COURCHEVEL, France (Reuters) – Manuel Feller led the men’s slalom on the last day of the Alpine skiing world championships on Sunday as Austria staged a final bid for gold and Greece’s Alexandros “AJ” Ginnis sprung a surprise.
Feller set a time of 46.93 seconds, 0.13 quicker than Ginnis and Norway’s Lucas Braathen in joint second, on the first run down Courchevel’s icy Eclipse piste.
Germany’s Linus Strasser was just 0.01 slower in fourth place.
Austrian skiers have yet to strike gold in the championships after topping the table with five in the previous worlds in Italy’s Cortina d’Ampezzo in 2021. They have won at least one gold at every championships since their last failure in 1987.
Feller crashed in the warm-up and needed painkillers but produced a stirring first run with the fastest last two split times.
“It wasn’t that easy, a lot of pain at the start area,” he told Eurosport.
“But when I skied the first gates I felt OK, it’s working. But still I didn’t push enough so I lost like half a second at the first two split times.”
Braathen had appendicitis surgery at the end of January and said he felt alright.
“I don’t think of it while I’m skiing,” he said.
Ginnis caused a stir from a 24th start but the Greek-born skier, who moved to America at the age of 15 and competed previously for the U.S. team, was second in a World Cup slalom in Chamonix on Feb. 4.
No Greek skier has medalled at an Alpine world championships and Ginnis’s World Cup podium was also a first.
“It was a lot of fun,” he said. “I have no pressure. I mean, I ski for Greece. I ski free…I’m just chilling, I’m going to have a lot of fun second run and try to put down a fast run again.”
Norway’s defending world champion Sebastian Foss-Solevaag was in fifth place and 0.35 off the pace.
France’s 2022 Olympic slalom champion Clement Noel was eighth, with 0.64 to make up in the second run.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Ed Osmond)
