On the night from Friday to Saturday, Mathieu Faivre, a skier from Isola 2000, achieved his first World Cup podium. The Nice native finished second, behind Alexis Pinturault, in the Giant Slalom at Yuzawa Naeba (Japan).
It’s done, it’s achieved. At 24 years old, Mathieu Faivre clinches his first prestigious World Cup podium. Nearly six years after his debut among the elites, on March 12, 2010, in Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Germany) with an honorable 15th place, the Nice native experiences the joy of the podium. He, who had hovered around it for a long time, collected places in the Top 10 and even in the Top 5 (4th in Beaver Creek in December 2013, 5th in Alta Badia in December 2015). The tenth Top 10 was the charm.
And the slope deteriorated…
Starting with bib number 9 in the first run, considered a good draw according to experts, Mathieu Faivre delivers a quality race with the sixth-best time, just five-tenths off the podium of the indomitable Austrian Marcel Hirscher. The Japanese slopes favored Mathieu Faivre a few hours later. Despite being more comfortable on hard, icy tracks, the Nice native benefited from the very mild temperatures and thus a track that quickly deteriorated. He clocked the second-best time of the run (behind third-place Blardone) and watched as his competitors gradually fell behind in the ranking before the final release of results.
The emotion
Beside his friend and fellow countryman Alexis Pinturault, the day’s winner, the Isola 2000 skier seemed emotional, close to shedding a few tears of joy. A first career podium allows him to take third place in the discipline ranking behind Hirscher and Muffat-Jeandet. In the overall World Cup standings, he is 21st, about thirty points shy of the Top 20. The next races are on Friday, February 26, and Sunday, February 28, in Hinterstoder (Austria), where two giant slaloms will take place. The same program follows the weekend after with two races in Kranjska Gora (Slovenia).
