Greek skier AJ Ginnis finished second in the slalom at the Alpine Skiing World Championships on Sunday in Courchevel, giving his country its first medal at a world championship in any Olympic discipline contested on snow or ice.
“You put Greece on the map,” Johan Eliasch, president of the International Ski and Snowboard Federation, told him before handing him his silver medal during the award ceremony.
Second at the end of the initial heat, Ginnis maintained his position and completed his two outings on the track with a cumulative time of one minute 39.70 seconds, or 20 hundredths of a second behind the Norwegian Henrik Kristoffersen.
“It’s just been a dream, the last two weeks. History for Greece, best moment of my career,” said Ginnis.
“I can not believe. I don’t know what happened. During the descent I thought it wasn’t enough and just gave it my all in the last gates. »
After the initial run, Ginnis said he felt “no pressure”.
“I ski for Greece, so I ski freely,” he explained, adding with a laugh that he had made a prayer “to each of the 12 Greek gods” before the race.
Ginnis had already become the first skier from Greece to reach a World Cup podium with his second place finish in the final slalom before the start of the World Championships.
Ranked 16th after the first run, Kristoffersen clocked the best time in the second run at 51.66 seconds, en route to a second World Championship title. Four years ago, Kristoffersen won the giant slalom event.
“I didn’t think it was enough. From the mid-point it was a clean descent. Up there, I thought there had been too many errors and not enough speed”, analyzed Kristoffersen.
The Italian Alex Vinatzer completed the podium 38 hundredths of a second behind the winner.
Leader after the opening run, Austrian Manuel Feller finished the race in seventh place, tied with Norwegian Lucas Braathen, in 1:40.17.
Suddenly, it is the first time since 1987 that Austria does not win any gold medal at the World Championships.
The only Canadian entered in the competition, Erik Read finished 31st with a cumulative time of 1:43.25.
This men’s slalom was the last event of this edition of the World Championships.
Canada completed it with four medals, two gold and two bronze.
Quebecer Laurence St-Germain won one of the two gold medals on Saturday in the women’s slalom, ahead of the illustrious American Mikaela Shiffrin. It was his first career podium at a major international competition.
James Crawford had started the ball rolling with his gold medal in the super-G on February 9.
Cameron Alexander, in the downhill, and the quartet formed by Valérie Grenier, Jeffrey Read, Britt Richardson and Erik Read, in the mixed parallel event, obtained the bronze medals.
The next edition of the World Championships will take place in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria in 2025.