Skier AJ Ginnis picks up 1st-ever world medal for Greece in any winter Olympic sport

Greek racer AJ Ginnis finished runner-up to gold medallist Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway in slalom at the alpine skiing world championships on Sunday to earn his country its first world championships medal in a winter Olympic sport.

"You put Greece on the map," Johan Eliasch, president of the International Ski and Snowboard Federation, told Ginnis before handing him the silver medal at the awards ceremony.

Ginnis stood second after the opening run and held his position, posting a two-run time of one minute 39.70 seconds, 20-100ths behind Kristoffersen in the final race of the competition.

"It's just a dream, the last two weeks. History for Greece, best moment in my career," Ginnis said from Courchevel, France. "I can't believe it. I don't know what happened. During the run I thought it was not enough and I just gave everything in the last gates."

After the first run, Ginnis said he had "no pressure."

"I ski for Greece, so I ski free," he said, adding with a laugh he prayed to "all 12" Greek gods before the race.

Calgary's Erik Read, the lone Canadian in the competition, climbed three spots to place 31st in 1:43.25.

Ginnis already became the first skier from Greece on a World Cup podium when he finished second in the last slalom before the worlds.

Series of injuries

Ginnis was born in Greece and learned to ski at Mount Parnassus, a 2 1/2-hour drive from Athens. At 12 he moved to Austria with his father, a ski instructor. He then moved to the United States and competed for the U.S. ski team at the 2017 worlds.

Due to a series of injuries, Ginnis struggled to provide results for the U.S. team and the American men's slalom squad was disbanded after the 2017-18 season. That's when he decided to start racing for Greece.

He's now coached by two friends, Sandy Vietz and Gaby Coulet.

"He went to chase his dream for Greece after so many injuries and he never let go," Coulet said. "He's a role model of perseverance and also sportsmanship."

Ginnis doesn't blame the U.S. team for letting him go.

"All credit to them. They did develop me. I think for me it was like a will of wanting to ski for my home country because I did grow up there and then for them, I was a really injured athlete," Ginnis said.

He's always had the speed. ... All of a sudden, you figure it out and some people can go right to the top.— U.S. skier Luke Winters on former teammate AJ Ginnis

"So I don't blame them at all for cutting the team when they did. It sure made things harder for me. But, hey, I'm here … so I'm not complaining."

American skier Luke Winters, one of Ginnis' former teammates, was impressed.

"He's always had the speed. It's good to see him consistently put it in there," Winters said. "It's just how the sport goes. All of a sudden, you figure it out and some people can go right to the top."

2nd world title

Kristoffersen posted the fastest-second run time of 51.66 seconds as he improved from 16th position.

"I didn't believe it was enough. It was a clean run from the middle part, up there I thought it was too many mistakes and not fast enough," the Norwegian said.

It was the Norwegian's second world title after winning gold in giant slalom four years ago. He become only the 10th male skier to win both world titles in the tech disciplines.

"That's a prestigious list to be on," said Kristoffersen, who won the Crystal Globe for best slalom skier of the World Cup season three times.

First-run leader Manuel Feller of Austria dropped to seventh.

He was chasing his country's first gold medal of the championships, two years before Saalbach-Hinterglemm will host the next worlds.

With Feller losing his first-run lead, Austria was left without a gold medal for the first time in 36 years at worlds since Crans Montana in 1987.

Surgery for appendicitis

Austria will host the next worlds in Saalbach-Hinterglemm in 2025.

Lucas Braathen shared second position with Ginnis after the opening run but dropped to seventh, sharing that position with Feller.

Braathen, who leads the season-long World Cup standings in the slalom, competed less than three weeks after he underwent surgery for appendicitis.

Olympic champion Clement Noel missed the podium by three-hundredths in fourth place, and defending champion Sebastian Foss-Solevaag of Norway finished 19th.

Switzerland led the medal table with three golds and seven medals in total, ahead of Norway with two gold and nine medals overall.

The U.S. team also had two gold medals, from the team event and from Mikaela Shiffrin's triumph in the women's giant slalom.