In his inimitably direct way, Marco Odermatt won the Super-G at the World Cup final of alpine skiers in Soldeu. In spring-like conditions, the 25-year-old chose the shortest line between the goals, as always, and prevailed in 1:23.91 minutes, well ahead of Austria's Marco Schwarz (+0.29 seconds) and Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (+0.71). Even the Norwegian, who is also used to winning, was amazed at the Swiss's performance. When asked by Kilde about his choice of line, Odermatt replied in a stunning way in the finish area: "I just ..." He left the rest of the answer open, laughed and pointed straight ahead with his right hand.
Achim Dreis
Sports editor.
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Driving straight ahead when the rest of the alpine elite are taking turns – the secret of success, which sounds as simple as it is difficult to implement, earned Marco Odermatt two World Championship gold medals, three World Cup crystal globes and a record-breaking score this winter. Before the final giant slalom on Saturday (9 a.m.), the Olympic champion had already scored points in 1942.
A third place, for which there are 60 points, would be enough for him to beat the record mark of the legendary Austrian Hermann Maier, who in the 1999/2000 season was the only man in the Alpine Ski World Cup to reach the 2000-point mark – to the point. Odermatt, who starts in downhill, super-G and giant slalom just like Maier once did, has already secured success in the overall World Cup as well as in the discipline rankings for giant slalom and super-G.
Shiffrin could still surpass itself
In the women's race, Odermatt's Swiss teammate Lara Gut-Behrami won the crystal globe in the Super-G for the fourth time in her illustrious career. The 31-year-old prevailed in a thrilling final in 1:26.70 minutes ahead of Italy's Federica Brignone (+0.22) and Ragnhild Mowinckel from Norway (+0.47). Both would also have had chances to win the Super-G classification.
The American Mikaela Shiffrin only finished 14th on the day this time, but has already secured victory in the overall World Cup. Shiffrin can no longer match the all-time record of Slovenian Tina Maze (2414) from 2013 with 2046 points in the final two technical races – but she could still surpass herself: In the 2018/19 season she had come to 2204 points.