A giant slalom shocker in Cortina

Today’s giant slalom race at the FIS World Ski Championships proved anything is possible in alpine racing.

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

“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.

The results today, set up a star-studded slalom on Sunday for the men as all of the top finishers will definitely be in the hunt for a medal, while those who fell short today will be out for redemption in their last chance to grab a medal.

The women’s slalom will take center stage tomorrow before the grand finale race in Cortina and the final medal showdown, the men’s slalom on Sunday.