Marco Odermatt: The Empire Strikes Back

At the Olympic Games in Bormio, the highly successful Marco Odermatt missed out on a gold medal. But now the best skier of recent years has struck back at the World Cup downhill in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

February 28, 2026

From: dl

Marco Odermatt led a Swiss sweep of the podium on Saturday. In total, five Swiss skiers finished in the top ten. The challenging downhill course on the Kandahar was dominated by Odermatt and Alexis Monney. His fellow Swiss skier came closest to matching his time, missing his second World Cup victory by just four hundredths of a second.

Odermatt, however, will celebrate his fifth consecutive overall World Cup title and a hat trick this year – barring any unforeseen circumstances. The 28-year-old's lead is substantial. Odermatt's first World Cup victory, however, came in the downhill race in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. The third Swiss skier, Stefan Rogentin, finished almost a second behind "Odi."

Franzoni best Azzurro

Giovanni Franzoni was the best Italian, finishing fourth. The Italian missed the podium by just over two-tenths of a second. Franzoni shared fourth place with Austrian Vincent Kriechmayr. Florian Schieder was the best South Tyrolean, finishing eighth and one hundredth of a second faster than Dominik Paris, who came in ninth. The skier from Ultental put in a spirited but not flawless run.