Alexis Pinturault raced to his third consecutive Alpine Ski World Cup Giant Slalom victory today in Adelboden. While yesterday was "relatively easy" for the Frenchman, today was more of a challenge as he sat in second place after the first run behind Loic Melliard. But a flawless second run pushed Pinturault to the victory.
"I am very happy to get these two wins here in Adelboden (...) It was for sure very difficult today. Loic had such a strong first run that I knew I had to push hard in the second run but it was really quite difficult, it was really dark today, even later compared to yesterday, but I could manage it and I'm really proud of it", Pinturault said.
I’m happy with how I’m skiing, but it’s a long break until the next Giant Slalom at the World Championships in Cortina", Pinturault added.
For Pinturault, today was his third career Giant Slalom victory in Adelboden. Most notably, today was Pinturault’s 33rd career World Cup victory matching American Bode Miller in ninth place on the Men’s all-time list.
“I’m pretty proud of it,” said Pinturault, whose ski technician, Guntram Mathis, used to work with Miller. “It brings something really special into the story".
Pinturault now leads the Giant Slalom standings and also extended his lead in the World Cup overall points race ahead of Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, the defending champion. Kilde’s results – fifth today, after being fourth the day before– were impressive for the speed race specialist.
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For a second straight day, he finished ahead of a consistent Filip Zubcic, who was closer today, finishing 1.26 seconds off the winning pace.
The leader of the first run Loic Meillard was very lucky to hang on for third place as he had a big mistake at the middle section of the course but recovered and hung on for his third career giant slalom podium.
There was a dark moment in today’s race as American Tommy Ford suffered a hard crash just before the finish line. He crashed out, losing his balance, flipping over, and hitting his head on the hard snow. hitting his head on the hard snow. He had to be transported to Bern by helicopter for further evaluation.
But the good news on Tommy Ford soon filtered through that he was conscious and responsive:
"Tommy Ford is conscious and has been taken to the hospital for evaluation. He was talking to emergency responders when they loaded him", Tweeted the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team.
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