Courchevel (France) (AFP) - Norway's Henrik Kristoffersen won world gold in a dramatic men's slalom in Courchevel on Sunday as AJ Ginnis claimed silver for Greece's first-ever championship medal.
Kristoffersen, just 15th fastest in the first run, laid down the speediest second leg for a winning aggregate of 1min 39.50sec.
Athens-born Ginnis, who competed for the US team before switching allegiance to the country of his birth, came in second, at 0.20sec, with Italy's Alex Vinatzer claiming bronze (+0.38).
"So far this (medal) is the best one," said Kristoffersen, a two-time Olympic medallist who won giant slalom gold in the world championships in 2019 and slalom bronze in Cortina two years ago.
"Now it's done, I'm pretty calm.It's worse standing in the finish and waiting than standing at the top.I've done both plenty of times, but the finish is worse because you've done your run, and you can't change anything."
Manuel Feller had raised hopes of bagging Austria's first gold medal in the final event of the World Ski Championships by topping the first run.
But he slipped away in the second run down L'Eclipse piste in sunny, warm conditions to leave the alpine skiing powerhouses without a championship gold medal for the first time since the Crans Montana worlds in 1987.
Ginnis was left stunned by his achievement, following a podium finish at a World Cup slalom in Chamonix.
"I'm happy I'm too dumb to register what happened two weeks ago, to come into this with a clear mind, and just not think about anything," he said.
"These last two weeks have been everything I've dreamed of.Maybe in the after season, I will realise it.
"I'm sorry to my Greek compatriots, the news might be a little bit busy with my name, and I apologise for that, but oh my God, our first world championship medal at a snow or ice event.It is a memory for me, but history for Greece!"
Favourites fade
Kristoffersen was a disappointing 15th fastest in the first leg, but took control of the second run with a lead time of 1:39.60.
It was an aggregate that was extremely tough for the rest of the field to even come close to, with a raft of racers losing crucial early tenths of seconds on a demanding course.
With the top 30 finishers running in reverse order for the second descent, the pressure is always on those who were fastest in the first.
And so it proved as Kristoffersen's time proved too much for Austrian Adrian Pertl, Swiss Ramon Zenhaeusern and local French hope Alexis Pinturault.
'Pintu', a Courchevel native, saw his hopes of a third medal on home snow -- after alpine combined gold and super-G bronze -- go up in smoke with an error-ridden run.
Austria's Marco Schwarz, another racer chasing a third medal of these worlds after silver in the alpine combined and bronze in the giant slalom, also saw his advantage slip away.
The top eight mustered themselves for a descent into a cauldron-like atmosphere of stands packed full of raucous, flag-waving fans, bass-heavy music supplemented by airhorns, trumpeters and cowbells.
First out of the start hut was France's Olympic champion Clement Noel, but he could only finish fourth, 0.41sec off Kristoffersen's time.
Austrian Fabio Gstrein lost his rhythm in the midsection to finish more than a second off the pace, Italy's Vinatzer suffering a similar fate, but just managing enough to eventually bag bronze.
Kristoffersen was left peeking through the loops of his poles as the five fastest skiers from the first run readied themselves for an assault on his time.
His teammate and reigning world champion Sebastian Foss-Solevaag was lucky not to ski out, recovering but finishing 19th (+1.26).
Linus Strasser, on a course set by his coach Bernd Brunner, left Kristoffersen squirming on the sheepskin cover of the 'leader's chair', but to no avail as the German botched his trajectory to the finish line.
Norwegian tyro Lucas Braathen, just three weeks after an emergency appendectomy, also couldn't hold onto his deficit.
Ginnis, with a 0.78sec advantage, lost four tenths up top but clung on for second place behind Kristoffersen.
It was a first-ever world championship medal for the Mediterranean country, with Ginnis having learned to ski on the snowy slopes of Mount Parnassus in central Greece.
All eyes then turned to Feller, but the Austrian couldn't keep his line coming into the final third, finishing equal seventh with Braathen (+0.67) to compound his country's golden woes.
