Schwarz slaloms past Pinturault for world combined gold
- Schwarz nailed the fastest slalom run to pinch victory from the defending champion.
CORTINA D'AMPEZZO: Marco Schwarz made it three from three for the Austrian men as he laid down a near-perfect slalom run to claim alpine combined gold at the world championships in Cortina d'Ampezzo on Monday.
Schwarz clocked a combined total of 2min 05.86sec, finishing 0.04sec ahead of France's Alexis Pinturault, with Switzerland's Loic Meillard rounding out the podium (+1.12).
After Schwarz's teammate Vincent Kriechmayr won both the super-G and downhill in Cortina for a first speed double since 2005, a third gold for Austria looked like it might have been out of reach after the combined's opening super-G.
Pinturault, who won a surprise bronze in last week's super-G proper, posted the second fastest time in the opening run, with Schwarz 0.32sec down on the Frenchman.
Schwarz, however, nailed the fastest slalom run to pinch victory from the defending champion.