Beijing 2022: Johannes Strolz wins alpine combined and creates Olympic history

The story of Johannes Strolz (AUT) continues to surprise and inspire. Before the 2021/22 season, the Austrian was kicked off the national team due to poor results. Nonetheless, Strolz wanted to pursue his Olympic dream so had to manage all of his equipment and training by himself. All of Strolz’s hard work and determination paid off when he claimed his first World Cup victory in the Adelboden (SUI) slalom. Today, Strolz claimed his first Olympic medal and made Olympic history. In 1988, Johannes Strolz’s father, Hubert Strolz (AUT) won the gold medal in the alpine combined. The two become the first father-son duo to win Olympic medals in the same discipline.

On winning gold, 34 years after his father, Hubert Strolz, was champion in the same event:
"It means the world to me because I was not on the team any more last summer, and made it back into the team, got the full support again.
"Especially with the history of my father, it means so much to me.
"I'm so thankful for the support of so many people. First of all I have to thank my whole family. They always believed in me, and now it's a dream coming true, making the same gold medal like my father did."

On his race strategy:
"On the downhill I just tried to trust what the coaches told me, because I'm not that much on the long board (downhill skis) so I had to get used to it.
"I had to trust the coaches even more, and just be patient and also aggressive in the downhill. That worked out really well for me.
"In the slalom, just trust my own abilities and all the training, all the hard work I've put in over the years.
"It was not easy to stay focused but I managed to handle it pretty well."

On his father's legacy:
"When I think about it, all the pictures and the gold medal of my father, it's hard for me not to cry. It's just a dream coming true.
"Finally all the sacrifices and the hard work paid off. I think I'm a good example of never giving up. If you believe in yourself you have to take your chance and keep going."

Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (NOR) claims his second Olympic medal after claiming the bronze in the men’s Super G and silver in today’s alpine combined. The Norwegian placed first in the first run downhill and then put in a surprisingly strong slalom performance, which earned him 2nd place. Kilde has never competed in a World Cup slalom race and his last slalom result was in 2013 in a FIS event where he placed 14th.

On his emotions:
"I'm just going to take my mask off. It doesn't happen every year, and people want to see how big I can smile.
"It's pretty big. It's such an amazing day, I woke up this morning and I didn't really expect to ski at all. I was just going to try it out in the morning with slalom, and then take the downhill as good training and enjoy the day, and I'm here now with a silver medal. It's quite a bonus."

On winning his second Olympic medal (he also won bronze in the super-G):
"It's crazy. I would never expect (it). Of course, I'm in good shape. There have been a lot of ups and downs; also true that there have been a lot of emotions. A lot of expectation from me and also others.
"Taking two medals, I can't describe it. It's really, really amazing. Took a while until I got the first one, but now I have two I just want to keep it going until next time, which is four years. But it's going to be some championships coming too."

Canadian, James Crawford has continued his strong performance at these Winter Olympics. Narrowly missing the downhill podium after placing 4th, then placing 6th in the Super G, Crawford managed to finally claim his first Olympic podium by placing 3rd in today’s alpine combined. Finishing 2nd in the first run downhill race, only 0.02 seconds behind Kilde, Crawford was in a good spot heading into the slalom. Pushing until the end, he managed to claim his first bronze Olympic medal.

On what it is like to sit in third place and wait for the rest of the field to finish: 
"Horrible. It's two times now I have had to do it. The downhill I ended up getting pushed (out) and feeling the sting of coming fourth, and today it was the opposite. I didn't get that same sting."

On the decision to shave off his moustache after finishing sixth in the men's super-G possibly making the difference: 
"I honestly shaved it because I felt like it wasn't getting me on the podium. It was a little bit of a 'ju-ju' thing. Maybe it was the reason, maybe not, I'm not sure."

On bettering his aunt, Judy Crawford (CAN), who finished fourth at the Olympic Winter Games Sapporo 1972: 
"She always told me no one remembers fourth place and it feels really good to not be in that situation. That kept popping into my head after the downhill and even today. It's cutthroat but it's true - at the Olympic Games a medal is everything."

On feeling confident pre-race but less so after his slalom run: 
"I knew I had a pretty good shot. My downhill has been in a really good place lately and I am no slouch in slalom. My run, I had a little mistake coming down, and I honestly thought that wasn't going to be enough. When I came down the finish line behind (Aleksander Aamodt) Kilde (NOR), there were a lot of strong slalom skiers still to come. 
"It was a lot of relief when they kept coming behind me."

On claiming an Olympic bronze medal before reaching a world cup podium: 
"I've been searching for a podium for so long on the world cup. I kept feeling it was right around the corner and I could get it done, and if I just continued what I was doing it would happen. Today it finally did."

Both Alexis Pinturault (FRA) and Marco Schwarz (AUT) who had previously done well in alpine combined events, unfortunately, did not make the podium today. Pinturault did not finish his slalom run after having a crash, whereas Schwarz placed 5th just behind Justin Murisier (SUI).

Alexis Pinturault o_n not finishing the slalom run:_
"I didn't have 50 options, I only had one, and I tried to give everything.
"I suffered a bit of an injury - we'll have to do some medical examinations. I don't think it's dramatic, but I could feel it in my shoulder. It could be better.

Alexis Pinturault o_n his emotions:_
"I'm not angry. Disappointed, yes, sad too. I've had better days.
"Throughout your career there are always highs and lows, moments of joy and moments of suffering. It's sport, that's why we love it, that's why the life of an athlete is very hard. It's that that makes you live through all the emotions.
"Right now I need to take some time, calm myself down regarding today's result, and step back a bit from this situation."

Marco Schwarz o_n finishing fifth:_
"It's pretty tough right now. The whole season is pretty bad for me. Of course now there are the Olympics, new races, new chances, but today was tough."

Marco Schwarz o_n what went wrong:_
"Downhill was great, slalom skiing is bad since the first race this year. Trying to find my rhythm and then we will see what's possible in the next races."

Marco Schwarz on gold medallist Johannes Strolz (AUT):
"Hats off to Strolzy. Really really good guy, I'm really happy that I'm with him in the team. He's preparing his skis on his own, so congrats to him.
"He did a really great slalom season so far, and also did some very good downhill runs in the trainings and before we came here. I'm happy for him."

Quotes courtesy of Olympic Information Service