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Thomas Tumler and Marco Odermatt completed their best giant slalom season of their careers in different spheres.
Next Saturday the giant slalom of the World Cup finals will take place in Saalbach (AUT). Three Swiss are ranked among the top 7 in the discipline rankings, and one of them has already secured the small ball: Marco Odermatt. The man from Nidwalden could even complete the perfect giant slalom season.
This definitely doesn’t happen every year and is more special than winning the ball.
Odermatt has won 9 out of 9 giant slaloms so far. On Saturday he could put the icing on the cake for his personal World Cup winter with his 13th win in this discipline in a row and the 10th this season. Even for high-flyer Odermatt that would be special: “It definitely doesn’t happen every year and is more special than winning the ball.”
The 26-year-old is right with this statement, because only one athlete has achieved this so far: Ingemar Stenmark (SWE) completed the perfect giant slalom winter in 1978/79 with 10 victories in 10 races. Stenmark later also set the longest winning streak in a single discipline, winning 14 giant slaloms in a row.
driving pleasure
Last weekend the giant slalom in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia was canceled. Odermatt used the non-racing weekend, among other things, to go skiing away from the racing pistes and to “powder” in the woods. “It was the original joy of skiing and it’s still fun, even though it hardly helps with the World Cup races,” says the man from Nidwalden.
Tumler: In top form in the shadow of Odermatt
A little outside the spotlight, which largely benefits Odermatt, Thomas Tumler, another Swiss, showed very strong performances. Tumler narrowly missed his first podium finish in over 4 years in the USA at the giant slaloms in Palisades Tahoe and Aspen.
With these two 4th places, the 34-year-old from Grisons even made it into the top group for the World Cup final in Saalbach. This is a dream come true, says Tumler, and represents a consistent season. He is now in 7th place in the discipline ranking, making him the third best Swiss in this ranking behind Odermatt and Loïc Meillard (3rd).