Forced into a feat after a failed first run (the downhill), Alexis Pinturault tripped over the carpet in the combined slalom and fell. His dream of a gold medal ended with this fall. Unlike that of American skater Nathan Chen, in gold after an absolutely perfect free program.
Pinturault’s disillusionment
Olympic vice-champion in 2018, Alexis Pinturault gave up his hope of a medal… from the first round of the alpine combined. Only 11th in time at the end of the descent, the skier from Courchevel had to give everything to make up for his significant delay in the slalom, one of his specialties. But the 30-year-old Frenchman pressed too hard, and straddled from the top of the course. Conclusion: a big cold shower for Pinturault, without a medal on the combined. And even a possible dislocation of the right shoulder while falling, for Pintu who ends in tears. World champion in the discipline in 2019, vice-world champion last year, the Savoyard had not won a single race in 2021-22 before presenting himself in Beijing.
The Austrian Johannes Strolz, victorious in the World Cup in the Adelboden slalom on January 9, is the new Olympic champion. Thirty-four years after his father Hubert, crowned in Calgary (Canada). The combination was also marked by the violent fall of the Swiss Yannick Chabloz in the descent, evacuated on a stretcher.
Gold for American Chen, French skaters 12th and 14th
The French skaters Kevin Aymoz (254.80 points) and Adam Siao Him Fa (250.15), respectively 12th and 14th, witnessed from afar the immense performance achieved by the American Nathan Chen. At 22, the triple reigning champion continues to totally crush his discipline, of which he is the new Olympic champion. At the end of a perfect performance on the Beijing ice, Chen had already offered himself a world record on his short program, Tuesday on the air of Bohemian by Charles Aznavour (113.97).
Fifth in Pyeongchang, Chen finished beating the competition last night in the free program (332.60 over his two performances), ahead of the Japanese duo Kagiyama-Uno. The tricolor skaters know who to draw inspiration from to perform better at the next 2026 Games, their initial objective by coming to gain experience this year in Beijing.
The Blues of snowboard cross on the carpet
France does not yet have a successor to Pierre Vaultier, double Olympic snowboard cross champion in 2014 and 2018, before retiring at the end of 2020. After the eliminations of Leo Le Blé Jacques and Loan Bozzolo in the quarter-finals, Merlin Surget finished third in his heat in the semi-finals. No medal for the Snow Blues, the day after Chloé Trespeuch’s silver in the women’s category.
First case of doping
Who says Olympic Games often says… doping. And it was Iranian skier Hossein Saveh Shemshaki, 36, who was caught red-handed. The one who had the best result of 31st place in the slalom of Sochi 2014, was suspended Wednesday evening for the duration of the Games due to a doping control carried out on Monday, which returned positive. This is the first case of doping made public during these Olympics, while the Russian figure skating team is also in turmoil.
Indeed, last night, Russian media revealed that 15-year-old skater Kamila Valieva had tested positive for trimetazidine before the Games. For now, the IOC and the International Skating Federation have not confirmed the supposed positivity of the one who made the first women’s quadruple jump in the history of the Olympics.