Incredible comeback
“Hundling” Odermatt makes a mistake and leaves everyone behind
January 23, 2024, 9:56 p.m
Marco Odermatt is and remains the measure of all things in the giant slalom. The Dominator messed up the first round in Schladming, but raced to the top “Stockerl” place with a furious second run. Meanwhile, DSV ace Alexander Schmid is also satisfied.
Ski racer Alexander Schmid is still among the world’s best on his comeback tour. He finished in a decent eleventh place at the World Cup giant slalom in Schladming and also collected points in the fifth race after his cruciate ligament tear. Former World Cup winner Stefan Luitz (57th) missed the final of the best 30 riders, as did Fabian Gratz (31st), Anton Grammel (44th) and Jonas Stockinger (55th).
“I’m on the right track, it’s fine,” said Schmid on Bavarian Radio. “Especially in the first round I was able to show that I can be at the front again. In the second round I have to be cooler.” Schmid was separated from series winner Marco Odermatt by 1.54 seconds in difficult, changeable and sometimes extremely icy conditions on the Planai. The “stick” was 1.19 seconds away for the 29-year-old in the Night Race. While Schmid lost four places in the final, Odermatt made a splendid comeback from eleventh place after a big mistake in the first round that almost cost him the race.
“You dog!” shouted local hero Manuel Feller to the Swiss at the finish, who beat the leader of the first run by 0.05 seconds. A small mistake shortly before the end after an overall wild ride ultimately cost Feller his home win. He went into the second run with almost a second lead. For the World Cup dominator Odermatt, it was the eighth victory and the 24th podium place in a row in his specialist discipline. The Slovenian Zan Kranjec came third (+0.29). An even longer series of successes in the giant slalom in the World Cup has only been achieved by veteran Swedish star Ingemar Stenmark, who won 14 giant slalom races in a row from 1978 to 1980.
The traditional night slalom takes place in the 2013 World Cup venue on Wednesday (5.45 p.m./8.45 p.m./BR and Eurosport). Linus Straßer is going into the race as one of the favorites after his triumph in the Kitzbühel slalom run on Sunday; the Munich native had already won the floodlight event in 2022.