A new royal couple at the Alpine Ski World Cup
The Alpine Ski World Cup features a new royal couple: Petra Vlhova and Alexis Pintorault won the World Cup for the first time.
The last race was just a show. Petra Vlhova and Alexis Pintoro, the new royal couple of skaters, have already been announced ahead of the final competitions at the Season Resort in Lenzerheide, Switzerland on Sunday.
Then, it was finally time at the end of the winter in which neither of them had won the World Cup: Slovak Vlhova and Frenchman Pinturolt took over the large crystal ball.
Felhova finished 11th in the last race, and Pintorault starred in third – only the Germans, with the exception of second place in the team competition, did not have much fun in the World Cup Final.
Linus Straßer only set his sights on Germany’s sixth place out of the top three in the slalom this winter, but failed in the second round and slipped to ninth. After three silver and bronze medals at the World Cup, the season has long since been saved.
For Pinturault, winning the World Cup as a whole was a relief. “It’s unbelievable, it’s the best gift I can give myself,” he said on his 30th birthday, when he won his last giant slalom race not only the Little Discipline Ball but also the Grand Title.
“I’ve been under a lot of pressure in the last week.”
When it was finally over, the jubilant Frenchman also fell on Swiss Marco Odermatt, but only lost in both ratings, around the neck.
“It was a big goal in my career. I had Marcel Herscher, who was stronger than me. I was in second place a lot, but I never gave up. And the day came – it was a very big moment,” said Binturault and admits “perhaps my greatest achievement.” : “I came under a lot of pressure last week.” Because he was weak in previous races and thus left an opportunity for Furious Udermatt in both ratings.
As the winner of the big crystal ball, Pintorault succeeds Alexander Amoudt Kilde (Norway) and won the coveted award as the third Frenchman after Jean-Claude Kelly (1967 and 1968) and Luc Alfand (1997).
Odermatt could have made the decision an exciting again: he reached the final only 31 points late, but then the ramps and the Super J were canceled due to bad weather. In the giant slalom he was only eleventh.
Chevrin with “Incredible Season”
Vlova was also the first Slovak woman to qualify for the World Cup on Saturday. “That means a lot, because I made history,” she said after the last slalom, in which she finished sixth: It was enough to push Swiss Lara Gott Behrami away before the giant slalom, but it wasn’t. Enough to hold the slalom best runner title. “Of course I am very disappointed,” said Fleuva.
In the World Cup as a whole, Federica followed Brignone (Italy), in a slalom, losing the ball to world champion Katharina Liensberger (Austria), who won the last race ahead of Mikaela Shiffrin (USA).
Chevrin also missed her 70th World Cup victory on Sunday – Alice Robinson (New Zealand) intercepted her and admitted afterwards that she “did not live up to my expectations”. However, she had an “incredible season”.
Vlhova might feel relieved that she will have a fairly large train station on Wednesday: a special train will take her across the entire country. In Slovakia she is the Queen.