The Swiss team approaches the Worlds which begin on Sunday in Savoie with solid arguments. With 16 successes and 41 podiums, Switzerland is the nation that has won the most this winter. Will this domination be reflected during these two French weeks?
Brilliant winner of the last two races in Cortina, Marco Odermatt – 8 victories this season – seems to have fully recovered from his heat stroke experienced during the first descent on the Streif.
Irresistible as a giant, the Olympic champion now wants to collect world medals. And in Courchevel, he can aim for three: giant, super-G and downhill. The team’s bridgehead, ‘Odi’ will have significant pressure on his shoulders, but it’s a role he’s embraced for several seasons now.
Meillard’s Herculean program
The other particularly awaited Swiss is obviously called Loïc Meillard, he who is tackling a very busy program in the Alps. Like his illustrious colleague, the Valaisan obtained podiums in three disciplines, with in particular his 1st victory in giant.
In France, Loïc Meillard will start in giant, super-G, slalom, combined and most certainly in parallel. It will therefore be a question of managing his energy well, especially since unlike Odermatt, he will be present this Saturday in Chamonix for a slalom, the last World Cup race before the Worlds.
The slalom which is also a discipline where the Swiss will have many good chances of a podium thanks to Meillard, but also thanks to Daniel Yule, double winner this winter, and Ramon Zenhäusern, an excellent 2nd in Schladming.
Lara Gut can aim for medals in Méribel. [Alen Milavec – Keystone]
Lara Gut-Behrami en leader
For women, the situation is slightly different. Two years ago in Cortina, Lara Gut-Behrami won two titles (super-G and giant), as well as bronze in downhill. Corinne Suter had for her part taken gold in downhill and silver in super-G.
But the Schwyzoise suffered a heavy fall in Cortina in the World Cup and it is not clear what form she will be in Méribel. What is certain is that the Olympic champion is a woman of great appointments. In addition to her 2 medals in the Dolomites, she had collected silver in the downhill and bronze in the super-G in Are in 2019.
Twice victorious in slalom this season, Wendy Holdener has the arguments to aim for metal on the short turn and in combined, she who was world champion in the discipline in 2017 and 2019. On the other hand, it is more complicated for the fourth female asset of Swiss-Ski, Michelle Gisin. His change of material has already been mentioned many times. Only, like Corinne Suter, the Obwalden knows how to transcend herself at the best time, as evidenced by her 2 combined Olympic titles in 2018 and 2022.
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