Alpine Ski World Cup 23/24: Marco Odermatt stages massive second run comeback at Schladming giant slalom to maintain win streak
The World Cup overall leader climbed from 11th after the first run to first in the final standings.
Alpine Skiing
Swiss alpine star Marco Odermatt struck again Tuesday (23 January) winning his fifth-straight giant slalom World Cup race of the 2023/24 season in Schladming, Austria.
Odermatt, a Beijing 2022 gold medallist, was victorious with a total time of 2:10.03, just ahead of Austria's Manuel Feller (2:10.08). Slovenia's Zan Kranjec rounded out the top three at 2:10.32.
"It's crazy, I hoped for it today but didn't really believe it after the first run," Odermatt said afterward of his winning streak. "That's sport."
It was a remarkable comeback after Odermatt, who has finished on the World Cup podium in each of his last 22 giant slalom starts, slipped in the first run, clocking a 1:05.99 to head into the second run down nearly a full second in 11th place.
But in the second run, he went clean - and, perhaps, purposely conservative - to clock the best time by nearly a half second. Odermatt's second run was 1:04.04.
"I know I would have been already first in the first run, just the mistake. So, I didn't try to do something very special, I just knew I had to stay on the line. Always push. The snow was difficult today. The tactic was not to go full, full, full attack. You really had to ski it clean and I managed this and I'm very, very happy."
Odermatt continues to lead the giant slalom and overall World Cup standings. In the overall race, he is with 1,256 points, followed by France's Cyprien Sarrazin with 660. Feller is in third at 514. In giant slalom, the top three are: Odermatt, Croatia's Filip Zubcic and Kranjec.
The men's FIS World Cup circuit stays in Schladming for a night sllaom on Wednesday (24 January) before heading to Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Germany 27-28 January for two Super-G races.