The Frenchman brings his eighth medal to the tricolor delegation at the Beijing Olympics.
The snow fell on the Beijing 2022 Games. Plenty of it. In the capital, she emptied the streets and gave the decor an air of a ghost town. Higher in the mountains, the Olympic resorts of Yanqing and Zhangjiakou changed color on Sunday, changing overnight from joyless gray to luminous white. Finally, the Winter Games.
In Yanqing, site of the alpine skiing events, the lack of visibility delayed the start of the second round of the men’s giant by one hour and 15 minutes. The wait has upset broadcasters. But she did not reverse the order of things. The gold medal for Marco Odermatt, Switzerland, world number one. Bronze for Mathieu Faivre, France, reigning world champion. Proof that trains arrive on time, with or without snow.
The only fantasy of the race, the presence between the two cadors of a Slovenian little expected at such a party, Zan Kranjec, almost thirty years old but never yet mounted on an Olympic or world podium.
The Swiss was the favourite. He took the bet. Marco Odermatt, 24, recognized as the most beautiful specimen of alpine skiing in the world since the start of winter, dug his mark in the fresh snow without being disturbed by the conditions of the moment. In the lead after the first run, then second fastest in the second. On arrival, a lead of 19 hundredths. Bingo.
He offered his first Olympic title, for his debut at the Games. A form of evidence. At the head of the general classification of the World Cup, the blond from the canton of Nidwalden does not know any rival to his measure between the doors of a giant. This season, he has won four of the five races on the program. The fifth, he completed it in second place.
In Beijing, his Olympic campaign had started as a bad movie. A 7th place downhill, February 7, then a fall the next day in super-G. Was he going to recover? The answer is now known. “On skis, he knows how to do everything, had recognized the French downhillers before the start of the Beijing Games. His agility is such that he knows how to recover from all bad situations. American Ryan Cochran-Siegle insists: “He is still a developing skier, but he is able to take all the risks. Marco seems inhabited by confidence.
Faivre, giantist and nothing else
His performance of the day confirms the point. The Swiss however corrects the impression left by his two runs. “Nothing was easy todayhe recognizes in the arrival area. With the postponement of the second round, the wait lasted more than five hours between the two starts. I tried to get some sleep, at least a few minutes. The conditions were difficult. On the second track, I took all the risks because I didn’t just want a medal. I wanted the gold medal.”
On his left, on the podium, the French Mathieu Faivre. Thirty years. An old. Unlike Alexis Pinturault, a genius jack-of-all-trades, gifted for all disciplines, the Niçois puts all his eggs in one basket. He is a giantist and nothing else. The approach has often succeeded. In 2021, he brought home the gold medal from the world championships.
In Yanqing, Sunday, Mathieu Faivre showed his power and his knowledge of curves on the first track. Third to eight hundredths of Marco Odermatt. A bad second run snuffed out his dreams of a gold medal. But bronze seems to suit him. “The day was difficult, he confides on arrival. A long and nervous day. I felt really good in the second race, but the conditions toughened up the race. I end the day with an Olympic medal and I am very happy about it.”
Four years earlier, at the PyeongChang Games, Mathieu Faivre had been fired by the first plane, even before the end of his competition, for having let go about the team event: “If you knew what I care about collective group shooting… I’m here for my apple, to make my race.” On Sunday, in Yanqing, he gave the media a much less personal speech. “This medal, I will enjoy it with all my team and my friends. I can’t wait to share it with them because without my team, without my technicians, I couldn’t have done it.”
Update with race details.