The Swiss also won the second giant slalom from Kranjska Gora on Sunday and following the overall World Cup and Super-G also won the small giant slalom ball. Austria’s top aces had nothing to do with the podium places on the Podkoren. Marco Schwarz finished seventh as the best ÖSV runner (+1.89 seconds).
Slalom world champion Henrik Kristoffersen (+0.32) made the race decision extremely exciting. Half-time leader Odermatt had the champion’s answer to the Norwegian’s best run despite mistakes in the upper part. Like on Saturday, Kristoffersen flanked Odermatt on the podium with France’s combination world champion Alexis Pinturault (3./+0.70). With a 160-point lead over Kristoffersen, the Swiss can no longer be caught at the season finale in Andorra next week.
In the first round, Black had just avoided retiring following an inside ski error. There was no improvement in the second run because the starting slope failed during his tactical run. “It wasn’t ideal, but I got the best out of it. I’ve had a really hard time the last two days,” said the Carinthian in the finish area of what felt like his home race and blamed himself for the excessive use of the inner ski. The first downhill training session for the all-rounder at the final venue in Soldeu is scheduled for Monday.
Stefan Brennsteiner, who was fourth the day before, was eliminated in the first round following just three goals. Raphael Haaser was 13th, Manuel Feller still saw the finish line following four consecutive failures in this discipline (19th). The Tyrolean, who was suffering from back problems, was visibly struggling. Patrick Feurstein (24th) and Roland Leitinger (29th) scored World Cup points.
The live ticker from the giant slalom to read:
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Odermatt ahead: decision in the men’s giant slalom in Kranjska Gora
