Defining battles loom as tech specialists take centre stage while speed kings rest up

The men’s Alpine ski season has hit boiling point.

Fifteen races over the next four weeks will decide the destiny of all five Audi FIS World Cup Crystal Globes. And while you would be a brave – some might say foolish – punter to bet against one man grabbing at the very least two of those career-defining trophies, a blast of fine late-season form from a host of names has kept races alive across the board.

Coronation awaits King Odi

A recap of where the best men’s ski racers stand in 2023/24 cannot start anywhere else but with Marco Odermatt (SUI). The superlatives ran out long ago for a man who is redefining all-round dominance.

If he did not clearly have such a good head for heights, the Swiss man could be forgiven for getting a little giddy. Ahead in every discipline bar the slalom, Odermatt is headed to the next World Cup stops in the USA knowing he could well follow in the footsteps of the great Herman Maier (AUT) and become the first skier in 23 years to win four Globes in a season.

With a lead nudging towards 1000 points (918 so far) a third overall crown is surely just a race or two away but elsewhere things are tighter.

Can Sarrazin return in style?

The men’s downhill at the World Cup finals in Saalbach (AUT) on 24 March marks the final race of the season and there could not be a better curtain closer. Despite a training injury ruling Cyprien Sarrazin (FRA) out of the penultimate battle in Kvitfjell (NOR) just 42 points separate France’s breakout star and the Swiss supremo at the top of the standings.

Sarrazin’s three wins – including the classic double in Kitzbuhel – top Odermatt’s two triumphs (both on home snow down Wengen’s iconic Lauberhorn) but the Swiss man leads thanks to his endless consistency.

While others will no doubt fancy their chances of spoiling the duel, perhaps the biggest threat to a grandstand showdown between Sarrazin and Odermatt will come from an Austrian.

Vincent Kriechmayr’s (AUT) resurgent form has been great to watch. After winning in his second race of the season (the super-G in Val Gardena, ITA) the two-time 2021 speed world champion had to wait another 11 outings to climb back on to a World Cup podium.

However, a second super-G victory last time out in Kvitfjell kept Kriechmayr in the hunt for what would be a shock super-G Globe.  The man himself has dismissed his chances of pulling of such a heist, pointing out that he is facing the most consistent skier on the planet.

But an 81-point difference between Kriechmayr and Odermatt is not definitive and stranger things have happened on the final day of the ski season.

Breaking barriers

Before all of that all eyes turn to the tech events. Not that we are leaving Odermatt alone. The fact there are four giant slalom races before World Cup finals means that the Globe cannot technically be awarded to the reigning Olympic GS champion but it is all but secure.

The numbers more than speak to Odermatt’s incredible supremacy in this discipline. Six wins in six races is part of a nine-strong streak that has already seen the Swiss skier match Alberto Tomba’s (ITA) legendary slalom run.

Although if the rest of the best are looking for signs of hope, then it comes in Saturday’s (24 February) race in Palisades Tahoe. Host of the first of five US technical races, the Californian resort is the last place Odermatt failed to triumph in a World Cup GS.

Coratia’s Filip Zubic and Slovenia’s Jan Kranjec have both shown admirable consistency this season but one of the two would have to go on an unprecedented run of success to get anywhere near the champion elect.

Feller v Field in the slalom

Interest of a different sort abounds in the slalom. The enigmatic Austrian Manuel Feller started off the season in a rush, grabbing three wins in the first four races. And while Feller’s form has not dropped off much – two fourth places and a fifth since – it has given the field a chance to prevent him winning a first ever slalom Globe.

Linus Strasser leads the chasing pack and the German is in the form of his life. A winner in Kitzbuhel and a winner in Schladming, the 31-year-old sits 164 points behind Feller. A mountain still to climb, but with four races left, a possibility.

Olympic champion Clement Noel (FRA) has been close to his best of late and could spoil the party but keep an eye out for Alexander Steen Olsen (NOR). The 22-year-old has not been at his best this season, but he loves it in California, having picked up his maiden World Cup win there just 12 months ago.

Tune in for all the tech action in the next 10 days, first in Palisades Tahoe (24-25 February) then Aspen (1-3 March) before Kranjska Gora (9-10 March) rounds off the regular season.