The Swiss Marco Odermatt is coming to Val d’Isere as the overall World Cup leader after the North American tour, which is rather mixed due to the freak weather, and will tackle today’s giant slalom there because of his victory at the start in Sölden in the red jersey of the first discipline. On Sunday a slalom (9:30 a.m. / 1 p.m.) is scheduled in France.
“In terms of talent, he is on a par with Marcel Hirscher and Alexis Pinturault. If I include athletics, racing intelligence and his young age, Marco Odermatt belongs to the Jean-Claude Killy category. If he stays healthy, he can take part in the Olympics three times in Beijing -Gold, “the Swiss ski legend Bernhard Russi praised the 24-year-old in a recent article in the Swiss” Blick “.
Odermatt, who will also take part in the speed classic in Val Gardena next week, is increasingly positioning itself as an all-rounder for the large crystal ball. Carlo Janka was the last Swiss winner of the large crystal ball in the 2009/10 season.
The Austrian gentlemen also want to shine on the steep Face de Bellevarde. The hopes are on Stefan Brennsteiner and Manuel Feller, Roland Leitinger, who is second behind Odermatt in Sölden, is no longer there after his cruciate ligament rupture. “It’s the most difficult giant slalom in the entire ski circuit. But we don’t have to hide from Odermatt,” says Brennsteiner.
Goggia will Seizinger-Rekord
Downhill Olympic champion Goggia has already had an impressive series of successes this winter, despite her knee injury last January, and now she wants to improve in St. Moritz. If, after her triple in Canada, the Italian now also wins both Super-Gs in Switzerland (today and Sunday, 10.30 a.m.), she would be the first to win the first five speed races of the season since Katja Seizinger in 1997/98 (six wins as a result).
Mirjam Puchner from Salzburg experienced light and shadow on the route. She celebrated her first Downhill World Cup victory in the Engadin in 2016, but in 2017, being a World Cup favorite in training, she suffered a lower leg fracture that had to be operated on four times.
Source: Nachrichten
