'Courchevel Kid' Pinturault claims Alpine combined gold on home snow

After enduring two difficult years following his triumphant 2021 season, all Alexis Pinturault needed to return to the top of the podium were two familiar comforts: his home town and Alpine combined.

Pinturault won the world championships gold medal in the all-around discipline on Tuesday to the delight of his adoring fans in Courchevel, dispelling any doubts that the 31-year-old French star was past his prime.

In returning to the form that saw him claim the overall crystal globe in 2021, Pinturault won the morning super-G leg and held on in a difficult slalom to finish ahead of Austrian pair Marco Schwarz and Raphael Haaser.

"It's amazing, especially after (his struggles at) the beginning of the winter, it feels pretty great to be here," said Pinturault, who has made only one World Cup podium this season.

"I hope to enjoy it because it was pretty difficult some months ago."

One of the catalysts for Pinturault's change in fortune on Tuesday was a return to Alpine combined, the discipline in which he won the 2019 world championships gold medal and seven of the last 10 races on the World Cup circuit before it was discontinued in 2020.

In the super-G leg on the Eclipse piste, Pinturault was unsteady on the first jump and a little wild throughout, but he skied fast all the way to outdo the speed specialists and lead by 0.06 seconds over Schwarz at the halfway stage.

"I really tried to attack," Pinturault said of his super-G run. "I was really on the limit but always on the good side of the limit, so I could handle the whole way down without big mistakes and that was the main goal."

Skiing first in the afternoon on a slalom course that was more technical than is customary for Alpine combined, Pinturault stumbled in the mid-section but recovered to power home and face a nervous wait to see if his time would hold up.

"I think I made not an amazing slalom but a good and strong slalom especially with the number one, because it's really difficult when it's tricky to know where you can push and where you have to control a bit more," he said.

One skier later, Schwarz led Pinturault's time at the first three intermediate splits but a significant error on the closing turns saw him miss out by 0.10 seconds and hand the gold to Pinturault in a reversal of the 1-2 from the 2021 world championships.

"Slalom was very difficult today, especially the last part," Schwarz said.

"It was really tight and a lot of combinations. I had a little mistake at the banana, but it's part of the game and I'm happy with the silver medal."

Schwarz's teammate Haaser was a surprise bronze medallist at his first world championships, matching his sister Ricarda's bronze medal from Monday's women's Alpine combined.

The 25-year-old Austrian has only one career World Cup podium, in super-G, and having never skied slalom on the World Cup, he was understandably daunted by the difficult course set for the technical leg of the race.

"When I was standing at the start at the inspection, I was like, 'Oh, I don't know how to go about there,' but I think I did a pretty solid run and I'm really happy," he said.

But despite Haaser's unexpected bronze, the day belonged to Pinturault, who returned to the top of the podium for the first time at elite level since he won a World Cup giant slalom in March 2021.

After that globe-winning season produced five victories and four other podium finishes, Pinturault had made only four podiums in nearly two full seasons since, and returned empty-handed from the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.

While his indifferent form has continued this season, Pinturault maintained his focus on his home world championships and now has a gold medal to show for it.

"It's since two years that I have the world championships in Courchevel in my head," he admitted. "It's racing the world championships in France but when it's your home town, it's something even more special.

"So I really wanted to give my best here at these world champs, and it started pretty well I would say."

Pretty well is an understatement, and with the super-G and giant slalom still to come at these championships, the Courchevel Kid might not be done yet.