Marcel Hirscher is the double Olympic champion of the Pyeongchang Winter Games. Five days after his success in the alpine combination, the Salzburger also triumphed in the giant slalom on Sunday. The half-time leader won 1.27 seconds ahead of the Norwegian Henrik Kristoffersen, bronze went to the Frenchman Alexis Pinturault (+1.31). It is the 10th ÖOC medal in these games.
Hirscher laid the foundation for his victory in the first run. On a very straight course, which many riders had difficulties with, the six-time overall World Cup winner seemingly effortlessly drove out an advantage of 63/100 seconds ahead of Pinturault. Another 3/100 back Leif-Kristian Nestvold-Haugen was third, but the Norwegian dropped back to eighth place (+2.19). The fourth placed South Tyrolean Riccardo Tonetti (0.75) dropped out in the second run.
Hirscher, however, managed the lead of 1.31 seconds on Kristoffersen perfectly and lost only four hundredths to the Norsker in passage two. The cheering after the finish line made it clear that this gold meant even more to him than the combination. It was certainly not that easy,”Hirscher said,” but I pressed the device down. I knew it was all or nothing.”
ÖSV-Herren-Cheftrainer Andreas Puelacher was once again impressed by the performance of his top man:”He is in an enviable form and plays it out again and again. He always finds the vote,”said the coach,”You can only congratulate him. Once again, he unpacked everything at the right time:” The competition also pulled the plug. Kristoffersen:”Marcel is unbeatable at the moment in giant slalom. The rest of us are just fighting for silver and bronze.”
Kristoffersen made it to the podium from halftime tenth place, with the fastest time in the final running time, and Pinturault took the lead by 4/100. It is his second Olympic medal after slalom bronze in Sochi in 2014.”Perhaps this is my most beautiful second place,”said the 23-year-old. For Pinturault it is the second medal in these games after silver in the combination:”Two medals is a big deal for me. Congratulations to Marcel Hirscher.”
The remaining three Austrians retired. Apart from Hirscher, Stefan Brennsteiner was the only one to reach the second round, but from intermediate rank 14, the Salzburg rider retired after an enthusiastic ride and a good intermediate start. The 26-year-old was taken to hospital for an MRI examination with knee pain. Puelacher feared the worst:”Stefan has a knee injury. Looks like the cruciate ligament will probably be torn.”
Already in the first run, Christian Hirschbühl from Vorarlberg, who had not been considered for the slalom afterwards, and Manuel Feller in the last goal had been caught in the upper part. The Tyrolean still slipped over the finish line, was disqualified and complained afterwards about neck and shoulder pain. The Fieberbrunner, however, was confident that he would be able to compete in the slalom on Thursday:”It’s not so fine now, but I don’t think too much has happened,”explained the 25-year-old.
Hirschers Gold means Austria’s 19th century. Olympic medal in Olympic giant slalom races, the first since gold and bronze by Benjamin Raich and Benjamin Raich respectively. Hermann Maier 2006 in Turin. In addition to Raich, Toni Sailer won titles before Hirscher in 1956 in Cortina d’ Ampezzo, Maier in Nagano in 1998 and Stephan Eberharter in Salt Lake City in 2002. In Pyeongchang 2018, the red-white-red alpine division holds three gold and one silver medal after seven out of eleven decisions.
Following this decision at the beginning of the ninth day of the competition, Austria’s team in South Korea will hold four gold and two silver medals each. Apart from the Hirscher double, gold medal was given by tobogganist David Gleirscher in the single-seater and Matthias Mayer in the Super-G. On Sunday, speed skater Vanessa Herzog over 500 m as well as Julian Eberhard, Simon Eder and Dominik Landertinger competed in the biathlon mass start with medal chances.