MADRID, 7 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Catalan skier Albert Ortega signed this Monday a brilliant eighth place in the combined test of the Alpine Ski World Championships that are being held in Courchevel-Méribel (France) and that Frenchman Alexis Pinturault was crowned.
As indicated by the Royal Spanish Federation of Winter Sports (RFEDI), the 24-year-old Catalan achieved the second best place for a national skier in this specialty since Francisco Fernández Ochoa was fifth in the Lake Placid World Cups (United States). from 1980.
Ortega, who came to the event after winning gold precisely in the combined at the Universiade, made a great descent in the super-giant to end the twenty-first time with 1:10.18 and then was able to control his nerves in the complex sleeve of slalom that left more than twenty eliminated. Among them was not the Spaniard, who did not miss the opportunity to finish eighth (46.63), the same final position with 1:56.81, 3.50 behind Aleix Pinturault, world champion. The Frenchman was first in the Super-G and third in the slalom to win by 10 and 44 hundredths over the Austrians Marco Schwarz and Raphael Haaser, respectively.
“The truth is that I am very happy with this result. I did a very good skiing in the super-giant and in the slalom I have accumulated a little below, but I have fought and I have managed to move forward. It was a difficult day for what that it was important to reach the finish line and be as close as possible,” Ortega said in statements provided by the RFEDI.
The Catalan, who will compete this Thursday in the Super-G, was “satisfied” because he improved his “brand” from the 2021 World Cups in Cortina d’Ampezzo (Italy) and “very eager to continue working to be here one day with the best”.