Olympics Men’s Alpine Combined medal results, highlights and more

The Alpine Combined is the ultimate test of all-around skill for skiers. Who emerged out of the downhill and slalom runs as the new Olympic gold medalist?

In terms of skill sets, the downhill and the slalom are as far apart as you can get in Alpine skiing. The former is a pure test of speed. Skiers can hit 80 miles per hour as they barrel down the mountain. The latter is a technical exam, demanding precision on one’s edges with each turn cutting through the poles.

Alpine combined forces competitors bold enough to try it out to showcase skill in both disciplines. Featuring a downhill run followed by a slalom run, Alpine combined demands a range of talents. It proved to be a day tailor-made for Marcel Hirscher, the slalom specialist who eked his way into the second run and then blew past the competition.

MEDAL RESULT | Alpine Skiing: Men's Alpine Combined

Marcel Hirscher

Alexis Pinturault

Victor Muffat-Jeandet

Hirscher is one of the most storied slalom specialists in Alpine skiing history. With 56 podium finishes in World Cup slalom races, the Austrian had struggled to capture the ultimate prize. In Pyeongchang, though, the stars finally aligned as Hirscher snatched Olympic gold in the Alpine combined on a day dominated in the end by the technical skiers.

First up was the weather-shortened downhill…

The skiers first headed to the downhill course. Things finally got started at Jeongseon Alpine Centre, which finally hosted its first action at the venue. The calendar was pushed back by high winds. That meant Alpine combined earned the honor of opening festivities at this Olympic venue after the men’s downhill was postponed until prime time on Wednesday night in North America.

It was an opportunity the speed event specialists to get a first look at the course in its current condition. But with conditions still windy throughout the course, the organizers elected to shorten the run. Even with the shorter course, though, the downhill specialists had the advantage.

With the downhill looming two days after the Alpine combined, Hahnenkamm winner Thomas Dressen snatched the top spot in the downhill run. Dressen finished 0.07 seconds ahead of Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal and 0.13 seconds in front of defending Olympic downhill gold medalist Matthias Mayer.

The top 30 advanced to race first on the slalom run, but not all of them would make it through to the finish. They got the benefit of sunlight throughout the course, and then the remainder of the Olympic competitors got their chance to at least say they finished the event.

… then came an unforgiving slalom.

In a way, the Alpine combined is as much a test of how well downhillers can race a slalom course as anything else. How much time they give up on the back end determines whether a technical specialist can snatch away gold.

Several of the downhillers, though, decided to pull out. It furthers the narrative that this was really about snagging what effectively amounted to a training run on the downhill course at Jeongseon after the downhill was moved later in the week. That included Aksel Lund Svindal, runner-up in the downhill portion of the course.

The early leader, Victor Muffat-Jeandet, went second down the slalom course after barely qualifying at 29th. Muffat-Jeandet was forced to sweat it out on the third step of the podium until the very end. He was joined on the podium by compatriot Alexis Pinturault, who snagged silver.

Hirscher, though, was the star of the day. After six straight World Cup overall titles, the veteran Austrian finally claimed the first Olympic gold of a storied career. Putting in a dominant slalom run, Hirscher forced the downhill specialists to take too many chances to catch up. Several crashed, including a spectacular spill by Matthias Mayer in the penultimate run of the day.

In the end, the slalom course was just too difficult to fake one’s way through. The shortened downhill course didn’t allow the sort of gaps to develop that might allow a downhiller to get on the podium. Instead, technical skiers swept the medals as Hirscher finally captured his elusive and long-sought gold.

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