Alexis Pinturault wins today in Lech Zürs his 30th World Cup Race after defeating Henrik Kristoffersen in the Big Final by 0.11 seconds. After scoring the second-fastest time in the qualifications, Pinturault managed to overcome all his opponents, prevailing on Alexander Schmid (GER) in the semi-final and on the Norwegian rival in the final. Pinturault is the first skier to win a World Cup Race in six different disciplines.
With today's victory, Pinturault extended her lead in the overall standings, having scored 150 points.
“If you talk about the victory and the race today, it is something really great”, Pinturault said. “It was pretty good, it was going so fast that you have no time to think about it. You have to focus on your race and on your runs".
The Frenchman is now ranked 10th place in the all-time winners' list in the Men's World Cup history, overtaking Stephan Eberharter. Next on the list is American skier Bode Miller with 33 wins. Pinturault is also the most successful active male skier since record eight-time overall champion Marcel Hirscher retired in 2019 after winning 67 races.
Henrik Kristoffersen skied at a great level throughout the whole evening. In the final, he lost the first leg by 0.16s and could only make up 0.05s in the second leg; not enough to take the victory.
“Today was good for me, I am very satisfied with the race”, said Kristoffersen but the Norwegian repeated his earlier criticism of the format, calling the courses too straightforward, “If you have racers competing so close to each other, you cannot work with rolls or jumps. If you see the slalom in Kitzbuehel, the downhill in Kitzbuehel, or the giant slalom in Adelboden, there is so much terrain and you have to ski in the flats and in the steep parts. But the Parallel is made for the show".
Alex Schmid beat Adrian Pertl from Austria in the Small Final. It's his second podium in the World Cup after his third position in Chamonix in the Parallel Gian Slalom last season.
His strong performance tonight in Lech Zürs enabled him to confirm that he is one of the best specialists in this discipline.
The Men's tour will head now to Santa Caterina Valfurva (ITA), after the cancelation of the races in Val d'Isere, with two Giant Slalom events set to take place next weekend.
Comments