In his inimitably direct manner, Marco Odermatt won the Super-G at the Alpine Skiing World Cup finals in Soldeu. As always, the 25-year-old chose the shortest line between the goals in spring-like conditions and won in 1:23.91 minutes, well ahead of Austrian Marco Schwarz (+0.29 seconds) and Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (+0.71). . Even the Norwegian, who was also used to winning, was amazed at the performance of the Swiss. When Kilde asked him about his line choice, Odermatt replied in a stunning way in the target area: “I just…” He left the rest of the answer open, laughed and pointed his right hand straight ahead.
Driving straight ahead when the rest of the alpine elite are making turns – the secret of success, which sounds as simple as it is difficult to implement, brought Marco Odermatt two World Championship gold medals, three World Cup crystal balls and a record-breaking number of points this winter. Before the concluding giant slalom on Saturday (9 a.m.), the Olympic champion had already collected 1942 points.
A third place, for which there are 60 points, would be enough for him to surpass the record of the legendary Austrian Hermann Maier, who in the 1999/2000 season was the only man to reach the 2000 point mark in the Alpine Ski World Cup – right to the point. Odermatt, who competes in downhill, super-G and giant slalom just like Maier once did, has already secured success in the overall World Cup as well as in the discipline ratings for giant slalom and super-G.
Shiffrin could still outdo himself
In the women’s race, Odermatt’s Swiss teammate Lara Gut-Behrami secured the Crystal Globe in the Super-G for the fourth time in her glittering career. The 31-year-old prevailed in a thrilling final in 1:26.70 minutes ahead of Italy’s Federica Brignone (+0.22) and Ragnhild Mowinckel from Norway (+0.47). Both would also have had chances of winning the Super-G classification.
The American Mikaela Shiffrin was only 14th on the day this time, but is already certain to win the overall World Cup. Shiffrin can no longer match the all-time record of Slovenian Tina Maze (2414) from 2013 with 2046 points in the final two technical races – but she could still surpass herself: in the 2018/19 season she had 2204 points.
