Surprise Podium For World Champs GS

Conditions were bright and sunny yet again, pushing away the memories of postponements and cancelations from early in the World Champs, but the course still presented challenges with conditions varying throughout the track. Frenchman Mathieu Favre powered through to take the gold—his second gold medal at the World Champs and his first time on the giant slalom podium in two years. Luca De Aliprandini of Italy was second for his first podium ever, thrilling the hometown Italian fans watching from their homes. Marco Schwarz of Austria took the bronze for his second medal of the World Champs. Alexis Pinturault of France, the favorite coming into the race, was leading after first run but fell and did not finish.

Among the three medalists, only gold-medal winner Mathieu Faivre (FRA) had ever earned a GS podium in the World Cup. Meanwhile, the man who has dominated the discipline in the past seasons, Alexis Pinturault, failed to capitalize on his 0.40-second lead in the second run, and ultimately did not finish.

It was that kind of race today in Cortina where anything could, and did, happen.

For Faivre, today’s gold medal was his second at these World championships as he has emerged as the unlikely hero of the second week in Cortina, joining Austrian Vincent Kriechmayr and Swiss Lara Gut in Cortina the double-gold club. Faivre also won the parallel race three days ago.

“I’ve had a lot of frustration in the last few years and had to fight, but now I look forward to celebrating this gold medal with my teammates,” said an emotional Faivre after the race.

Also putting an end to his frustration was Italian was Luca di Aliprandini, who before today had never made the top three in a top-level giant slalom race. The medal also put an end to the Italian men’s team drought at these World Championships, as today’s silver was the first for the home men’s team in Cortina.

“So many years on the World Cup tour without a giant slalom podium and here, at the home World Championships, it finally happened,” di Aliprandini said of his silver medal. “I can’t say that what I felt was pressure, it was more of hunger to get the medal.”

Rounding out the unlike trio of medalists was no stranger to the podium here in Cortina, but certainly not a familiar face on the giant slalom podium, Marco Schwarz (AUT). Schwarz already has a gold medal from the Alpine Combined, but much like di Aliprandini, he is better known for his slalom skills and today marked his first top-level podium finish in the giant slalom.

“I went into the race relaxed,” said Schwarz. “Obviously, on Sunday the slalom will be the big challenge, but to go into Sunday with two medals already makes me extremely happy.”

For Pinturault, the frustration was big to miss out on a medal of any color in his signature event. He was heads and shoulders above the pack in the first run, but had an inner ski mistake on the top of the second run, giving him the DNF.

However, he can take solace in th fact that a major streak was at last broken as Faivre became the first Frenchman to win the World Championship gold medal in the giant slalom in 53 years following Jean-Claude Killy

For the Americans U.S. Alpine Ski Team athlete River Radamus had a banner day at his FIS World Alpine Ski World Championships giant slalom debut, skiing into 11th place.

River shreded the first run of giant slalom in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, taking ninth place and came out confidently into the second run. But he made a few errors and lost time throughout the course, which pushed him back to 11th place. “As they say, everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face," said Radamus. "I felt like I was behind it up top and never really got going and attacking it the rest of the way,” he said.

River was disappointed in himself but now turns his eyes toward the future, where he knows there’s more to come for him. “It’s weird to be disappointed with a personal best, but I felt like I just had so much more in me today,” he said. “Didn’t quite execute the way I wanted to on second run and left a lot of time there, but it’s a good steppingstone I think.”

The 23-year-old Radamus, who has a decorated past as a two-time World Juniors champion and three-time Youth Olympic Games gold medal winner, has had a solid 2020-21 season so far, nailing top-20 and points-scoring results throughout the year, including an eight place in the parallel and sixth place in team parallel at these World Championships. He knows the potential is there to perform in these big events and is hunting for more. “I’ve learned that it takes a lot to be fast,” said Radamus. “I’ve learned how bad I want to be there. I’m going to go back to work, finish the season out strong and hopefully prepare myself for the next Olympics or next World Championships to be able to execute better than I did today.”

Sadly missing in the World Champs giant slalom were talented Land Rover U.S. Alpine Ski Team athletes Ted Ligety, Tommy Ford and Ryan Cochran-Siegle, who all had the potential to take home medals in the event, but were back in the states due to injury, leaving Radamus as the sole U.S. man in the race.

The World Champs GS was supposed to be Ligety’s final event in his storied career, having announced his retirement at the beginning of the World Championships, but back problems made it impossible for him to race. His legacy lives on though, with an impressive five World Championships golds, seven World Champs medals, and two Olympic golds. His rivals and friends, such as Bode Miller, Marcel Hirscher, and Felix Neureuther, paid tribute to him throughout the day, congratulating him on such an impressive career and wishing him luck with his future endeavors.

Ford, who had snagged a giant slalom podium and multiple top-10 results in GS earlier this season, was injured in early January after a bad crash in Adelboden. Cochran-Siegle had a bad crash in Kitzbuehel, Austria that broke his cervical spine and he is also recovering at home.  

“I have to be honest and say that I wasn’t too interested in the fact before the race, but now that it’s reality, it sounds pretty good,” said Faivre.