The Norwegian achieved the double on Sunday by beating the solid Briton Dave Ryding, author of a breathtaking second run (at 35/100), and the German Linus Strasser (at 47/100).

On the French side, Alexis Pinturault for his part took 12th place, oscillating between the impatience to return as quickly as possible to his best level and the satisfaction of gradually regaining his feelings.

For Clément Noël, the failure of Garmisch destroys his chances of aiming for the small crystal globe of the specialty, since he is now 179 points behind Kristoffersen, the new leader of the Specialty World Cup.

This failure seemed hard to swallow for a boy who will celebrate his Olympic gold medal in Val d'Isère on Tuesday: "I don't really understand," he said, visibly dejected.

"It's often been like that this winter, it's not easy to accept at the time."

The track of the first round, shiny by the frost of the night, was not however to scare him: "It was snow, a track and conditions which could suit me, he admitted, I got off to a good start, I had a good grip and good sensations, and just in one gate I let go a little early, I jump, and I get inside the next gate... the problem is is that it happens to me often."

Pinturault's "pink"

The day before, he had gone out in the second run, after having straddled a stake, and had already admitted not understanding the reasons for his lack of sensations.

Was Beijing's gold medal just a ray of sunshine in a rather gray winter?

After his inaugural victory on his slopes in Val d'Isère in December, the Vosges no longer climbed on a World Cup podium.

He still has a slalom in Austria, in Flachau, on March 9 to regain his confidence, before the week of the finals where he will ski in front of his supporters, from March 14 to 20 in Courchevel/Méribel.

Alexis Pinturault, he is slowly regaining his feelings, still far from the level which made him the winner of the World Cup last season: "I could potentially hope for better than 12th place, he said on Sunday, but when I look closely and analyze, not everything is to be thrown away (…) in these two days, even if they are gray, there is still a lot of pink.

Frenchman Alexis Pinturault during the Garmisch-Partenkirchen World Cup slalom on February 27, 2022 Christof STACHE AFP / Archives

Arrived 15th on Saturday, he repeats the mantra which, he hopes, will allow him to come back quickly: "I have to manage to detach myself from the results to concentrate on my feelings", he said.

© 2022 AFP