It was time for it to end. The 69th edition of the Critérium de la première neige in Val d'Isère ended this Sunday, with very mixed results for our French skiers. Alexis Pinturault finished 28th and last in the giant on Saturday, and Clément Noël sprained his right ankle after a fall in the first round. All the French hopes rested on Steven Amiez, the first Frenchman to start Sunday's slalom with bib number 10. And it got off to a pretty good start: the Courchevel skier quickly rose to the top of the rankings during this first round with a reference time of 47 seconds 44.
“I played, I lost”
All he had to do was confirm in the second round. But while he was the last to set off on the Face de Bellevarde, he negotiated a turn badly and fell after 10 seconds of racing. A real disappointment for Steven Amiez, who was aiming for the podium and first place in this World Cup slalom, having finished 6th in Levi in Finland and 4th in Gugl in Austria. “I wanted to play, I played, I lost“, confides the Courchevelois. “It's part of the learning process, but I'm happy with the approach, I was going to do the same as in the first round. It happened so quickly that I didn't really understand what happened.“
Tommy Cattaneo.
It was ultimately the Novégian Henrik Kristoffersen who won the slalom in Val d'Isère. “It makes me want to do the same in the future and go win races, that's all I want. I am confident for the future. You had to take risks and I took them, it doesn't pay off but I've already experienced that, the important thing is to bounce back and not give up.“Only one other French skier completed the event: the stage local Victor Muffat-Jeandet, who finished 16th and signed the best result of the weekend for men.
France
