Frenchman Alexis Pinturault skis to world gold in combined event before home crowd | CBC Sports

First-run leader Alexis Pinturault held on to win the gold medal in the alpine men’s combined Tuesday at his home world championships in Courchevel, France.

In a tricky slalom run on a steep pitch, the Frenchman retained his lead from the super-G portion to edge defending champion Marco Schwarz by 0.10 seconds, stopping the clock in a combined one minute 53.31 seconds.

The Austrian, second after the first leg, seemed headed for the victory when leading Pinturault by 0.30 seconds at the final split but had a costly mistake at the fourth-to-last gate.

Pinturault is a Courchevel native and his family is running a hotel close to the L’Eclipse course. He previously won the world title in 2019 but was beaten to gold by Schwarz two years later. He also took Olympic silver in 2018.

Pinturault dominated the discipline when it was still part of the World Cup circuit until 2020, winning six of the last eight season titles.

The combined event adds the times from one super-G run and one slalom run.

WATCH | Slalom of men’s combined event in Courchevel:

FIS Alpine world ski championships: Men’s Alpine combined run 2

Watch the final run of the men’s Alpine combined event, at the FIS Alpine world ski championships in Courchevel, France.

Raphael Haaser finished 0.44 behind to win bronze in 1:53.75, a day after his sister, Ricarda Haaser, also took bronze in the women’s combined event.

All four Canadians in the competition didn’t finish the slalom run after placing inside the top 20 in super-G — Jeff Read of Canmore, Alta. (11th), Toronto’s Jack Crawford (14th), Brodie Seger of North Vancouver, B.C., (17th) and Broderick Thompson of Whistler, B.C. (19th).

WATCH | Read finishes career-best 7th ahead of alpine worlds:

Canada’s Jeffrey Read cracks top 10 in World Cup super-G race

The Canmore, Alta native finished seventh in the men’s World Cup event in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.

Johannes Strolz, the Olympic champion from Austria, had a disappointing showing as he trailed Pinturault by 2.48 seconds after the super-G and was among 13 skiers to not finish the slalom, his strongest event.

Marco Odermatt, who is dominating the World Cup circuit, was disqualified for missing a gate shortly before the finish of his super-G run.

Several skiers, including Olympic silver medallist Aleksander Aamodt Kilde and two-time world champion Vincent Kriechmayr, used the super-G run only as training for Thursday’s race and did not start in the slalom portion.