Two last difficult seasons, only one podium in the World Cup this winter, fever the day before his entry into the running... there were many pitfalls on the road to Pinturault.

But he pushed them all away from his two ski poles, on the Eclipse, the run that dominates the Courchevel of his childhood.

Thanks to his victory, "Pintu" realizes the dream of any sportsman: to be world champion at home, in front of an audience committed to his cause.

On this occasion, he obtained his sixth planetary individual medal, the second in gold in this discipline after that gleaned in Are (Sweden) in 2019.

This new title is undoubtedly the most striking, as it comes at a time when it is least expected, after any two seasons, which had weakened it morally.

"I could not project myself in a few years on the circuit, not even a few months in the future, he declared about this at the start of the season. I really needed a balance sheet, which I did not have. not done in 2021. I hadn't taken the time and I had spent the season with my head under water, never coming back to the surface."

His negative spiral had continued this season, where he had climbed only once on the podium, during the super-G of Beaver Creek at the beginning of December.

"It takes a little pressure off me"

Since then, the 31-year-old skier had even suffered the affront of not being able to qualify for the second round of the slaloms in Kitzbühel and then Schladming, in Austria, due to too bad times.

Alexis Pinturault in Courchevel on February 7, 2023 © Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP

Paradoxically, these poor performances may have helped him on Tuesday, as he explained after the first round of the combined: "The confidence is there. The last slalom races were not very good. Exactly, maybe that takes a little pressure off me."

Pressure, he had when starting in first position in the slalom, with the risk of being eclipsed by the Austrian Marco Schwarz, who was only eight hundredths behind after the super-G.

Schwarz had deprived "Pintu" of gold two years ago at the Worlds in Cortina d'Ampezzo (Italy) for only four hundredths.

This time there were ten in favor of the Frenchman.

Behind this duo, another Austrian, Raphael Haaser, took the bronze medal, 44 hundredths behind Pinturault.

Once again, Pinturault was able to perform well in a major event, further embellishing the greatest record of French skiing, topped with 34 World Cup victories, three Olympic medals and therefore six individual world medals.

Alexis Pinturault in Courchevel on February 7, 2023 © François-Xavier MARIT / AFP

Her victory the day after the women's combined, the opening event of the Worlds, immediately places the French team, which won very little this winter, in a positive dynamic.

On the occasion of the first Worlds organized in France since Val d'Isère in 2009, the Blues have already won a gold medal.

© 2023 AFP