YANQING. After a seventh place in the downhill and the huge frustration after dropping out in the Super-G, the pressure on the leader in the overall World Cup, Marco Odermatt, was enormous. However, the 24-year-old Swiss didn’t let the snowstorm in Yanqing deter him and put his stamp on the giant slalom in an impressive manner. “Incredible. This day was really tough with all the conditions and the long wait between the runs. I had a lot of time to think, it was difficult to keep focus,” said Odermatt after his gold coup.
The Swiss is a worthy champion. This winter, starting with Sölden, he won four of the five World Cup giant slalom races and was second once. In the event under the five rings, Odermatt was 19 hundredths ahead of the Slovenian Zan Kranjec, who redeemed himself for his fourth place four years ago in Pyeongchang. Bronze went to reigning world champion Mathieu Faivre (Fra), who finished 1.34 seconds behind Odermatt.
The successful young star could hardly believe his luck: “I never dreamed of it, but now it feels like a dream. I really risked everything in the decision because I really wanted the medal. Of course, something like that is also dangerous, because you can lose everything there. I said to myself: If it works, it’s great. If not, you still have a few other goals,” Odermatt looked back.
He dedicated a (symbolic) part of his gold coin to his teammate Justin Murisier, with whom he had only trained narrow, strongly turning giant slalom last summer. That was the perfect preparation for Yanqing, where Murisier, with whom Odermatt shares a room in the ski circus, came into play again.
“After he swerved after his failure at the finish, he came to me and told me in no uncertain terms that I should change skis and bindings. I did that, I’m infinitely grateful to Justin,” said Odermatt, who first Swiss giant slalom Olympic champion since Carlo Janka, who triumphed in Vancouver in 2010. Back then, by the way, with a don’t give a damn mentality, which Odermatt has also internalized to a certain extent.
“The relief after this win is at least as great as after my home triumph in Adelboden,” said Odermatt. “In purely emotional terms, the success on the Chuenisbärgli was even better.”
Source: Nachrichten
