Local hero Pinturault revels in combined gold on home snow

Costly 'banana' 

It was nip-and-tuck with defending world champion Marco Schwarz right until the end in a dramatic day's racing.

The Austrian had led Pinturault coming down the slalom, but a mistake just metres from the line saw him lose valuable time and he had to be happy with silver, just 0.10 seconds off the Frenchman's pace.

"I had a good and strong slalom, but Marco somehow struggled in the second part where it was more tricky," Pinturault said.

Schwarz described his mistake as a "banana".

"The little mistake before the finish line... is part of the game. I'm happy with second place," he said.

"I'm really happy for Alexis to get the gold medal at home. He's a really good sportsman. Winning the gold medal at home, that's pretty amazing, congratulations to him."

Raphael Haaser claimed bronze for Austria, just a day after his sister Ricarda had done the same in the women's combined.

But he admitted to have been out doing super-G training when Ricarda was racing instead of watching her on the television.

"I'm super happy for my sister, it's something that pushed me today," he said.

                                                                                                            AFP