Alpine Ski Worlds: Alexis Pinturault towards a new feat?

Our special correspondent in Courchevel

The famous click.

Since winning the big crystal globe on March 20, 2021, Alexis Pinturault had not tasted victory, whether in the World Cup or the Olympic Games.

And then on Tuesday, all it took was a combined organized a few hundred meters from home, on the Eclipse in Courchevel, for the Frenchman to rise from the ashes and win the third world title of his career, the second individually. .

At 31, after a particularly delicate 2021-2022 season during which, by his own admission, he had hit rock bottom, Alexis Pinturault returned to the spotlight at the best time, during world championships organized in his resort.

But this coronation in combined could well be only a magnificent aperitif for the future.

Indeed, this Thursday, the Frenchman tackles the second of his five works – if he takes part in the parallel next Tuesday, which he has not yet confirmed – which await him in Courchevel.

Namely the super G. An event where he was particularly brilliant on Tuesday during the first round of the combined by signing the best time, far ahead of certain specialists such as Vincent Kriechmayr (relegated to more than half a second), Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (rejected over

The super-G is a discipline where I have fun, where I have managed to get good results since the start of the season.

Alexis Pinturault

Something to whet your appetite when you set off on the 11:30 a.m. beats?

Cautious, the French refused to ignite two days ago.

Well aware of coming back from far enough not to see yourself already arrived.

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French world champions

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What is certain, as he suggested, is that the super-G is undoubtedly the discipline in which he has shone the most since the start of the season.

Not just because that's where he landed his only winter World Cup podium so far, in Beaver Creek (a 3rd place), but also because he finished 5th in Bormio and 6th in Cortina d'Ampezzo.

A consistency that earned him 4th place in the standings.

Far behind the ogre Odermatt and his four successes, of course.

But behind the Swiss and Kilde, winner of the other stages, Pinturault has plenty of resources to run for at least the third step of the podium.

As he did two years ago in Cortina d'Ampezzo, when he won the bronze in the super-G behind the Austrian Kriechmayr and the

German Romed Baumann.

Which would allow him to add another line to his formidable record with a seventh individual world medal to his credit.

And to definitively confirm his return to the fore before a second week of competition where a giant (Friday February 17) and a slalom (Sunday February 19) await him.