The Swiss ski racer is the first skier to achieve a hat trick since the turn of the millennium – with a bigger lead than ever before.
Winner in a “mystical mood”: Marco Odermatt after the giant slalom in Adelboden.
Anthony Anex / EPA
It actually snowed in Adelboden on Saturday afternoon. Just a few days ago, people were considering the sense and nonsense of a ski race that took place on a band of white artificial snow in the middle of a green landscape. And now: perfect winter world – perfect Swiss ski world. 25,000 spectators, falling snow, waving flags.
Marco Odermatt won the giant slalom in Adelboden in what he called a “mystical mood”. This is what winter has come to: As soon as it arrives, there is talk of mysticism. Odermatt also contributes his part to the mystical. “Can that be true?” an ORF reporter asked when Odermatt raced to World Cup gold in the downhill in February 2023. And now “Adelboden 2024”: Could that be? After the first run, Odermatt only shrugged his shoulders when he registered his time. He drove more than a second and a half faster than Henrik Kristoffersen, who had previously been in first place.
Odermatt now has 21 giant slalom podiums in a row
It’s hard to imagine how much reserve Odermatt would have had if the race hadn’t been shortened. The challenging slope could not be skied over its entire length due to fog and mysticism. The race director Markus Waldner had already asked for understanding the evening before that the race would turn heavily; The course was set to slow down the pace because the poor visibility was already causing enough problems.
Difficulties? No, mysticism.
When all drivers had crossed the finish line after the first run, Odermatt was 1.04 seconds ahead of the runner-up, Stefan Brennsteiner. Within another 1.04 seconds, 20 drivers ranked behind Brennsteiner. Nothing better illustrates how superior Odermatt was. As usual. Since the first giant slalom of the 2021/22 season, Odermatt has not started a single World Cup giant slalom that he did not finish on the podium. Makes Adam a ski giant: 21 giant slalom podiums in a row.
And because superlatives are apparently never enough: in 2022, Odermatt won in Adelboden by 0.48 seconds, in 2023 by 0.73. The lead in 2024: 1.26. The cushion is getting bigger and the colleagues on the podium are changing. In 2022 alongside Odermatt: Manuel Feller and Alexis Pinturault. 2023: Henrik Kristoffersen and Loïc Meillard. 2024: the surprising speed specialist Aleksander Aamodt Kilde and Filip Zubcic. Odermatt, Odermatt, Odermatt – three Adelboden giant slalom victories in a row were last achieved by the Austrian Hermann Maier at the turn of the millennium.
What Maier and Eberharter couldn’t do
In Adelboden, Odermatt won a World Cup race for the 29th time, moving up to Maier’s compatriot Stephan Eberharter. Eberharter achieved these 29 victories within six years (March 1998 to March 2004); for Odermatt, only four years and one month have passed since the first victory.
The races in Wengen follow next week, with two downhill runs and a Super-G on the program for Odermatt. Not even Maier and Eberharter managed to win the giant slalom, super-G and downhill within a week in the Bernese Oberland. Well, in Maier and Eberharter’s time there were no Super-Gs in Wengen. Even the passage of time helps Odermatt create superlatives.