2024-03-02 21:41:22
Even a flawed Marco Odermatt who doesn’t really get going is currently unbeatable for the competition. From third place at halftime, the Swiss also won the ninth giant slalom of the season on Saturday, finishing in Aspen 0.34 seconds ahead of compatriot Loic Meillard and 0.58 ahead of Norwegian Timon Haugan. Alexander Steen Olsen (NOR), who was leading at half time, fell back to 17th place. The best Austrian was Stefan Brennsteiner in eleventh place (+1.91).
For Odermatt it was the 13th win of the season, equaling the records set by himself in the previous season, by Swede Ingemar Stenmark (1978/79) and by Salzburg’s Hermann Maier (2000/01) and Marcel Hirscher (2017/18). It was his twelfth success in giant slalom en suite across the season. He now has a total of 37 first places in his career, putting him in seventh place in the ranking.
Odermatt was a bit speechless himself. When he won on Friday he wasn’t exactly able to cope with the conditions; on Saturday he was only third at halftime. As a hunter, he put everything on one card in the finale. “I saw myself out there, fought, let my skis go and risked everything down there.”
He also owes the fact that he can still improve on the last few goals to his Austrian fitness trainer. “It gets me fit in the summer so that maybe even with tired legs and a tired head, it’s still possible somehow. You always have the strength for a minute, even if it’s extremely hard.”
Brennsteiner improved from 17 to 11, which was balm for the wounds following the failure in the first race. “I can take the run with me. I felt good once more. It had something to do with racing once more,” said the Salzburg native.
Dominik Raschner went from 24th to 14th, following 20th place on Friday, this was the next good result for the actual slalom specialist. “I’m a little surprised myself that it turned out so well.” Lukas Feurstein came in 21st, cousin Patrick Feurstein came in 23rd. “It’s brutally tough at the moment, a medium catastrophe, I’m a bit at a loss,” said the latter.
Joshua Sturm (45th) missed taking part in the second round, Raphael Haaser – ninth on Friday as the best Austrian – was eliminated in the first round, as were Noel Zwischenbrugger and Kilian Pramstaller. Manuel Feller took a break as planned and is concentrating on the slalom on Sunday, for which difficult conditions are forecast – a winter storm with amounts of fresh snow was on the horizon.
On Friday there was criticism from several nations because of the uneven preparation of the slopes (upper part icy, lower part soft) and a very high failure rate. On Saturday, the racers managed to adapt to the equally demanding conditions much better in the first round. The Brit Charly Raposo, who tore his cruciate ligament on Friday, was no longer there.
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