WENGEN, Switzerland — On a bitter-sweet day for the French ski team, emerging star Cyprien Sarrazin raced to a winning run in a World Cup super-G Friday, then watched as teammate and new dad Alexis Pinturault had to be airlifted to a hospital after a crash.
Pinturault was taken off the course in a helicopter just six days after becoming a father for the first time.
Sarrazin watched with concern from the leader’s box by the finish area as the 32-year-old Pinturault went into a tumbling fall after being unbalanced landing a jump.
French media later reported that Pinturault had ruptured the ACL in his left knee, which would rule him out for the rest of the season. The overall World Cup champion in 2021 and a three-time Olympic medalist, his daughter was born in the Swiss capital Bern on Saturday.
“It’s difficult to really celebrate when a buddy falls like that. I hope that he’s OK,” Sarrazin told Swiss broadcaster RTS. “We know that he was conscious and that’s the most important. … This victory is for him.”
Sarrazin is having a breakout season at age 29 and Friday’s victory came after he finished second Thursday in a downhill. He won the previous downhill two weeks ago at Bormio, Italy.
PHOTOS: Sarrazin wins World Cup super-G after French teammate Pinturault crashes
Sarrazin ended a remarkable streak in World Cup super-G races. Just three men - Marco Odermatt, Aleksander Aamodt Kilde and Vincent Kriechmayr - had combined to win all 20 races since December 2020.
Odermatt was second Friday, 0.58 seconds behind Sarrazin, and Kilde was exactly one second back in third.
“Today Sarrazin was incredible, (a) very, very good job,” said Kilde, a three-time career winner at Wengen. “When you do it like that you deserve to win.”
The same three men were on the downhill podium Thursday, when Odermatt earned his first World Cup win in the discipline.
Odermatt extended his lead in the overall World Cup standings in search of a third straight title since Pinturault won in 2021.
“It’s never easy if a friend has an accident,” Odermatt said of Pinturault’s crash, which created a 30-minute delay leaving racers unsure when they would be called to start. “I skied well but didn’t risk everything.”
The Swiss star also has a bigger lead in the season-long super-G standings, ahead of Kriechmayr who placed outside the top 10 in the race.
The classic Lauberhorn downhill in Wengen - a signature race on the World Cup circuit - will be held Saturday over the full 4.4-kilometer (2 ¾-mile) distance that takes close to 2 ½ minutes to complete.
It will be a bigger endurance test than usual when the speed racers compete for a third straight day.
“I hope I’m ready tomorrow,” Odermatt said, “because it’s tough.”
Please read our comment policy before commenting.