Odermatt storms to season-opening GS victory in Val d’Isere

Two-time defending World Cup giant slalom champion Marco Odermatt (SUI) battled through snowy afternoon conditions while charging to his third GS victory in successive years on the Stade de Olympique Bellevarde course on Saturday in Val d’Isere.

Odermatt overcame a few costly mistakes in his 2nd run to earn his 25th World Cup victory, and 15th in GS, winning the race by 0.98 seconds over runner-up Marco Schwarz (AUT). Joan Verdu (AND) achieved the first World Cup podium for the principality of Andorra, finishing third, 1.32 seconds off the winner’s pace.

The 26-year-old Swiss was fastest in the morning run, contested under clear skies, by 0.65 seconds. With brilliant acrobatic recoveries from the errors at the top of his second run and despite the limited visibility, Odermatt won the race pulling away from his competitors.

“It’s amazing to start the season with another victory here for the third time in a row – it’s not easy to ski here, but I still love this hill,” Odermatt said after the victory.

“The visibility was very flat and I struggled a bit at the top with many little mistakes. I knew I had to push hard from the middle to the bottom and I think it worked,” he said.

Odermatt was fastest on the final two intermediate splits of the second run. Considering the early mistakes, his second run time was just tenth fastest among the field. His two-run winning time was 2:13.93.

“It’s always a tough race and a difficult hill – at the start, I didn’t feel 100-percent, but for me it’s always a good hill,” he said.

Odermatt continued his dominance of the discipline in which he is both an Olympic and world champion. The Swiss racer has won 13 of 19 GS races over the past two seasons, and has landed on 18 podiums while bringing home two small globes over that period.

For the all-arounder Schwarz, the runner-up finish marked his 21st career World Cup podium.

It was a highly emotional afternoon for Andorra’s Verdu as he ascended from fifth after the morning run to the third-place result to make history for his tiny country.

“It’s crazy – I really don’t believe it,” Verdu said, shortly after his podium finish. “We’ve worked so hard for this – there has been a lot of hard moments and injuries.

"I really managed a good second run – I knew I could make a good run with this slope and this visibility.”

“I am really proud to represent Andorra at this level,” he said, holding back tears.

Verdu’s family was in the Val d’Isere finish area, shedding tears while witnessing the historic moment.

“I just want to inspire all the Andorran little guns to believe and to push hard,” Verdu added.

For the 28-year-old racer, his first World Cup podium came in his 27th World Cup start.

“I wasn’t going to ski for a top ten today, it was all or nothing,” he added. “Finally, it is an amazing result for me and I cannot believe it.

In the morning run, 22 of 70 starters were DNF's on the demanding, knee-jarring Face de Bellevarde track, with its 450-meter vertical drop. Five of 30 racers failed to finish the afternoon run while struggling in tough visibility and windy conditions.

Odermatt tallied 100-points with the victory in his season-opening race as he pursues a third successive overall World Cup title.  After two races, Schwarz leads the overall standings by 36 points ahead of his countryman Manuel Feller and by 60 ahead of Odermatt.

The men return to the Face de Bellevarde course for the second slalom of the season on Sunday.