Kristoffersen wins slalom, historic silver for Greece

COURCHEVEL, France: Norway's Henrik Kristoffersen took gold in the final men's slalom of the Alpine skiing world championships on Sunday (Feb 19) while Alexandros "AJ" Ginnis finished second to give Greece a first ever winter sports medal.

Italian Alex Vinatzer claimed the bronze while Alpine powerhouse Austria, who led the first run with Manuel Feller, ended the championships without a gold for the first time since 1987.

France's 2022 Olympic slalom champion Clement Noel was fourth, missing a medal by 0.03 seconds.

Kristoffersen made a stunning comeback from 16th place after the first run, setting the fastest time over the second leg down the icy L'Eclipse piste to strike gold on a sunny day in the French Alps.

"It’s worse standing in the finish and waiting than standing at the top. I’ve done both plenty of times, but the finish is worse because you’ve done your run, and you can’t change anything," said the 2019 giant slalom gold medallist.

"I won most things in slalom except Olympic gold and world championship gold. So I think it was about time."

His second-run time of 51.66 left him 0.20 quicker overall than Ginnis, who had been equal second with Norway's Lucas Braathen after the first run. Vinatzer was a further 0.18 slower.

As Kristoffersen's wait in the leader's chair at the finish area stretched to nearly half an hour, a string of medal contenders fell short under pressure.

Nobody was feeling it more than Feller, Austria's last hope of gold, who had crashed in the warm-up and needed painkillers before his first run.

Two years ago in Italy's Cortina d'Ampezzo the Austrians led the table with five golds but they leave Courchevel-Meribel with three silvers and four bronzes.

Switzerland topped the medal standings this time with