Pinturault struggles in Olympic combined downhill as Austrians lurk
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Alexis Pinturault’s bid for elusive Olympic gold took hit after a "disappointing" downhill section
YANQING (AFP) - Alexis Pinturault’s bid for an elusive Olympic gold took a hit after a "disappointing" downhill section of the Beijing 2022 men’s alpine combined on Wednesday.
The French favourite, who won silver in Pyeongchang in 2018 behind now-retired Austrian Marcel Hirscher, clocked 1min 45.04sec down the 3.1-kilometre-long "Rock" course in brilliant sunshine and freezing conditions.
A mistake cost Pinturault valuable hundredths of a second and he will now tackle the slalom, scheduled for 2:15 pm (0615 GMT), with ground to make up on his main rivals.
"I didn’t think that would have cost me so much, but the truth is that it has," bemoaned Pinturault.
"I’m quite behind, not on level pegging with (Johannes) Strolz and Marco (Schwarz), so all of a sudden it’s far from obvious.
"But you never know what can happen. It can quickly swing the other way in the slalom," Pinturault said. "The gap is big, but everything’s possible."
Super-G bronze medallist Aleksander Aamodt Kilde topped the times with 1:43.12, but the Norwegian will likely lose any advantage he may have in the technical event.
Instead it will likely be the Austrian pairing of reigning world champion Schwarz and Strolz who vie for gold.
Strolz was in fourth, at 0.75sec, and Schwarz was in fifth, 0.95sec behind the leader, both in prime position for the slalom at the National Alpine Skiing Centre in Yanqing.
It would be a remarkable comeback for Strolz, who was kicked off the Austrian team last year after a string of poor results but has fought back for an Olympic place after working for a time as a traffic policeman.
Strolz, whose father Hubert won combined gold in the 1988 Games, still prepares his own skis and this season had a breakthrough victory in the Swiss resort of Adelboden despite starting with the lowly bib number of 38 normally worn by rank outsiders.
The alpine combined, although shelved on the World Cup circuit, is the oldest alpine event, invented in the Swiss resort of Wengen in 1932 and adopted for the Olympics four years later.
It remains the ultimate challenge for all-round skiers, but has proven tough to host on the World Cup, notably with technical and speed skiers become even more specialised.
