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After three failures in the first race, Loïc Meillard can no longer judge Switzerland’s decision. Faivre wins unexpectedly.
Exhausted and disappointed: Loïc Meillard at the finish line after his second race, which was the only Swiss citizen to contest.
Photo: Giovanni Auletta (Keystone / AP Photo)
After all, someone on the podium speaks Swiss German. On the far left, Luca de Aliprandini, an Italian from South Tyrol, in a light blue suit, kisses his medal and hangs it on him. He has won silver in the giant slalom and has never been on a World Cup podium before. He says, “This is amazing.”
For the 30-year-old, it is the most glamorous moment of his career. Michelle Gisin stands in the finish area and cheers for him, she is De Aliprandini’s partner, there is no more Swiss connection in the medal ceremony. Almost five hours before that, Marco Odermatt says, “This is the blackest day of my career.”
The Swiss will experience a debacle on Friday in a career for which he has scored the most goals. “If you look at the training sessions, we should actually be three on the podium,” says Odermatt. Three out of four Swiss are disappointing, Odermatt is out, Gino Caviezel and Justin Murisier too.
Second gold for Faivre, bitter for Pinturault
He is still Loïc Meillard, the man who is in such good shape, who should have won gold in the parallel races, he was so strong all day. He eventually failed due to regulations, but still won bronze. Now he also has to say: “The best are up, they deserve it.”
He himself is not one of them this time, next to De Aliprandini are Marco Schwarz and world champion Mathieu Faivre, this time visibly more moved than after the gold medal in the parallel race, where he still could not classify properly if and what qualification. means to him. The race was bitter for Alexis Pinturault, Faivre’s compatriot. The crown favorite was eliminated as the leader after the first run in the decision after a few goals.
Defeat for the Swiss team at the stupidest moment
Meillard is fifth this spring afternoon, the result is a disappointment for the group. The bitter defeat for the Swiss team comes at the stupidest moment, that is, when it is least expected. And then when it was absolutely necessary to avoid it, on the most important day of winter, when it came to medals and not points in the World Cup.
At least one Swiss made the podium in all the giant slaloms this season. Now there is perplexity, disappointment and anger. “A World Cup to forget,” says Caviezel. The Swiss men’s results are sobering, the great stories have been written by women so far, they won six of the nine medals, the Meillard and Beat Feuz bronze medals remain for men.
Slalom as a last chance
Meillard and Odermatt are still young, this setback may be good for Nidwalden in particular, better than he might think after these two weeks at Cortina. For him, things have gone so fast at the World Cup that at some point he will surely be disappointed.
And Meillard has a chance to win his third slalom medal on Sunday. And save the balance of men almost single-handedly.
That’s it from our live ticker. Thanks for reading and see you soon.
The favorite is eliminated after a few goals! How bitter.
Faivre wins, Alinprandini finishes second and Black completes the podium.
Loïc Meillard could not judge Switzerland in the second set. After the morning’s debacle with three misses (Odermatt, Murisier, Caviezel), Valais missed a World Cup medal, finishing fifth at halftime. He is fifth.
Michelle Gisin’s life partner is approaching. He can’t get close to Faivre, but at 63 hundredths behind he is second ahead of Black. The Italian will surely win a medal. Pure joy of him in the finish area.
Too bad for the German! Schmid with an error and is eliminated. From the dream of the medal. Two more athletes, Meillard is currently fourth.
Faivre does much better at it. The Frenchman is now at the top with 87 hundredths of advantage.
Now our only hope: Loïc Meillard.
Oh no, what a shame! It doesn’t start off optimally, with some difficult passages and slides. Valais can no longer make up for that and cross the finish line nine tenths behind. Only intermediate rank 3. A shame. No medal for Switzerland.
Photo: Jean-Christophe Bott (Keystone)
The next Austrian. Slalom specialist Schwarz does well, starts well and extends his lead to eight tenths. In the end, he took the lead with 72 hundredths of a second.
We have reached the seven best athletes, but the first one has been eliminated. Run towards Brennsteiner.
Changing walk from Kranjec. Sometimes it goes ahead, then behind, and ahead again. But in the end it was not enough, with 24 hundredths behind he was in second place.
The only American in the field. Radamus no longer drives as convincingly as in the first race and lands in intermediate range 6.
Four more drivers, then comes Meillard.
The German can’t avoid Zubcic. Second place, four tenths behind.
This man did not meet expectations. Zubcic already has four big podiums this season. Is the Croatian catching up and moving up the rankings?
He has a second in reserve and finally pushes Zampa off the podium. Zubcic now leads the rankings with an 89-cent advantage. But: it was not the mega attack.
Oh, it gets stuck, falls, and then cuts some nets and billboards. Hopefully, Favrot wasn’t hurt.
Now he has been freed from the networks, it seems that he has become entangled in them. Fortunately, he doesn’t seem hurt.
Shaking his head at the end. The Austrian loses a lot of time in Zampa, whose streak is becoming more and more valuable. Third intermediate place for Leitinger.
Even the Italian, who knows this slope a little better, cannot avoid Adam Zampa. He has a few slides and at the end he is almost a second behind.
We can already see defending champion Kristoffersen curving around the gates. It is not his season. How are you doing here in the second round? It starts with 84 hundredths in reserve.
But that is not enough. 5 hundredths behind leader Adam Zampa.
Samu Torsti reaches the finish line, but accumulates 1.60 seconds on the way. Intermediate range 4.
