Faithful to Swiss watchmaking excellence, Marco Odermatt once again demonstrated flawless reliability on Friday 17 February in Courchevel. Five days after the downhill gold, the Swiss skier was crowned giant slalom world champion, ahead of his compatriot Loïc Meillard (silver medalist at 32 hundredths) and the Austrian Marco Schwarz (bronze medalist at 40 hundredths). . First Frenchman, Alexis Pinturault finished seventh in the race, after a good second heat; reigning giant world champion, Mathieu Faivre, in poor form since the start of the season, finished at a distant 19e place.
“It’s another incredible day for me. The track was tough, but as always, I tried to push on the second run. You never know what the guy is going to do right after you”, commented Marco Odermatt after the race. Before adding:
“I knew it was possible for me to win several titles here, but between the possibilities and the reality there is a big difference, so two gold medals is super cool. »
“This title gives me perhaps a little less emotion than the downhill, where I had managed an incredible race, my most beautiful”he further analyzed.
The skier from Nidwalden, a canton in the heart of the Swiss Confederation, played with the traps of L’Eclipse on Friday. Cautious during the first round, just guilty of a slight fault on a very demanding icy track, Marco Odermatt made his technique speak for itself on the second course, traced between shadow and light by the Swiss coach. In addition to being effective, its soft touch of snow is absolutely aesthetic.
“Odermatt is the Federer of skiing, he manages to do things that others don’t. There have been machines in our sport in the past, but he’s an artist, he’s a genius.”had praised the French descender Johan Clarey, after the masterclass of the Swiss on January 12, during the descent of the Worlds: Odermatt had won gold – his first victory in the discipline – after a race close to the masterpiece.
Difficult to give wrong to the veteran (42 years) of the France team, Olympic vice-champion in Beijing. His disappointment during the super-G quickly forgotten in the first week (fourth), Marco Odermatt came to Savoie, with his two world champion titles, which was missing from his huge record.
“The new star of alpine skiing”
At only 25 years old, the Swiss with 19 World Cup victories also has in his trophy cabinet a giant Olympic gold medal in Beijing – despite the lackluster Games -, and a large globe of the general classification of the World Cup, won in 2022 hands down in front of the Norwegian Aleksander Aamodt Kilde. It is not clear, with more than 300 points in advance, who could prevent him from raising another during the finals of Soldeu (Andorra) in March.
“Odermatt is the new star of alpine skiing. We have it for a decadeadmires Fabien Saguez, the president of the French Ski Federation, who adds that the Swiss never stops progressing. He is already almost untouchable as a giant. » With this new victory, “Odi”, winner of four of the five giants he has competed in this season, establishes his dominance in his favorite discipline.
For Luc Alphand, “it’s the prototype of the skier who skis with his brain”. “He has matured, he is mentally very strong in addition to being naturally very fast. If he doesn’t have any physical issues, he’ll pile on some, wins,” observes the winner of the big globe in 1997, consulting on these Worlds for France Télévisions.
World skiing indeed seems to have taken out a subscription with the Nidwalden. Barring injury, Marco Odermatt could mark his sport as the Austrian Marcel Hirscher did in the 2020s (eight big consecutive globes). In the meantime, the Swiss, always smiling, in victory as in defeat, is already unanimous on the circuit. Twice crowned in Courchevel, he is dubbed the new king of alpine skiing.
Marco Schwarz cursed, the French in withdrawal
The icy track of L’Eclipse, in Courchevel, definitely did not smile on Marco Schwarz. Winner of the first round of the slalom on Friday February 17, the Austrian cracked under the pressure and finally finished third in the race won by the Swiss favorite Marco Odermatt. His fault at the end of the combined slalom on February 7 had already deprived him of a gold medal which was in his hands; Alexis Pinturault had taken advantage of it. Two days later, again. A mistake in the last gates of the super-G cost him precious tenths and, probably, the bronze medal; there again Pinturault could breathe.
It makes you wonder if the Austrian is not cursed on L’Eclipse. Because on February 12, he came to fail four hundredths from the podium of the downhill won with mastery by Odermatt. In four races, two gold medals and two podiums which fly away for Schwarz. The combined world champion in 2021 will keep a contrasting memory of these Worlds in Savoie.
On the French side, Alexis Pinturault had a great second run on Friday in giant, but his mistake at the start of the first course took away all hope of a medal. He finished seventh, but with two medals won (gold in combined, bronze in super-G), the Worlds were successful for the skier from Courchevel, who announced that he would stop competing in slalom in the future. As for Mathieu Faivre, surprise world champion of the giant in 2021, he has been living an ordeal since the start of winter. Friday was no exception: the competition was “a way of the cross” by the very admission of the Niçois.