Air April 2019

Timepieces
APRIL 2019 : ISSUE 95
Peak
Performance
Skier Alexis Pinturault came away from the slopes of
Sweden with two prized possessions – a momentous
World Championship gold medal, and his trusty
Richard Mille RM 67-02
WORDS: CHRIS UJMA
Ordinarily, when a sportsman’s
career goes downhill, it
isn’t a cause for celebration.
For an elite alpine skier, though, an
accomplished descent is the name
of the game – and few are as adept
at the task as Alexis Pinturault.
‘Pintu’ is a World Cup alpine ski
racer, Olympic medallist and, as of
February, secured his status as world
champion in the Alpine Combined
category for the first time, seeing
off 50 of his on-slope rivals.
The success was long on the cards:
the Savoie-born skier was raised in the
French Alps region, and started skiing
“At the age of two – making my first
turns on the slopes just next to Hotel
Annapurna [the Pinturault family hotel]”,
he says. Now 29, his triumph at the FIS
Alpine World Ski Championships is no
small feat for the skier or, indeed, for
his nation; the victory in Åre ended a
37-year wait for a Frenchman to take
gold in the discipline (which comprises
tests in both downhill and slalom).
To hurtle 1,033m in 1min 8secs takes
both skill and a snowpile amount of
daring: one of his soundbites relays, “If my
words are sometimes taken as arrogant,
it is that they are misinterpreted. I
have goals, and to achieve them you
need to have self-confidence.” It is
this exact tenacity and unflinching
determination that is reflected in the
Swiss-made watches of Richard Mille.
Pinturault’s partnership as a friend
of the brand started at the beginning
of the 2014 season, and it describes
his focus as ‘an intransigent search for
excellence’. Draguignan-born Mille, a
compatriot of Pinturault, is a proponent
of putting his elite timepieces through
the gauntlet, opening horology to active
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