Olympic champion Marco Odermatt impressively underlined his exceptional position in the Ski World Cup with two victories within 24 hours. After leaving Val Gardena, the 27-year-old Swiss also won the borderline giant slalom in Alta Badia. Anton Grammel celebrated by far his best World Cup result in eleventh place.
But the race in the Hochabteital had a “glitch”: Odermatt expressed doubts as to whether it should have even started given the difficult piste conditions, and his teammate Justin Murisier spoke of an “absolute scandal. The FIS is playing with the health of us athletes.” The Austrian Manuel Feller found it “disrespectful and negligent”, the former world champion Henrik Kristoffersen from Norway “dangerous”.
The performance of Grammel, who fought his way into the final with the high number 54, was all the more remarkable. “I can be satisfied,” he said, and the 26-year-old called half the World Cup standard “a positive side effect.” Under the difficult circumstances it was still “a fair race”.
Odermatt prevailed ahead of the surprise runner-up Leo Anguenot (France/+0.85 seconds) and Alexander Steen Olsen (Norway/+0.88). With his 41st World Cup victory, he surpassed the legend Pirmin Zurbriggen and is now the best Swiss. “That was a feast for the eyes, something brilliant. Only one person can do that – him!” enthused ARD expert Felix Neureuther. Grammel was 2.14 seconds behind.
There will be another slalom in Alta Badia on Monday. Then Linus Straßer, among others, gets involved again.
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