© KEYSTONE/AP/Mark Schiefelbein
Marco Odermatt went for the Olympic title in giant. The Nidwalden joins Roger Staub, Heini Hemmi, Max Julen, Carlo Janka in the Swiss gold club in the discipline.
What a strength of character for Marco Odermatt. While he had experienced the elimination in Super-G, the leader of the World Cup general knew he was highly anticipated on Sunday. Kind of like in Adelboden at the beginning of the year.
In the lead after the first run, the boss of men’s skiing had to draw on his physical and mental resources to get this fantastic gold medal at 24 years old. Because Zan Kranjec has had an incredible second run. 8th at the end of the initial route, the Slovenian pulled out a fiery heat. But “Odi” was able to use his 78 hundredths lead wisely to keep 19 at the finish.
The last place on the podium went to French world champion Mathieu Faivre.
10th after the first run, Gino Caviezel finished 7th.
The other two Swiss musketeers unfortunately did not reach the finish in the first run. Justin Murisier said he made a mistake in his settings. “I noticed from the second gate that I had no grip. I did not find the solution, explained the Bagnard, 4th in the combined in these games. When you come to the Olympics, it’s for there make a medal. I don’t have one.”
Loïc Meillard, who will still have the slalom to recover in Beijing, suffered from the lack of visibility. “You have to attack, but it’s hard to know what’s going on under your feet in these conditions,” said the skier from Hérémence, who made a mistake after touching the snow with a shoe.