The mountain, its silence, wide open spaces for walks with his wife Romane and their dog Joia.

The mountain, its ski slopes hurtling down at full speed, the crowd that cheers it on arrival, the imposed selfies and the television cameras.

This ambivalence sums up the life of Alexis Pinturault, a child of the Alps and the seed of a champion whose destiny has been commented on and directed from an early age, surely beyond the aspirations for simple happiness of the principal concerned.

At not even 20 years old, in March 2011, the prodigy climbed on a first podium of the world circuit in Kranjska Gora (Slovenia) and revealed a versatile talent announced as "the new Killy".

Work, seriousness, rigor, such are the ethics of the blonde with blue eyes and square jaw, forged when he was a kid according to the mantras of his father Claude, owner of two luxury hotels in the chic resort of Courchevel.

"The second is the first of the last", retorts the father, customary shock phrases.

"My children will go to boarding school. The setting, the structure, the discipline, I really liked", assures AFP the skier, ex-intern at the Albertville high school, where we train future leaders tracks.

"Fully Cooked"

Slalom, giant, combined, super-G, from his first years in the French senior team "Pintu" shines everywhere, jumps from race to race, crosses the Alps, meets the expectations of others and his own, high, with victories.

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

In February 2017, the cocotte exploded at the World Championships in Saint-Moritz (Switzerland).

After a point zero, the shy and distant Alexis, jaw clenched as ever, collapses in tears in the mixed zone.

"That winter, Alexis found himself without a referent (in the French team, because of his versatility). He managed on his own and in January he was completely cooked, he ended up cracking up and freaking out. of overall failure, he almost quit," his father told AFP.

Pinturault decides to take his destiny in hand, leaves the team with his own structure, in agreement with the federation, takes up his winter quarters in Austria, the real country of skiing.

He then reveals and assumes, perhaps, a more tranquil and solitary nature.

"When I was younger it was difficult to find my place, I was sometimes embroiled in a system, in situations that I didn't like, where I didn't feel comfortable. I was forced to do certain things. Today, I I've matured and I'm more able to say no. It allowed me to reclaim my performance, my surroundings, my training, my way of working," he explains.

"Honest"

The champion, born March 20, 1991 in Moutiers (Savoie) accumulates trophies like no French skier before him: six individual world medals, including two titles, three Olympic podiums (3rd in the giant in 2014, 3rd in the giant and 2nd in the combined in 2018) and 75 World Cup podiums for 34 victories.

With age, now in his thirties, he pours out his feelings more willingly, he the emotional one whose tears have moistened the arid Chinese mountain of Yanqing, from where he left injured and without a medal a few years ago. a year at the Olympics.

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

"The years go by and I try to change, to open up a little more, but basically I'm relatively modest, quite mountainous. But I've always been someone very honest with myself. myself and people around me, it's part of my upbringing. I was taught not to lie, so I don't know how to lie."

With a sometimes candid honesty, "Pintu" now masters the exercise of public appearance, where he appears smiling and tells what he thinks, even if it means scratching the bodies of his sport.

What would this Cartesian mind have done if he hadn't excelled in planks?

“I could have continued the family business, working as an architect, in civil engineering or as a mechanical engineer. I like design. I need to always be outside."

Perched on the podium of the World Championships, Tuesday afternoon, the imposing massif of Vanoise faces him, in the distance.

At his feet, the crowd acclaims his champion.

© 2023 AFP