Alexis Pinturault will not be in Chamonix this weekend for the slalom. The Frenchman preserves himself before the world championships of Courchevel / Meribel.
Alexis Pinturault, leader of the French alpine ski team, has decided to skip the Chamonix slalom on February 4, the last event before the 2023 World Championships in Courchevel / Meribel (6-19 February).
«As Chamonix is three days before the first round of the World Championships, it was one of the only options to be able to cut and be able to leave for training days.“Explained the winner of the 2020-21 World Cup season on Monday.
«It is important nervously but also psychologically to cut a little from the World Cup circuit, before tackling the World Championships.he continued.
Pinturault, 31, is in 7th place in the overall World Cup standings. He was on the podium once in a World Cup event this winter, finishing 3rd in the super-G in Beaver Creek (United States) at the start of December.
«The slalom remains my weakest chance of a medal (at the Worlds), we must not kid ourselves, that’s also why we made this choice“, he underlined.
At the previous Worlds, in 2021 in Cortina (Italy), “Pintu” had won two medals by finishing 2nd in the alpine combined and 3rd in the super-G.
In Chamonix, the French team will be represented by Olympic slalom champion Clément Noël, the only Frenchman to have won a World Cup event this winter, Steven Amiez, Théo Letitre, Paco Rassat and others yet to be determined. indicated the French Ski Federation.