In “borderline” conditions: Odermatt leads

With four victories in five races in the core discipline of alpine skiing, Marco Odermatt carried the weight of the big gold favorite on his shoulders. The 24-year-old exceptional talent was not slowed down by this, on the contrary. Despite heavy snowfall, extremely poor visibility and tricky course setting, he made several small mistakes, but at the end of the first run he still had the best time. Stefan Brennsteiner, who described the weather and piste conditions as borderline, and Mathieu Faivre follow behind.

Many athletes expected or feared a running time of under 55 seconds due to the short slope. Because the German coach flagged out an extremely twisting course with narrow goal gaps, the stars of the scene were on the road significantly longer than expected. As expected, Odermatt set the fastest time with 1.02,93:XNUMX minutes - even though he made a big mistake in the upper section. Hundredth thriller He lost the line, became direct and was only able to stay on course thanks to his great skill. Odermatt converted the resulting half-second gap to Henrik Kristoffersen, who had been leading up until then, into a narrow lead in the lowest section. Two other athletes, Brennsteiner and Faivre, moved between the Swiss and the Norwegian. The top five are separated by just 5 hundredths of a second.

Luca De Aliprandini put in a good performance. © APA/afp / FABRICE COFFRINI

Italy's hopeful Luca De Aliprandini put everything on one card in the first race since his serious crash in Adelboden, took great risks and was partially rewarded for it. Despite a ride that was by no means flawless, his chances of winning a medal in sixth place are still intact, as he is only half a second behind Odermatt. Meanwhile, Alex Vinatzer and Tommaso Sala only managed a few goals and were eliminated.

Giant slalom, 1st round:

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In “borderline” conditions: Odermatt leads

The Olympic giant slalom in snowy Yanqing demanded everything from the ski aces on Sunday. One athlete coped with the adverse conditions better than anyone else: Marco Odermatt.

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