Marco Odermatt takes Aspen win to clinch Super G World Cup crown
The Swiss made it five Super G victories out of seven to secure the crystal globe with a race to spare. Andreas Sander had his first World Cup podium finish in second ahead of Saturday's downhill winner Aleksander Aamodt Kilde.
Alpine Skiing
Marco Odermatt clinched the Alpine Ski World Cup Super G crystal globe with his fifth win of the season at Aspen on Sunday (5 March).
Odermatt had a couple of hairy moments, but he took victory by five-hundredths of a second from German veteran Andreas Sander with Aleksander Aamodt Kilde - the only man who could catch the Swiss in the series - in third.
Odermatt told FIS afterwards, "It was the perfect Super G season, from the first race till now. It was just fun to ski all the time as well today, a super nice course, a cool hill for Super G.
"To secure the globe before the final is always a little bit of a relief and you can enjoy the final even more so I'm really thankful for that."
Austria's Stefan Babinsky held the lead before Odermatt made his descent.
The recent world downhill champion skied the top somewhat conservatively before really attacking the middle of the course and having to make two late corrections.
But he was able to carry that speed all the way to the bottom and clocked 1:06.80 to wrap up the discipline title.
Sander followed Odermatt and almost sprung a surprise as he led on the clock most of the way down. But the 33-year-old faded on the bottom section and ended up just outside the target time although he did secure his first World Cup podium finish.
World Super G champion James Crawford was next and looked on course for a podium finish, but the Canadian ran very wide on a sharp right-hander and ended up just outside the top 10.
Having retained his downhill World Cup title with victory on Saturday, Kilde made a fast start on Sunday and led Odermatt by half a second at the midway point.
But the Norwegian paid the price for attacking too hard and went wide at the same spot as Crawford before finishing 0.34 adrift in third.
There was fast conditions for the later starters with Liechtenstein's Nico Gauer - wearing bib 53 - taking a shock sixth place.
Odermatt's latest win saw him all but retain his World Cup overall title, and he will almost certainly seal the big globe next weekend with two giant slaloms being held at Kranjska Gora in Slovenia.
The last men's Super G of the season takes place at the World Cup Finals in Soldeu, Andorra on 16 March.
Results from Aspen men's World Cup Super G on 5 March 2023 (top 10)
1. Marco Odermatt (SUI) 1:06.80
2. Andreas Sander (GER) +0.05
3. Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (NOR) +0.34
4. Stefan Babinsky (AUT) +0.47
5. Loic Meillard (SUI) +0.51
6. Nico Gauer (LIE) +0.65
7. Vincent Kriechmayr (AUT) +0.70
8. Justin Murisier (SUI) +0.75
9. Nils Allegre (FRA) +0.76
10. Riley Seger (CAN) +0.78
World Cup Super G standings after Aspen Super G on 5 March 2023
- Marco Odermatt (SUI) 640 pts
- Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (NOR) 452
- Vincent Kriechmayr (AUT) 335
World Cup overall standings after Aspen Super G on 5 March 2023
- Marco Odermatt (SUI) 1,626 pts
- Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (NOR) 1,240
- Henrik Kristofferson (NOR) 874