Marco Odermatt is celebrated by the Swiss ski team. © ANSA / LUCIANO SOLERO

Voices from Alta Badia: “The Croats were loud”

The finale of the first giant slalom on the Gran Risa was unbeatable in terms of spectacularity. Here you can find the voices from Alta Badia.

17 December 2023

From: dl

Odermatt, who was on the podium for the fifth time in a row in Alta Badia over the last three winters, proved once again that he feels comfortable on the Gran Risa. Thanks to today's success, the 26-year-old extended his lead both in the overall ranking (365 points ahead of the Austrian Marco Schwarz with 284 points) and in the specialty ranking (200 points, Schwarz is behind with 130 points).

The question that everyone was asking after the race: Did Marco Odermatt notice Filip Zubcic's fantastic time at the starting gate? Compared to the ORF The Swiss series winner at least denied this: “No, I didn’t. All I noticed was how loud the Croatians were screaming. Then I knew: Zubo (Filip Zubcic; Note d. Red.) rode extremely hard and was well in the lead.”

“I think if the third-place finisher is a total of 2,26 seconds behind, you can talk about two good runs.” Marco Odermatt

In fact they were Odermatt and Zubcic are in a league of their own on Sunday. The 30-year-old Croatian conjured up the fastest time in the snow of Alta Badia in the second round with start number 29. But Odermatt held on and only lost a total of 12 hundredths of a second in the final. When asked whether Odermatt was more satisfied with the first run, he countered: “I think that if the third-place finisher is a total of 2,26 seconds behind, you can speak of two good runs. In any case, I’m very happy today.”

Odermatt overtakes Tomba

Odermatt has now won three of the last four RTL races in Alta Badia. Only Lucas Braathen got in the way once in last year's double. Since the start of the 2021/22 season, the high-flyer has won 14 of 20 giant slalom races, making it his fifth win in a row in this discipline across all seasons. With a total of 16 giant slalom victories in his career, he overtook the Italian Alberto Tomba.

Alex Vinatzer (19th), however, is currently in the great slalom form of his life. “I'm still a little behind the leaders, but I'm still developing. Today was a top day – even though I had to struggle in the first round. Now I’m looking forward to tomorrow,” said the man from Val Gardena after his home race. On Monday (10.00 a.m./13.30:XNUMX p.m.) another giant slalom will take place in Alta Badia.