Dhe jubilation didn’t want to end, his arms flew up in the air several times. Again and again Marco Odermatt shouted out his joy. And enough fans from his homeland had come over to Haute-Savoie to create an appropriate acoustic framework for this very special moment. It was one for Odermatt, and also for this World Ski Championships, where so far the outsiders have been the main focus, rather than the favorites. “I’ve never had such emotions,” said the 25-year-old from the canton of Nidwalden later on Swiss television. Overwhelmed by his own performance in the World Cup downhill, relieved because it had not worked out in the Super-G as the top favorite. “The past few days have not been the easiest for me,” admitted Odermatt.
This trip, he suspected, was very close to perfection – “the best of my life”, he thought. In the discipline in which he has not yet won a World Cup race. “I think he had hidden rails somewhere. He hit every swing,” said Germany’s Romed Baumann. Nevertheless, Odermatt initially sat a little uncomfortably in the leader’s chair, he was by no means certain that he had won his first world title.
“Too good”
The best of the season in downhill, Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, was still up there, as was James Crawford, the surprise Super-G winner three days earlier. And a few athletes who had surprised in training, as well as Thomas Dreßen, who had presented himself competitive again in the past few days despite a bone bruise in his knee and having survived a gastrointestinal infection. Tenth place, just 0.25 seconds behind third, gives the 2018 Kitzbühel winner the certainty that he is “back on the way to where I belong”.
For Odermatt it was mostly “a trembling wait” as Kilde rode down the slope and again later when Canadian Cameron Alexander was running with brilliant split times but, like Kilde, was without a chance. “What Odermatt showed today was too good,” said the Norwegian. As in the Super-G, he was only left with silver (before the surprise third place Alexander) and the realization: “A hungry Odermatt is difficult to beat.”
There is hardly a better race for the first downhill victory than at a major event. But to speak of an outsider success like the day before with the women or in the Super-G would not do Odermatt justice. Since the beginning of the season he has been dueling with Kilde at a high level in the two fast disciplines, with the roles being clearly divided up to this World Championship. The Norwegian has won five out of eight downhills, Odermatt four out of six Super-G races. This duel, said the Swiss, helps both because they drive each other to top performance. “Kilde does it with power, Odermatt with the fine blade,” Baumann described the differences.
“Not as liberated as usual”
But this exhausting of the limit almost became the doom of the dominators in Kitzbühel a few weeks ago. It seemed only a matter of time before Odermatt would also win in the downhill. Kilde suspected this, and so they both over-stepped on the Streif, only with difficulty avoiding a fall. Although Odermatt got it worse. He suffered a crushed meniscus and rested for a week, returning in Cortina d’Ampezzo and winning two Super-G races. They both got a slap in the face, said Odermatt. That was probably good for them.
Odermatt had spoken of wanting to win gold in Courchevel. Anything else would have been unbelievable given the brilliant season. “But if it doesn’t work out, I won’t stop skiing at the end of the season.” The overall World Cup winner had already proven several times that he could handle the burden. Last year he won gold in the giant slalom at the Olympic Games.
But this time the pressure was higher. In the Super-G, “you could see that he wasn’t driving as freely as usual,” said Dreßen. On the descent, the burden was not on Odermatt, but on Kilde. “He was the favorite, I wasn’t.” That was “a huge difference,” admitted Odermatt. In Switzerland, parallels were drawn at the beginning of the World Cup with the Swiss team’s most successful skier to date. Pirmin Zurbriggen also injured his meniscus in Kitzbühel in 1985 and raced to downhill gold three weeks later in Bormio. Odermatt still needs a few titles and victories to be on the same level as the great Pirmin Zurbriggen. The gap has narrowed a little since Sunday.