There wasn’t a lot of suspense. Even before the last races of the Alpine Skiing World Cup, starting on Wednesday March 16, in Courchevel and Méribel, the Swiss Marco Odermatt was almost certain to win the general men’s classification – symbolized by a large crystal globe -, all specialties combined (speed and technical events). This is what he did at the end of the downhill race, won on Wednesday morning in Courchevel by the Austrian Vincent Kriechmayr and in which he took second place.
At 24, Marco Odermatt thus won his first big globe and succeeded the Frenchman Alexis Pinturault. His closest rival, the Norwegian Alexander Aamodt Kilde, for his part won the small globe of the downhill World Cup, finishing fourth in Courchevel. With this success of Marco Odermatt, Switzerland returns to the big male globe for the first time since Carlo Janka, in 2010.
The person concerned has become one of the figureheads of skiing in recent years. After revealing himself at the Junior Worlds in Davos in 2018, with four titles, he had signed his first podiums on the world circuit in 2019.
In 2021, however, during the world championships in Cortina d’Ampezzo (Italy), he left without a medal (going off the track in particular in the first run of the giant slalom), before seeing a possible victory in the general classification of the Coupe du escape him in favor of Alexis Pinturault due to the cancellation of two races due to the weather.
This season, in the World Cup, Marco Odermatt quickly proved to be intractable, especially in the giant slalom, in which he is also guaranteed to win the final classification. Leading the general classification throughout the season since his victory over the opening giant of Sölden (Austria) at the end of October, the skier from the small canton of Nidwalden (central Switzerland) has totaled six victories in three different disciplines (downhill, super-G, giant).
He also won a gold medal at the Winter Olympics in China where he appeared as the big favorite who was promised two or even three medals. His Olympics, however, began with two huge disappointments: he finished seventh in the downhill, and above all was eliminated in the super-G. However, he did not let the Olympic title in giant slalom pass him by.