Listen to this article
Estimated 3 minutes
The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.
World champion Marco Odermatt confirmed his status as the main contender for the Olympic super-G title Friday by winning the opening event of the classic Hahnenkamm weekend, the last super-G before the Milan Cortina Games.
The Swiss star became the only skier with more than one super-G victory this season, after the previous five events saw as many different winners.
Racing in perfect sunny conditions, Odermatt edged out teammate Franjo von Allmen by 0.03 seconds at Kitzbuhel, Austria.
“It was very close, so I am satisfied,” Odermatt told Austrian TV. “In the upper part I felt it was a good run, but in the middle section I was away from the race line, so I’m a bit surprised I finished in the lead.”
Marco Odermatt of Switzerland narrowly won Friday’s World Cup super-g race in Kitzbühel, Austria with the time of 1:08.41.
After finishing, Odermatt signaled with his hand how close the result was and then pointed to von Allmen in the leader’s box.
Later, von Allmen jokingly grabbed Odermatt by his neck as if he wanted to strangle him.
“Everyone wants to win here, so I understand it’s hard to get beaten by three-hundredths,” Odermatt said.
The Swiss duo finished ahead of Austrians Stefan Babinsky and Raphael Haaser, who were 0.25 and 0.33 seconds behind in third and fourth, respectively.
Odermatt’s closest challenger in the super-G standings, former world champion Vincent Kriechmayr, placed seventh. Odermatt now leads the Austrian by 158 points with three races remaining after the Olympics.
Cam Alexander posted the top Canadian result, finishing in 11th place. teammae Jack Crawford was 21st.
1:09.03 was North Vancouver’s Cameron Alexander’s eleventh place time Friday at the World Cup super-g race in Kitzbühel, Austria.
The victory moved Odermatt within one of third-placed Hermann Maier on the all-time race winners list of the men’s World Cup.
Maier had 54 career wins when he retired in 2009, fellow Austrian great Marcel Hirscher has 67 wins, while Swedish standout Ingemar Stenmark tops the list with 86.
The record across genders is held by Mikaela Shiffrin, who has won 107 World Cup races since her maiden victory in 2012.
Friday’s win was Odermatt’s 17th in a super-G, equaling Aksel Lund Svindal’s career tally. Only Maier won more super-G races in his career: 24.
Swiss racer Arnaud Boisset had a nasty crash on the Seidlalm jump, one of the marquee sections of the course, but appeared unhurt.
Adrian Smiseth Sejersted hit a gate entering the same jump, the Norwegian acrobatically avoided falling and even finished the race in fifth.
His Norwegian teammate Aleksander Aamodt Kilde sat out the race with back pain, and had already decided to also skip Saturday’s downhill.
Kilde, the 2020 overall champion who has won the downhill in Kitzbuhel twice, skied in the early morning ours but decided against a start.
“We tried everything. But one lesson learned: don’t start unless you’re 100%, especially on the Streif,” Kilde wrote on Instagram.
Kilde hasn’t raced since placing 36th in super-G in Italy four weeks ago in his comeback season from leg and shoulder injuries sustained at a downhill crash in Wengen in January 2024.
The Norwegian ski team, though, said Kilde’s prospect “looks very good” to start in a downhill in Crans-Montana next week, the last World Cup race before the Olympics.
Source link
