World Cup Finals: Odermatt aims for immortality in Soldeu

As Mikaela Shiffrin has deservedly grabbed international headlines with her record-breaking exploits, ski fans know there is something special afoot on the men’s tour, too.

With the racing calendar coming to an end at the Audi FIS Ski World Cup Finals in Soldeu, Andorra this week, Swiss magician Marco Odermatt will aim to complete the most successful individual men’s season in the sport’s history.

Odermatt has had a winter for the ages. From 23 World Cup starts across downhill, super-G and giant slalom, the 25-year-old has recorded 20 podiums, bagged 11 wins and averaged 79.4 points per race.

He stands on 1,826 points, and across his three events can accrue enough to surpass Austrian legend Hermann Maier’s record of 2,000, garnered in the 2000 season.

However, in each discipline he faces extremely stiff competition, primed to spoil the Swiss celebrations.

Kilde seeks to seal downhill dominance

The men’s downhill kicks off the World Cup Finals on Wednesday, and the blue riband event looks likely to be a three-way battle.

Norway’s 30-year-old Aleksander Aamodt Kilde is contesting his 10th FIS World Cup season and, like a fine wine, is improving with age.

He has clocked more points this term than in any of his previous years, and has won the downhill crystal globe at a canter, despite the best efforts of the brilliant Vincent Kriechmayr (AUT), who lies second, and Odermatt in third.

It is Kilde’s duel with Odi that everyone will have their eyes on, however, as the Swiss racer pipped him to the biggest downhill prize of the year at last month’s World Championships in Courchevel Meribel.

The Norwegian is all about unbridled power and skiing on the limit. Kriechmayr is a classic Austrian downhill practitioner, and, while Odermatt is not yet a master of the discipline, his strength and bulletproof mentality under pressure always increase the heat on his big friend and rival.

Beyond this trio, Johan Clarey (FRA), Mattia Casse (ITA) and James Crawford (CAN) have all been putting in robust performances and can upset the big three to grab podium positions.

Triple tussle in super-G

Thursday’s super-G will inevitably involve the same cast of characters – except with the betting odds skewed slightly.

It is Odermatt who will leave the start gate as favourite in this one, with Viking Kilde in situ as the man trying to steal his thunder. Kilde has managed two wins, two second places and a third this year in super-G, and will hope for a course that is as fast and straight as possible to cater to his tastes.

Kriechmayr will be ready to pounce should either man falter, while Alexis Pinturault (FRA) seems to be coming into form at the right time for Soldeu.

There’s always room for a surprise, too: James Crawford (CAN) has had an average super-G World Cup but came out of nowhere to win the World Championship title with an awesome display of power and poise.

Crawford, Andreas Sander (GER) and Stefan Rogentin (SUI) will all seek to make their mark.

Giant slalom: Odi’s kingdom

Despite his superlative speed season, it is the GS that remains Odermatt’s forte. He is the newly crowned world champion, the Olympic champion, and leads the World Cup standings by a country mile.

He has bagged six first places, a second place and a third place this term. Only Marco Schwarz (AUT) and Lucas Braathen (NOR) have beaten him this year.

The technically superb Schwarz and buccaneering young Braathen – who has stormed back into contention after appendix surgery recently – will both have hope in Andorra, but it is Henrik Kristoffersen (NOR) that most will rate at having the best chance of overcoming Odi.

The 28-year-old Norwegian has had an interesting year, switching skis and taking a while to get used to the new materials, but often clocking astonishingly quick runs when they are tuned right.

Inconsistency has been the Viking’s enemy; he’s often struggled on his first runs, before putting in a lightning second ski, without it being quite enough to get him to the top of the podium. Get the balance right and show up with his A game on both runs, and he could end his year in style.

Norwegians clash in race for slalom globe

Sunday’s Cup-concluding slalom is an Odermatt-free zone – and the only crystal globe that has gone to the wire this season.

Three men are in contention to take home the glass. Switzerland’s Daniel Yule is the outsider: he will need to win the Soldeu slalom and hope the two men above him falter seriously – but whatever happens, the veteran has showcased his class again.

The likely scenario is a Norwegian head-to-head. Lucas Braathen narrowly leads the points standings with 466, and the 22-year-old has exhilarated fans with a buccaneering, powerful and carefree brand of slalom skiing in 2022/23.

He also seems curiously undiminished by his mid-season surgery, perhaps thanks to the sheer vitality of youth.

Determined to beat him will be Kristoffersen, who is just 32 points behind his compatriot. In his 11th season aged 28, the detail-obsessed, technically sublime Norwegian is coming to terms with new skis and seeking marginal gains everywhere.

He’s won two World Cup slaloms this year – in Wengen and Garmisch – but things really aligned at the World Championships, where Kristoffersen produced one of the finest second slalom runs of his career to take gold.

While these two try to top each other to take the globe, a congested field of evenly matched racers will also aim for victory. Expect those in contention to include Ramon Zenhaeusern (SUI), Manuel Feller (AUT), Loic Meillard (SUI), Linus Strasser (GER), Clement Noel (FRA) and Alexander Steen Olsen (NOR).