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 fine second run; Reigning giant world champion Mathieu Faivre, in poor form since the start of the season, finished in a distant 19th place.
The champion of Nidwalden, a canton in the heart of the Swiss Confederation, played with the traps of L’Eclipse. 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 can do things that others don’t. There have been machines in the past in our sport, but he’s an artist, he’s a genius”, praised the French descender Johan Clarey, after the Swiss masterclass on January 12, during the descent of the Worlds: Odermatt had clinched gold – his first win in the discipline – after a race close to a masterpiece.
Difficult to prove the veteran (42 years old) of the French team, Olympic vice-champion in Beijing, wrong. 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 lifting another in the finals of Soldeu (Andorra) in March.
“Odermatt is the new star of alpine skiing. We have it for a decade, admires 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 contested 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’s matured, he’s mentally very strong and naturally very fast. If he has no physical problems, he will pile them up, victories, ”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.
