Pinturault Wins In Alta Badia
The legendary Gran Risa slope in Alta Badia has a new champion: it's Alexis Pinturault (FRA). It's the first victory for Pinturault on this slope, the 15th overall in Giant Slalom, with the French skier joining Alberto Tomba in fifth place all-time among men.
"It's something really special, this slope is definitely a big classic and I am hapy to finally have won here for the first time!" said Pinturault.
Pinturault was in the lead after run 1 and with a very strong second run, he managed to defend himself from rising star Atle Lie McGrath (NOR), who finished second after an outstanding race started with bib 29.
The winner of the 2019/20 Overall Europa Cup, born in 2000 just a couple of days after his teammate Braathen, conquers his first podium (and top ten result), closing only 0.07 seconds behind Pinturault.
It's a special day also for Justin Murisier (SUI). The Swiss man showed incredible skiing, especially in the second run, climbing up eight positions to finish third. Murisier celebrates his first career podium, proving his feeling with the Gran Risa, after he had finished fourth on the same slope in 2017.
Tommy Ford continued his stellar streak of giant slalom results, finishing fifth in the Alta Badia GS and leading four U.S. men into the points.
Just on the other side of the valley from the weekend’s speed events in Val Gardena, Italy, Alta Badia’s conditions were perfect. The snow on the Gran Risa was ideal—not too grippy or slick—which resulted in high speeds and a close race. Alexis Pinturault of France won the race with young Atle Lie McGrath of Norway in second and Justin Murisier of Switzerland third.
Tommy was 14th first run, but threw down the third-fastest second run to take fifth place overall—matching his fifth place in Alta Badia in 2018. While he was happy to score another excellent result, he knows there’s more in him. “First run, I didn’t quite have the fire and made a better adjustment second run and allowed that to come out,” he said. “I was a bit round and had a hard time finding the rhythm first run, but second run, I was more in the fall line and hitting with more power and burned all the way through the finish.”
Tommy has already racked up three top-10 giant slalom results this season—a sixth and second place in Santa Caterina at the beginning of December and now a fifth in Alta Badia—assuring U.S. fans that he’s one to watch. He suggested his upward trajectory last year, winning the Beaver Creek GS in front of the home crowd and scoring a podium in Japan, so with a (hopefully) complete season this year, U.S. fans should continue to see Tommy at the top of his game throughout 2020-21.
Including Tommy, four Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team men finished in the points in Alta Badia. River Radamus turned it on and hammered to 20th place from bib 39—his best World Cup GS finish in his career so far. Ted Ligety was 26th and Ryan Cochran-Siegle, fresh off his second place finish in Saturday’s downhill in Val Gardena, was 29th.
Bridger Gile did not qualify for a second run. George Steffey did not finish first run.
In Val D'Isere Ester Ledecka of the Czech Republic, best known for her surprising win in the PyeongChang Olympic super-G, won her first World Cup super-G. Just .03 seconds behind her was Corinne Suter of Switzerland, who made it three podiums in a row in Val d’Isere. Federica Brignone, who sat out Saturday’s downhill after crashing hard in Friday’s race, was third.
Twenty-one-year-old Keely Cashman took home her first FIS World Cup top-10 result in the Val d’Isere super-G on Sunday, finishing 10th.
Running bib 35, Keely attacked from the back for the third time this weekend with her typical no-holds-barred style and was thrilled to come down and see herself in 10th place. “It’s pretty crazy,” she said. “These are my first World Cup speed races in Europe, so I didn’t know what to expect. I wanted to ski confident and to ski how I know I can ski and I knew if I did that, it would work out. I’m happy with the results.”
Keely’s star has been rising quickly over the past few seasons, culminating in a win of the 2020 NorAm downhill and overall title and a bronze in the 2020 Junior World Championship alpine combined. While she raced a handful of North American World Cups last season, this season, she’s racing in Europe with the team. And so far, so good. Over the weekend in Val d’Isere, she put down a 17th place in the first downhill, 16th place in the second downhill, and finally cracked the top 10 in the super-G.
Keely credits a lot of her success to her Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team teammates, who have helped the World Cup rookie learn the ropes and inspired her with results like Breezy’s podiums in Val d’Isere. “This is my first year with the speed crew,” said Keely. “It’s awesome to have a lot of older girls to take me under their wing. They’re super helpful. Watching Breezy do so good this weekend hypes everyone up and everyone is just so pumped to ski. When everyone is building off each other, it’s good for everyone.”
On top of that, the speed training offered by Copper Mountain, Colo. at the U.S. Ski Team Speed Center this November was crucial, and it's paying off for the Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team speed crew—both men and women—as they racked up personal bests and podiums this weekend and looked comfortable in the process.
Rounding out the U.S. team, Isabella Wright was 33rd, and Breezy Johnson—who caught an edge and had a great recovery, narrowly missed doing the splits—37th. Jackie Wiles crashed and did not finish.
