The Japan Times - Kristoffersen finally hits slalom gold, Ginnis revels in historic Greek silver

Kristoffersen, 28, has been a mainstay in the technical events since his World Cup debut as a precocious teenager back in 2012.

He has gone on to notch up 30 World Cup wins, 23 in the slalom, and 79 podiums, 49 coming in the shortest discipline in alpine skiing.

A slalom gold at the Olympics and world championships has eluded him, however, albeit he notched up giant slalom gold in the 2019 worlds in Are.

"It as about time!" the Norwegian said. "I've won more than twice as many slaloms as the next person who is skiing at the moment.

"I've won most things in slalom apart from Olympic and world championship gold, it was time."

Kristoffersen described the victory, which came after he was just 16th fastest in the first leg, as having been an "emotionally draining rollercoaster".

He was left squirming with anguish as the fastest skiers from that first run came down in full-frontal assault on his aggregate time.

"It's worse standing in the finish and waiting than standing at the top," he said. "I've done both plenty of times, but the finish is worse because you've done your run, and you can't change anything."

- Greek dream come true -

While Kristoffersen, and bronze medallist Alex Vinatzer, could have been expected to have been on the podium, it was another story for Ginnis, whose sole World Cup podium came in the Chamonix slalom this season.

"This is a dream come true," said Ginnis, who was born to a Greek ski instructor father and American mother in Athens, moved to the US at the age of 15 and raced for his adopted country before switching allegiance.

"Fighting back from injuries, getting cut from teams, trying to fund raise for what we're doing now... I thought two weeks ago was crazy, getting my first World Cup podium, and to be able to ride that wave into today is special, a dream come true on every level.

"It's going to be something, if I ever have kids or grandkids, that I'll be able to tell them, one of my best memories for sure but to maybe think this is going to be written in history books is another level."

Ginnis' career, improbably started on the snowy slopes of Mount Parnassus in central Greece -- altitude 2,457m (8,060ft) -- has been massively disrupted by injury, not least six knee operations.

The most recent operation deprived him representing the country of his birth at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, which was to be a turning point as he went to work as an analyst.

"I think I'm dumb and stubborn," he said of keeping up his motivation after so many injuries.

"When I came back from Beijing in February, I'd found a new fire for it so when I told my mom 'I really want to give this another shot', credit to her she supported me and said yes go for it.

"If she'd said 'AJ, you've been through enough, it's time to call it and get a job,' I probably would have done that."

Looking ahead, Ginnis said the two biggest things he hoped would change was his World Cup ranking, "being able to start in the top 30 is a gamechanger, and then hopefully in the offseason get some more funding for the team, hopefully the podium can help that".

Ginnis added: "I can't wait to get back for the Greek nationals the end of March and meet all the young skiers in Greece.

"I just hope it acts as inspiration."

M.Matsumoto--JT