Marco Odermatt had to wait a long time and the Swiss finally achieved his first downhill victory at his home game on the Lauberhorn. The DSV drivers were disappointed.
The warm-up for the legendary Lauberhorn race couldn’t have gone better for the hosts. Local hero Marco Odermatt clinched a World Cup downhill victory for the first time in his career. The World Cup dominator achieved the coup at his home game of all places and was celebrated frenetically by the fans. Second place went to the Frenchman Cyprien Sarrazin, Alexsander Aamodt Kilde (NOR) completed the podium in third place.
Make-up race for the canceled Beaver Creek descent
On the Swiss Lauberhorn, the downhill run that had been canceled in Beaver Creek/USA was rescheduled on Thursday. In order not to devalue the legendary Lauberhorn race on Saturday, the route was shortened – only 2,950 instead of 4,270 meters. The piste through the Hundschopf jump, the Kernen-S and the Haneggschuss is still technically extremely demanding for the speed specialists.
Odermatt pulls ahead of the competition
Alexsander Aamodt Kilde, winner of the Lauberhorn downhill run in 2023, initially presented the guide time for Odermatt. The Swiss remained unimpressed and demonstrated a faster ride over the icy slope. It was to be his first downhill triumph. Although Odermatt is world champion in this discipline, he was only able to finally celebrate his first downhill success in front of his home crowd.
The competition was defeated and lined up behind the 26-year-old World Cup dominator. He took 81 hundredths off Kilde, who Sarrazin (+0.58 seconds) also relegated to third place.
DSV speed drivers follow behind
The DSV drivers, however, did not pose any threat to Odermatt. Romed Baumann finished 2.02 seconds behind the best time. Andreas Sander was 2.07 seconds behind. And Simon Jocher and Thomas Dressen hadn’t risked everything either and were still far behind their teammates. It was also a disappointing race for Josef Ferstl (+2.94). After 31 drivers, Baumann was in 16th place, Sander was in 19th place, Jocher was 25th and Dressen was 26th. Ferstl was in 29th place.