Pinturault Back On Top In Garmisch GS

Garmisch-Partenkirchen (GER) must hold a special place in Alexis Pinturault's heart. In the German venue, Pinturault (FRA) achieved a victory at the 2009 Junior World Championships and won his first Giant Slalom World Cup race in 2013.

Today the French man updated his stats with an incredible victory, the second one in Giant Slalom this season!
Despite very difficult conditions due to warm temperatures, a salted track and the rain, Alexis Pinturault was able to fight hard in a bumpy second run and come back from his fourth position achieved in the first run.

Pinturault commented at the end of the race: "I wasn't at my best since the end of December, but I worked a lot and today everything was perfect. I won my first World Cup Giant Slalom here in Garmisch and it's also the place where I won the Junior World Championships in 2009. Here it's special for me!

Runner-up Loic Meillard (SUI) was leading at half time thanks to a solid first run. The Swiss talent was able to keep up with the best ones even in the second run to achieve his second Giant Slalom podium of his career, finishing 0.16s behind the French.

Third place for Leif Kristian Nestvold-Haugen (NOR), who was able to master both runs wihtout any big troubles. The Norwegian achieved today his second podium of the season after closing in third position already in Beaver Creek's Giant Slalom in early December 2019.

Finishing up a weekend of speed events with a giant slalom, Tommy Ford led the U.S. men down the dark and bumpy Kandahar track in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, finishing in 11th place.

It was a warm day in Garmisch, with the temperatures and drizzling rain quickly melting the snow. Course workers added salt to the track to allow it to freeze, but the conditions were tough. Given the inconsistent snow, Tommy was satisfied with his effort and was able to put down two solid runs. “Second run was better up top,” said Tommy. “I was more with it for the rhythm of the course right out of the start, feeling more connected... There were a couple turns where I was trying to push a little too hard for the snow conditions—you kind of had to just ride it and float. All in all consistent day and I’d say a good step in the right direction.”

Behind Tommy, Ted Ligety put in an impressive effort in his second run, finishing fourth second run and 14th overall. “First run was pretty disappointing,” said Ted, who was 25th after first run. “I never really found a rhythm and I was just fighting it the whole way. Second run I found the rhythm a little better and made a good run relatively. Not exactly what I wanted to see from this race, but overall happy to have at least moved up a little bit.”

Rounding out the Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team, Ryan Cochran-Siegle also scored points, finishing in 22nd. River Radamus and Brian McLaughlin did not qualify for a second run.

It was a disappointing second run for Henrik Kristoffersen (NOR), who was 0.08s behind Meillard in run 1. The current leader of the overall standings, was not able to repeat himself in the second run and finished "only" seventh, clocking the 25th time in run 2.