The Japan Times - Zenhaeusern wins Chamonix slalom, Ginnis grabs first podium for Greece

The Swiss, second fastest down the first run behind France's Clement Noel, clocked a winning aggregate time of 1min 42.94sec in a confidence booster ahead of next week's World Ski Championships.

Ginnis, who moved to the US at the age of 15 and raced for his adopted country before switching allegiance, laid down the fastest second run to bag second place, at 1.02sec, and a historic result for Greece.

It was a remarkable result for the 28-year-old Athens-born skier, who started with a lowly number 45 bib and whose previous best was an 11th place in the Flachau slalom this season.

His career, improbably started on some snowy slopes in central Greece, has been massively disrupted by injury, not least six knee operations, the most recent of which saw him deprived of representing the country of his birth at the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

"This is a dream," said Ginnis, born to a Greek father and American mother. "I grew up on the coastal side of Greece. My dad was a ski fanatic, my family was. We had a cabin up in Mount Parnassus, we went there every weekend.

"When I was 12 my dad moved to Austria, I moved with him, learned the language and how to ski race.

"It was a always a crazy dream of ours to be first Greek on the podium, for it to finally happen is just unbelieveable with so many hurdles, so many surgeries."

Ginnis added: "The US team, credit to them, made me the skier I am today, but unfortunately with all my injuries I really needed a special treatment.

"With six surgeries, I just needed to look at things differently and skiing for Greece allowed me to do that."

Zenhaeusern's teammate Daniel Yule rounded out the podium, two-hundredths further adrift, while Noel skied out as he attempted to charge for victory.

"AJ (Ginnis) trained with us last week," said Noel.

"I'm very happy for him, he's a good friend, a very nice and respectful guy who's had many injuries.

"I'm stoked he got second."

Ginnis added: "The French have been absolutely incredible for us.

"Thanks to them, they deserve part of this credit!"

Zenhaeusern jumped four places to fourth in the World Cup slalom standings led by Norway's Lucas Braathen, absent from Chamonix after undergoing an emergency appendectomy.

Yule is second in the standings, just 36 points off Braathen, with the latter's teammate Henrik Kristoffersen, who failed to finish here, in third.

There are no major changes to the overall World Cup standings, Swiss racer Marco Odermatt sitting pretty on 1,386 points, with Norway's Aleksander Aamodt Kilde in second (1,073pts) and Kristoffersen in third (779).

The world championships kick off on Monday in the neighbouring French resorts of Courchevel and Meribel.

H.Nakamura--JT