With eight World Cup victories, Marco Odermatt traveled to the World Ski Championships, where he could become one of the defining stars alongside Aleksander Aamodt Kilde. For the Swiss, Courchevel is a very special place.
It looked good up until the third to last goal on Tuesday (February 7th, 2023). The Swiss Marco Odermatt used the combination Super-G like many other speed skiers at the Ski World Championships in Courchevel to get used to the mountain, to complete one more run before the special Super-G on Thursday. And then, with start number 31, he actually attacked Alexis Pinturault, who had been leading up to that point and later became world champion. But at the third to last gate it happened, Odermatt couldn’t get the curve anymore, missed the gate and retired – or he drove past the gate so that he didn’t have to contest the combined slalom.
This time, driving the wrong way wasn’t that bad: the Swiss exceptional talent also wanted to use the race to check the condition of his knee again. Two weeks ago he almost fell in Kitzbühel, suffering knee problems and taking a break for several days. This knee injury didn’t knock him out as much, because he was able to win the two Super-Gs after the Kitzbühel weekend in Cortina d’Ampezzo – his own World Cup dress rehearsal. On Thursday (February 9th, 2023) he will compete in the Super-G for his first World Championship medal (from 11.30 a.m. in the sports show live ticker with videos).
Odermatt first Olympic champion – and then world champion?
Odermatt is aware that he can become one of the formative drivers of this World Championship as the overall World Cup winner of the previous year. The 25-year-old is by far the leader in the fight for the big crystal ball this year – and he is traveling to Beijing as the 2022 giant slalom Olympic champion. After the overall World Cup and Olympic victory, will he also become the World Cup superhero? Such a designation is not important to him, he says in an interview with Sportschau. “But the goal is of course to win medals. And if that leads to that, then gladly.” They like to hear that in Switzerland, after all he is supposed to satisfy the longing of the ski nation for the first men’s World Cup gold since 2017. At that time, Beat Feuz (downhill) and Luca Aerni (slalom) won.
The Swiss even stands out among the exceptional skiers, he has his own style of skiing, picks up speed with every single turn and therefore often leaves the competition standing in amazement, especially in the twisty giant slalom and in the Super-G. In the two disciplines he won four times in the World Cup this winter. No other rider has eight World Cup wins this season, Norway’s Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, another superhero, follows with seven.
On the podium for the first time as a 21-year-old
“There are two, three, four big favorites in the speed area with Vince (Vincent Kriechmayr) and with Aleks, who would all like to win”, Odermatt therefore also classifies. For him, a World Championship title is “highest priority”, simply because there are only Olympics and World Championships in skiing. “A gold medal is the greatest thing you can win. And yes, it’s certainly the big goal in these two weeks.”
But another thing is: “Having a cool time. And if that fits, then the races will also be right.” Success, but don’t forget to have fun. This runs through Odermatt’s career, which started promisingly early on. He was Junior World Champion six times before reaching the top of the world for the first time in 2018. He celebrated his first World Cup podium at the age of just 21 in March 2019 in Krajnska Gora in the giant slalom. With the fastest time in the second run.
The Swiss sing “Go Odi Go”
From then on it was always upwards. In 2021, for example, he redeemed the Swiss as the first giant slalom winner in the World Cup since Carlo Janka in 2011. The Swiss band Volxrox dedicated the song “Go Odi Go” to him, and the 25-year-old heard the song in the giant slalom victory at home on the Chuenisbärgli in Adelboden January from 25,000 throats.
The great successes of the past and this winter should therefore only be a way station for him on the way to further heights. The winter sports experts even believe that he could dominate men’s skiing for years. After all, the currently very big competitor Kilde is already over 30 years old.
Courchevel a “special place” for Odermatt
A first step on the way to dominance should now be the first World Championship title in Courchevel for Odermatt. “A Special Place” for the Swiss, as he says himself, “by winning the big and small crystal ball” for the overall World Cup and the giant slalom World Cup 2021/22. In this finish area, the difficult slope L’Éclipse, he has already celebrated with trophies, now he would like to win medals there. On Thursday at the Super-G, the blemish of the combination Super-G and the third to last goal will not happen to him, wrong driving is then forbidden.