Europe 1 with AFP
modified to
8:06 p.m., February 17, 2023
In the giant, his favorite discipline, the Swiss Marco Odermatt obtained a new world gold medal, Friday in Courchevel, which consecrates him a little more as the new king of alpine skiing. After his triumphant descent on Sunday, the world No.1 still had fire in his skis, on the icy slope of the Eclipse. Second in the first heat behind Marco Schwarz, Odermatt reversed this established order at the start of the afternoon, to push the Austrian back to third place, 40/100.
The coronation of Odermatt
Another Swiss, Loïc Meillard, managed to interfere between the two to take the silver medal and sign a Swiss double, 32/100 behind his compatriot. On the strength of his eight victories and fifteen podiums in the winter in the World Cup, “Odi” arrived in Courchevel with the label of the young prince in search of a first world medal, as a crowning achievement.
“I knew it was possible for me to win several titles here, but between the possibilities and the reality there is a big difference, so two gold medals is super cool”, he appreciated. After a big disappointment in super-G (4th), he had been sublime to conquer the downhill, dominating this event for the first time in his career, before triumphing on Friday in giant, a discipline of which he is Olympic champion. “This title gives me perhaps a little less emotion than that of the downhill, where I had managed an incredible race, my most beautiful, which came after the disappointment of the super-G”, he added. he analyses. In the second run, Odermatt was able to put pressure on Schwarz, who eventually cracked.
Domination of Switzerland
As in the combined (2nd) and super-G (6th), the Austrian made a mistake on a “left foot” (a right turn) in the final wall. A weakness identified and exploited by the Swiss coaches who were drawn to draw the second round. The only skier to compete in all the basic disciplines (downhill, super-G, giant, slalom), Schwarz failed to offer Austria its first gold medal.
On the contrary, this race marked the domination of Switzerland, which, with a superb double, increased its lead at the top of the nations’ classification with three titles and seven medals in total. “This double with Loïc is fantastic for our team. We have been teammates for a long time now (with Loïc Meillard), we have been traveling together for seven years, seeing each other often, playing cards, tennis” , said Odermatt.
“We are both teammates in training, friends on the side, competitors at the start, commented Loïc Meillard. We have a lot of respect for each other even if we are totally different. He is a little more, crazy, in the way he skis, he thinks less, against me the calm skier who tries to ski well. These are two different approaches to racing.”
Pinturault 7th
Far behind, Frenchman Alexis Pinturault saw his medal hopes dashed in the first run, finishing in eleventh position due to a fault. Performing well on the second course, in the resort of his childhood, the leader of the Tricolores made a good comeback, finishing seventh. “It’s been a long time since I’ve finished second in a heat, just one hundredth behind Meillard, one of the best since the start of the season. So there’s a lot of positives,” he said. he commented.
Bronze medalist in this event in Vail/Beaver Creek (United States) in 2015 then in Are (Sweden) in 2019, the skier from Courchevel was delighted with his World Championships, despite his disappointment of the day. “When I was attacking the Worlds, I had no idea that I would end up with two medals around my neck, including one in gold, so there are a lot of things to take. Sport does not smile all the time, it you have to dare, and that makes my fault easier to live with.” Defending champion, Mathieu Faivre only took 19th place, in line with a very difficult season. Leo Anguenot finished 24th.