Strolz emulates father by winning Olympic gold in combined

BEIJING (AP) — Just like his father did more than three decades ago, Austrian skier Johannes Strolz won the Olympic gold medal on Thursday in the Alpine combined race.

The 29-year-old Strolz, who has only ever won one World Cup slalom, was fourth fastest after the downhill run. But he was half a second quicker than anyone else in the slalom, helping him edge first-run leader Aleksander Aamodt Kilde of Norway by 0.58 seconds.

The combined adds the times from one downhill run and one slalom run.

Strolz’s father, Hubert, won gold in combined at the 1988 Calgary Olympics. Hubert Strolz also won silver in the giant slalom that year.

Jack Crawford of Canada finished third, 0.68 behind Strolz and 0.09 behind Kilde. World champion Marco Schwarz of Austria was fifth, just behind Swiss rival Justin Murisier.

Kilde won his second medal of the Beijing Games. He also took bronze in the super-G on Tuesday.

One of the favorites for the race, Alexis Pinturault, had a disappointing first run and then fell in the slalom.

The Frenchman won silver in the combined at the 2021 word championships — where he was defending his title — and at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. He had failed to finish four of six slalom races in the World Cup this season.

Another pre-race favorite, Loic Meillard of Switzerland, had an error in the downhill but managed to stay on the course. He failed to finish the second run after straddling a gate.

Thursday’s race had only 27 total entrants, compared to 43 for the downhill and 47 for the super-G earlier in the week. It’s the first time in Olympic history that the event is taking place without at least one American racer.

The downhill run had to be delayed for about 10 minutes when Yannick Chabloz crashed and was taken away in a sled. The Swiss skier tumbled into a barrier and then slid down part of the mountain.

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