SIDEBAR Top finishers in combined push for event to continue at Olympics

Pyeongchang, South Korea (dpa) - Minutes after experiencing arguably the highest honours of their alpine skiing careers, the top three finishers in the combined men‘s event at the Pyeongchang Olympics were predicting a grim future for the unique double event."It‘s going to be a shame if they stop this discipline for the future," Frenchman Alexis Pinturault said, after winning silver at Jeongseon Alpine Centre. "We don‘t know what they are going to decide.""This is the only discipline where the best downhill guys can compete against the best technical guys. It is the only race where you can see the best skier in each discipline."Although world skiing body the FIS has not yet officially said it is due to be scrapped, the combined - which sees athletes contest one speed event in combination with a slalom run - has appeared much less frequently of late on the World Cup tour. The broad consensus among ski journalists in Pyeongchang is that 2018 could be the last time the alpine combined is raced at an Olympics."Combined is all about skiing - skiing with speed and the technical side," Pinturault‘s compatriot Victor Muffat-Jeandet said after winning the bronze. "It is not us who choose, but if it is the last combined I‘m pretty happy to get my medal - especially with Alexis."The event has been changed a number of times over the years, adopting various formats, but Tuesday‘s Olympic winner Marcel Hirscher thinks it needs another revamp rather than being done away with."It would be better, especially during the World Cup season, to make it with super-g because then it costs you just one day," he said."With downhill it takes at least four days: three training days and then the race day."I can‘t do this, because I need my training during the week in the technical disciplines."With his win on Tuesday, the Austrian is the fifth man to win an Olympic and world title in a men‘s combination event, after Kjetil Andre Aamodt, Bode Miller, Ted Ligety and Lasse Kjus. "It is not good to put away this event, this discipline, with a lot of history," he said."I think the better decision would be not to stop with it ... but more with super-g."