Mathieu Faivre, one year after his two gold medals at the World Championships, secured the bronze medal in giant slalom at the Beijing Olympics. The skier from Nice couldn’t keep up with the favorite Marco Odermatt, who won gold, and the surprising Slovenian, Zan Kranjec. Alexis Pinturault and Thibaut Favrot finished tied for fifth.
After an incredibly tight first run (with ten racers within one second) in the snow, the second run took place under better conditions on the freshly groomed track in Yanqing.
Starting off very strong, the man from Nice did the essential on increasingly difficult snow to secure a spot on the podium and thus claim his first Olympic medal: “Despite the conditions, I managed to grit my teeth and roughly stay in the fight with my means. These aren’t the tools for the forefront, but at the Games, you must always give your maximum.”
