At the alpine ski final in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, the Swiss was eliminated as leader after the first round in the second. The Swiss Loic Meillard won on a salt slope ahead of Joan Verdu from Andorra (+0.71 seconds) and his compatriot Thomas Tumler (+0.79). Stefan Brennsteiner came fourth (+1.20) and achieved his best result of the season. Odermatt won the previous nine giant slaloms in 2023/24.
The last giant slalom winner before Meillard who was not named Odermatt was the Carinthian Marco Schwarz on February 25, 2023 in Palisades Tahoe. Odermatt struck twelve times in a row across the seasons. He won the giant slalom crystal with a lead of 432 points over Meillard, and the best Austrian in the discipline ranking was Feller in ninth place.
“Logically, negative emotions predominate at the moment, that’s clear, we are all athletes who want to win. If you want to win, you have to take risks. Then a mistake can happen. An unnecessary one,” said Odermatt. The pressure didn’t play a role, he wasn’t nervous but fully motivated. Given the weather forecast with rain, he will train very little in the coming days before the two speed races are on the program.
Winner Meillard found his compatriot’s elimination “a shame”, but after so many podium finishes it was certainly bearable. He was happy that he had managed to change the direction of his performance again over the course of the season. It was the fourth career success for the 27-year-old.
“Dedicated trip with small mistakes”
The Brennsteiner from Salzburg spoke of a committed journey with a few small mistakes. He has a lot to do for next season. “I need a bit of a broader spectrum. My skiing also has to work on really hard, icy slopes. I’ll try to work on that so that I stay more stable there.” He said to Odermatt: “Today has shown that he is also human. Apparently he is not an alien after all. It’s crazy what he has achieved as a human being.”
Feller, who came in tenth (+1.50), was conflicted about his assessment: “Not fish, not meat. In the first round I didn’t quite trust myself to wait for the turns. The left turn in particular was always too early. That The second round was a step in the right direction,” said the Tyrolean. You have a lot of work over the summer. At the home World Cup he wants to be ready for the slalom and giant slalom.
Only three Austrians started in front of 12,000 spectators in the event room, Raphael Haaser was eliminated in the second round. “A classic inner ski, that annoys me a bit. The goal would have been to have a good run and finish the season somewhat okay. Now it has ended more or less the way it started, which is not at all satisfactory.”
This article was updated at 2:08 p.m.
