The skier from Courchevel, titled in combined on Tuesday, won the first medal for the French team during these world championships in alpine skiing, disputed at home.
He won gold at home. This is the successful feat, Tuesday, February 7, by Alexis Pinturault. The child from Courchevel, crowned world champion in the combined in his resort, was still struggling to realize when he exploded with joy on the arrival area of the Eclipse, the now famous track that has become the scene of his dreams. Two hours later, the French skier was obviously very relaxed when he looked back on his exceptional performance.
Alexis, how do you feel after this combined victory?
Alexis Pinturault: It’s quite incredible, especially after my somewhat difficult start to the season. I obviously had the determination and the desire to give the best of myself for this event, the desire to go as far ahead as possible, but I had to be realistic because I only got one podium this winter. I am regularly in the first six or seven but almost never on the box.
Going for a gold medal on this combined, it was a bit unexpected. Especially after the last two slaloms in Schladming and Kitzbühel where I didn’t qualify in the second run. That’s also why it’s special. I have had these Courchevel Worlds in mind for a very long time, but there is a big difference between having this great motivation and this energy, and then being able to build something on the previous results, and therefore the confidence that goes with it. .
How have you built, especially in recent hours, this success at home?
I really wanted to take advantage of this fortnight in front of my audience, in my station, in front of my family and my friends. For me, it was the most important, to be able to enjoy this atmosphere. And also to take advantage of this chance to have Worlds in France because I know that this only happens once in a career, and especially in my village. It’s a chance that is not given to many athletes so I also wanted to surf on it, it was not an additional pressure.
Besides, maybe my start to the season helped me. If I had arrived as one of the favorites in France, people would automatically have expected even more of me, and that’s normal. There, I arrived in a situation where I did not do much so it may be easier too [rires]. Even if the will to do well has always been present.
Do you feel like you’re done with these two complicated years since you won the big crystal globe in 2021?
In any case, it’s since this big globe that I hadn’t been back on the top step of the podium. [le 20 mars 2021, sur le géant de Lenzerheide]. I don’t know if I’m done, but in any case, today, I managed to fit everything I could do at the time.
“I clearly felt that ‘old’, as I’m getting old, was still good!”
Alexis Pinturault, double world champion in the alpine combinedat Franceinfo: sports
The fact that it is here at home in Courchevel, is it ultimately the greatest victory of your career?
If we talk about victory, and of a single event, we can say that it is my best career victory. It is full of history. I win at the world championships in France, and what’s more in my resort… So it adds a kind of extra soul.
