World Ski Championships: Henrik Kristoffersen wins the slalom, disappointment for Clément Noël fourth

Europe 1 with AFP 6:44 p.m., February 19, 2023

For a dust of time, three hundredths, Clément Noël missed a great opportunity to end the Alpine Skiing World Championships in style in front of a finally excited public.

The Frenchman finished just off the podium in the men's slalom, won by Henrik Kristoffersen.

The regrets are great for the Olympic champion, author of a fault which made him fall back to eighth place in the first round.

Solid without being brilliant on a difficult second course, the Vosgien missed the medal by nothing against the Italian Alex Vinatzer.

“Three hundredths is very, very little, I could have found them almost anywhere, especially in the first run, he commented after the race. There has to be a fourth. It's a pity that it's me, because we are in France, the public was really there, it was a crazy atmosphere and the icing on the cake is missing.

The frustrating performance resembles the season for the 25-year-old skier, who has only finished four of the ten races he has contested this winter.

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"In the last two stages of the World Cup, the skiing was pretty good. Frankly, if I don't make a mistake in the first run, I'm among the first," he wanted to remember.

The Blues leave their Worlds with only two medals, won by Alexis Pinturault (combined gold, super-G bronze) in the first week.

"Pintu" took only twentieth place in the slalom on Sunday.

Henrik Kristoffersen made a spectacular comeback, which made him gain fifteen places to lead him to gold.

Giant world champion in Are (Sweden) in 2019 and winner of two World Cup slaloms this winter (Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Wengen), "Kristo", 28, skated in the first run before regaining speed in the second, on a very different route.

This reversal of the situation shows how tight the first run was, on a tricky course: 19 skiers were standing in one second.

"A podium would have already been a great success after the 16th time in the first run, admitted Kristoffersen in a press conference. I have 49 podiums in the World Cup in slalom, I have won almost everything except the Olympic Games and the Worlds, so it was about time!"

The Norwegian also made a key gear change between the two runs.

"It wasn't working super well. We made some changes for the second run which improved things."

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Ginnis first Greek medalist

Conversely, Austria's Manuel Feller dropped from first place to seventh between the two runs, failing to bring Austria their first gold medal of the fortnight.

This nation where skiing is king ends the Worlds without the supreme reward for the first time since 1987, in Crans Montana (Switzerland).

On the other hand, AJ Ginnis (28) showed admirable consistency by finishing the two races in second place, to finally give Greece its first podium at the World Alpine Skiing Championships.

Greek skier since 2020 after having worn the United States jersey for a time, he had a career cut short by six knee operations, the last in August 2021.

This strong, "second zone" skier at world level until then, had announced his great form with a second place in the Chamonix slalom two weeks ago.

It was also a first Greek podium on the world circuit.

"It's a dream come true, he rejoiced. Coming back from injuries, trying to find funding for that… Two weeks ago, this podium was already crazy. Chamonix gave us confidence in our work."

Born to an American mother and a Greek father, Ginnis grew up in Greece and learned to ski on the slopes of Mount Parnassus.