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It was in the 2010/2011 season that Justin Murisier and Alexis Pinturault met for the first time in the World Cup. While the Frenchman had no points in his first 13 outings in the top Alpine league, the ten-month-younger Valaisan only needed five attempts before making his first World Cup exclamation point in eighth place in the Val Slalom. d’Isère.
At the time, experts agreed that Murisier will mark the next decade of alpine skiing. Everything is different. On Sunday, almost exactly ten years later, Pinturault and Murisier took the podium together for the first time in Alta Badia.
First severe hit in 2011
As the Frenchman recorded his 31st World Cup without much emotion, Murisier celebrated third place as a victory. It’s no wonder, after all, that downhill legend William Besse’s couch potato cousin (1994 Lauberhorn winner) had to endure a tougher test for his first place in the top 3 in the World Cup than the that Pinturault had to do for its success.
While Alexis spared himself from serious injuries over the years, Justin suffered his first major blow in 2011. Seven months after the World Cup giant Garmisch’s forestry technician shined with the third fastest time in the second round, he suffers his first Rupture of the cruciate ligament of the right knee. As the same cruciate ligament flutes again ten months later, it will be until the winter of 2013/14 before Murisier returns to the ski circus.
In 2017 Murisier went down again
In December 2017, Murisier is in such good shape again that he is fourth in the Alta Badia giant slalom and can reach 25 hundredths of a podium. But eight months later, Murisier is back down. During a training fall in New Zealand, he tore his right cruciate ligament for the third time.
“Before the last operation, my doctor faced a particular problem,” recalls Murisier. “My first cruciate ligament was repaired with a piece of my flexor tendon. The doctor took a piece of the patellar tendon for the second cruciate ligament operation. But because my right knee no longer contained replacement parts, the doctor had to remove part of the patellar tendon from my healthy left knee before my third cruciate ligament operation. “
“The psychologist couldn’t help me”
After being released from the hospital, the heroic fighter obtains the number from a psychologist. “I was hoping that by working with a psychologist, I would regain confidence in myself and my health so that I could go back to the limit on the slopes. But after three sessions I realized that a psychologist couldn’t help me anymore. “
Murisier really got going again when he switched from Nordica to Head-Ski last spring. “The Head is much smoother to handle than the Nordica stiff, so I can work with a lot more fun, especially on steep slopes.”
And that’s why Murisier salutes after the classic giant in Alta Badia alongside colleagues Head Pinturault and McGrath from the World Cup podium.
