Ski dominator Marco Odermatt celebrated his fourth victory of the season in the giant slalom in Alta Badia thanks to his “Brutality” could still catch up. The German Anton Grammel surprised on Sunday (December 22nd, 2024).
The Gran Risa in Alta Badia once again showed its difficult side. The giant slalom in the Dolomites is already considered one of the longest and most demanding – and then the conditions were at the limit of what was possible, as sports show expert Felix Neureuther put it. Some drivers commented a little more harshly on her.
In the end it was still the same as always: the athletes had to deal with this rough – or “tuberous”as Henrik Kristoffersen said after his first pass – to cope with the slopes. And Odermatt, as so often, was at the top.
Odermatt stays cool despite the conditions
He once again coped best with the conditions and celebrated his fourth win of the season – after having triumphed in the difficult downhill run in Val Gardena on Saturday. The Swiss ski dominator won ahead of Leo Anguenot from France (+0.85 seconds), who made it onto the podium for the first time, and Alexander Steen Olsen from Norway (+0.88).
From third place, Odermatt even set the fastest time in the second round, despite the difficult slope and some snowfall – and thus overtook his competitors. Odermatt had already won on the Gran Risa a year ago, ahead of Filip Zubcic, who came fourth after leading the race. Steen Olsen was second after race one.
Grammel achieves a surprising top result
“Brutality” Sports show expert Felix Neureuther demanded of the ski racers in the morning. “Clean skiing won’t help you here”he explained. And no one took this requirement to heart over both rounds as much as Odermatt.
The German Anton Grammel surprisingly came eleventh in the shadow of the Alpine skiing stars – and thus already achieved half the World Cup standard for the title fights in Saalbach-Hinterglemm in February. This is good news for the German Ski Association (DSV), especially in the absence of Alexander Schmid, who was recently out with a torn cruciate ligament.
Zubcic and Kristoffersen are heavily criticized
After this giant slalom, the criticism of the route will also be remembered. The top drivers had already criticized the organizers’ preparations that morning. “The route was very challenging today. There were even discussions about whether we should even drive here in these conditions.”said Zubcic, who was still leading at the time, after the first run in the Sportschau interview.
According to Zubcic, these were not satisfactory in previous races. “Even our trainers make better runs for training.” Kristoffersen also agreed that the piste breaks in certain places and then the snow becomes lumpy: “Then the outside ski slips away. And then it becomes difficult.” And so the risk of injury increases. Odermatt’s teammate Justin Murisier even spoke of one “Absolute scandal. The FIS is playing with the health of us athletes.” This criticism probably lies with the organizers.
DSV driver Grammel on conditions: skeptical at first, then feasible
Neureuther also saw the route as restless – but at the limit of what was possible. “For me, the trainers are not involved enough. You could benefit so much from them and then a slope is created here that is not optimal”said the sports show expert.
And Grammel? With start number 54 he had to start significantly later than the top athletes anyway, he knows bad routes well enough and therefore found: “I was also very skeptical after the inspection before the first round, but it still developed relatively well. And I would say it was relatively similar in the second round. Given the circumstances, it’s still a relatively fair race.”
The remaining German ski racers are eliminated
In addition to Grammel, Jonas Stockinger, Stefan Luitz and Fabian Gratz from the German team also took part. However, they were all eliminated after the first round. “Unfortunately it didn’t work out quite as I had imagined. With this hard slope it’s brutally difficult for me at the moment”said Stockinger at the finish.
And further: “It’s broken in many places. And if you’re not 100 percent on it, you’ll catch every shot. Especially for me with back problems, that doesn’t make it any easier. Then I hit the last few goals feeling like a stiff goat.” The Bavarian forester had previously collected points in all the giant slaloms of the winter. Now Anton Grammel stepped into the breach.