini were faster.
"That was a fight from top to bottom," he said afterwards on ZDF.
Before the finale, he tried to stay cool.
"I just want to have fun and show my skiing."
The German ski team has four World Championship medals: In the first week Romed Baumann (Super-G), Kira Weidle (Downhill) and Andreas Sander (Downhill) each won silver.
On Thursday the technicians cheered Schmid over bronze in the team event.
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mon / dpa