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France's Pinturault to retire at season's end / Photo: © AFP/File
France's Pinturault to retire at season's end
Alexis Pinturault, France's most successful alpine skier with 34 victories on the World Cup circuit, announced Saturday that he will retire at the end of this season.
Pinturault, the overall World Cup champion in 2021, skied in French colours at seven world championships and three Winter Olympics.
He won Olympic silver in the combined event in the 2018 Pyeongchang Games, along with two giant slalom bronzes (2014, 2018).
At the world champs, Pinturault claimed three golds, a silver and four bronze medals between 2015-23.
"The idea for me is to retire and move on to something else," said the 35-year-old Pinturault.
Back after two seasons plagued by injuries, the three-time Olympic medallist missed the cut for last month's Milan-Cortina Winter Games.
Pinturault will now hang up his ski boots after the World Cup finals in Hafjell, Norway, on March 24.
"If you can no longer find the reason, or a good enough reason (to keep going), that's when it's time to turn that famous page. I think that's where I am today," he said.
Pinturault will depart the circuit with the reputation as an adept all-rounder.
His 34 World Cup victories came in the super-G (1), giant slalom (18), slalom (3), combined (10) and parallel slalom (2).
He made 77 podiums and also won five World Cup discipline globes (giant slalom 2021; combined 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020).
Q.Taylor--SFF
