Alpine skiing
Failure: Odermatt misses perfect giant slalom season
Marco Odermatt was eliminated in the second round of the season finale. photo
© Marco Trovati/AP/dpa
Marco Odermatt is on the verge of breaking more ski records. At the final in Saalbach, however, the Swiss had a mishap – and the hunt for a historical record was over.
Ski racer Marco Odermatt missed a perfect giant slalom season and further World Cup records. The Swiss was eliminated in the second round of the season finale in Saalbach-Hinterglemm – after nine wins in nine races this season in his specialist discipline.
Instead of the World Cup dominator, his compatriot Loic Meillard, ahead of Joan Verdu, celebrated in spring-like conditions Andorra (+0.71 seconds) and teammate Thomas Tumler (+0.79) won. Odermatt had already been declared the overall and discipline winner of the World Cup with a huge lead.
Schmid ends up in 15th place
Only the Swede Ingemar Stenmark had previously achieved a perfect giant slalom season with ten victories – and it remains that way for the time being. Odermatt was also aiming for another Stenmark record with 14 wins in a row across seasons in one discipline; Odermatt’s series ended after twelve successes because, as the leader of the first round, he hit a bump in the first part of the final, was briefly lifted and was therefore unable to stay on course.
From the German team, only Alexander Schmid qualified for the season finale in Austria. The Allgäu native, who made his comeback this winter after tearing his cruciate ligament, landed in 15th place (+1.83). On Sunday, teammate Linus Straßer wants to fight for victory in the slalom (10:30 a.m./1:30 p.m.).