Home hopes high for men’s tech events but big names ready to spoil party
Feb 15, 2023·Alpine Skiing
The tens of thousands of French fans who continue to flock to Courchevel Meribel – not to mention the many more watching avidly on TV – will be quietly confident of their sun-splashed home world championships ending in yet more glory.
In local star Alexis Pinturault – winner of a gold and a bronze on home snow already – and Clement Noel, the Olympic slalom champion, the crowd have two super-charged contenders for the men’s giant slalom, run one taking place at 10:00 local time on 17 February, and then the final race of the championships, the slalom, starting at 10:00 on 19 February.
But, wow, will they have some quality skiers to beat if they are to deliver a golden finale to what has been a glorious championships.
For a start, there is the big three of the 2023 World Cup season men’s technical events.
The Big Three
Henrik Kristoffersen (NOR)
2023 World Cup SL: 2 wins, 1x 2nd
2023 World Cup GS: 3x 2nd, 1x 3rd, 2x 5th
World Championships: 2021 SL: 3rd; 2019 GS: 1st; 2017 SL: 4th, GS: 4th; 2015 SL: 4th
Olympic Games: 2022 SL: 4th; 2018 GS: 2nd; 2014 SL: 3rd
There will be no one more experienced or successful lining up in both tech events than Kristoffersen. The Norwegian already has two world championship and two Olympic medals to his name, not to mention four World Cup titles, and the 28-year-old is showing his very best this season.
Marco Odermatt (SUI)
2023 World Championship form so far: AC: DSQ, SG: 4th; DH: 1st
2023 World Cup GS: 4 wins, 1x 3rd
World Championships: 2021 DH: 4th; 2019 GS: 10th
Olympic Games: 2022 GS: 1st, DH: 7th
The golden boy of Swiss skiing has been particularly untouchable in GS for the past year-and-a-half. The Olympic gold medallist has started five World Cup GS races this season, winning four and finishing third in the other. Surprisingly just missing out in the super-G in Courchevel Meribel, it would be a shock of seismic proportions if the same happened on 17 February.
Lucas Braathen (NOR)
2023 World Cup SL: 2 wins, 3x 3rd, 1x 4th
2023 World Cup GS: 1 win, 1x 4th, 2x top 10
Fresh-faced and a whirlwind of fresh air, there is no doubt Lucas Braathen has been the standout star of the men’s Alpine ski season so far. Top-four in six of his seven World Cup slalom races – a run that included two wins – plus a GS victor, it would be so cruel if his recent appendicitis (he had surgery on 31 January) deprived him of a shot at world glory. One note of caution: he did fail to finish either the slalom or the GS at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games.
Ones to Watch
Daniel Yule (SUI)
2023 World Cup SL: 2 wins, 1x 3rd, 1x 4th
World Championships: 2021 SL: 5th; 2019 TP: 1st
Olympic Games: 2022 SL: 6th; 2018 TP: 1st , SL: 8th
With great pedigree, Yule is a key part of a formidable Swiss squad. He narrowly missed out in the slalom two years ago and again at last year’s Olympic Games – third time lucky?
Ramon Zenhaeusern (SUI)
2023 World Cup SL: 1 win, 1x 2nd, 3x top 10
World Championships: 2019 TP: 1st, SL: 5th
Olympic Games: 2018 TP: 1st, SL: 2nd
Winner of the most recent World Cup slalom in Chamonix, France, just two days before the start of these championships, the 2.02m (6ft 8in) man appears to be once again peaking at the right time.
Manuel Feller (AUT)
2023 World Cup SL: 2x 2nd, 1x 4th, 1x 5th
2023 World Cup GS: 1x 2nd, 1x 4th
World Championships: 2019 SL: 6th; 2017 SL: 2nd
Olympic Games: 2018 TP: 2nd
A true showman, Feller never goes anything but ‘full gas’. It didn’t work in Kitzbühel in January when the local hero agonisingly skied out with victory in his grasp but his record shows the approach often does pay off. He will be desperate to right a record that reads DNFs for slalom and GS at both Beijing 2022 and the 2021 Worlds.
Loic Meillard (SUI)
2023 World Championship form so far: AC: 6th, SG: 8th
2023 World Cup SL: 1x 2nd, 1x 3rd, 4x top 10
2023 World Cup GS: 1 win, 1x 3rd, 1x 4th, 2x top 10
World Championships: 2021 AC: 3rd, Parallel: 3rd, GS: 5th
Olympic Games: 2022 SL: 5th
Meillard won the only World Cup GS Odermatt has missed so far this season. A wonderful all-round skier, he has real form and will be a danger in both events.
Home Hopes
Alexis Pinturault (FRA)
2023 World Championship form so far: AC: 1st, SG: 3rd
2023 World Cup GS: 1x 4th, 2x 6th, 1x 7th
2023 World Cup SL: 1x 5th, 1x 10th
World Championships: 2021 AC: 2nd, SG: 3rd, SL: 7th; 2019 AC: 1st, GS: 3rd, SL: 4th; 2017 TP: 1st; 2015 GS: 3rd
Olympic Games: 2018 AC: 2nd, GS: 3rd; 2014 GS: 3rd
The GS will be Pinturault’s 25th world championship start and the Frenchman is perfectly placed to add to his record of three gold, one silver and four bronze medals. Born in Courchevel the shackles have been loosened since winning Alpine combined gold and he is firmly back in the sort of form that brought him the 2021 overall World Cup crown.
Clement Noel (FRA)
2023 World Cup SL: 1 win, 1x 3rd
World Championships: 2019 TP: 5th, SL: 7th
Olympic Games: 2022 SL: 1st; 2018 SL: 4th, TP: 4th
Noel knows how to win. Not only is he the Olympic slalom champion, the 25-year-old Frenchman is also a 10-time winner on the World Cup circuit.
World championships over for McGrath (NOR)
Norway’s Atle Lie McGrath, the fastest man in the slalom leg of the Alpine combined and a past World Cup winner, will unfortunately take no further part in Courchevel Meribel. Medical examinations revealed the 22-year-old sustained a strain injury during the super-G on Thursday.
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