Will Marco Odermatt be the big World Cup star?

The overall World Cup and Olympic champion keeps an overview in the denser forest of poles in the giant slalom, as well as on the steep slopes in the super-G and downhill. From Monday, many eyes in France will be on the 25-year-old. The fact that Odermatt won gold at the Alpine World Championships is undisputed for the ski experts. The question is more: how often?

Like in a computer game, Odermatt jumps from level to level in his career. In 2018 he won gold five times at the Junior World Championships, followed by his first World Cup title in 2019. At the age of 24, he won gold at the 2022 Olympics. This year the Swiss could break the 20-point mark in a World Cup season set by Hermann Maier over 2000 years ago. Maria Höfl-Riesch described the Swiss player’s journey to the top of the world as a “hero story”.

Odermatt in its own league Even slightly ailing, as was the case recently in Cortina d'Ampezzo, the noble technician leaves the competition behind. With his seventh and eighth wins of the season, Odermatt sent a clear signal before the season's highlight. “I’ll be back to 100 percent by the time of the World Cup,” the exceptional athlete said later. But even 80 seems to be enough.

The leader's chair, in which the athletes sit during the races, is now something like Odermatt's regular seat. Simple, smooth and yet somehow daring: the no-frills driving style is its great strength. The slim all-rounder doesn't need pumped up muscles to be able to keep up with powerhouses like Aleksander Aamodt Kilde in the exhausting shooting runs. The Swiss counts “lightness and coolness” among his qualities. He doesn't have any fear when he jumps out of the starting gate - "just healthy respect." But Odermatt isn’t perfect either.

Anyone looking for a flaw in the alpine superstar will find it in the lack of a title at a World Cup and in the supreme discipline of downhill. Although he is a permanent guest on the shooting stick, there has been too much time spent on the long gliding sections for the big coup. Perhaps Odermatt's only drawback.

A hero of the masses But even without a downhill victory, the man from Nidwalden has long been a star. His distinctive victorious smile in combination with the Bubi face has burned itself into the memory of the Alpine people. Even their own songs are dedicated to the ski ace. Does the playlist also run in France? “The upper part of the course is very fast. The end is very steep, much harder on the legs,” he said, describing the World Cup course. But Odermatt will certainly find the right tools for this slope too.

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Will Marco Odermatt be the big World Cup star?

Marco Odermatt is something like the Swiss army knife of ski racers. An all-rounder that has the right tool for almost every problem on the slopes.

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