Swiss skiers are in the running for a historic Grand Slam

The spearheads of Swiss-Ski, Marco Odermatt and Loïc Meillard, are in the running to offer Switzerland the five crystal globes awarded to male skiers this winter. Update on the situation as mid-season approaches.

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Eliminated on Saturday during the Adelboden slalom, Loïc Meillard was nevertheless very consistent this season in this very uncertain discipline (four podiums, a fifth place in Gurgl as a less good result). He lost the lead in the specialty ranking, now ahead of Henrik Kristoffersen and Clément Noël, but it remains in ambush and can eye the little globe at the end of the seasongiven its recent performances.

Marco Odermatt being at the forefront in all the other tables, still with a significant lead (except in super-G, where he is currently closely followed by the Norwegian Fredrik Møller), it could be that the Swiss win everything this winter, at least in men.

After riding on Saturday, the Hérémence skier left no room for doubt the next day, as he ranked 2nd in the Adelboden giant, behind Marco Odermatt.image: Keystone

Such a quintuple would be an unprecedented feat for Swiss men’s skiing, especially when we know that the short turn has historically resisted the Helvetii. Only one local rider has in fact won the specialty classification: Dumeng Giovanoli, during the second edition of the World Cup, contested in 1968.

It is because of this weakness in the face of the forest of stakes that the Swiss have never managed to get their hands on all the globes in the same winter – even at their best. The 1986/1987 season was certainly exceptional in many respects, with Pirmin Zurbriggen winning the general classification as well as those in the downhill, super-G, giant and combined. But it was the Yugoslav Bojan Krizaj who dictated his law in slalom, ahead of the Swede Ingemar Stenmark and the German Armin Bittner.

1986/1987: perhaps Pirmin Zurbriggen’s most successful season. Image: KEYSTONE

That winter, the small slalom globe was the only one to resist the Swiss, because the women had actually carried out a raid, of which here are the details.

In addition, the Swiss team won eight of the ten gold medals awarded in Crans-Montana that year.

It is of course extremely rare to see a nation sweep all the rankings in the same gender category. Besides the Swiss in 1986/1987, this feat has been achieved four times, twice by the French and two other times by the Austrians.

In 97/98, “Herminator” also became double Olympic champion in Nagano, a few days after his spectacular fall.
image: Getty

We will know at the end of March if we can include the Swiss men’s team in this list. A prediction, perhaps? This would make little sense, since we will barely cross the halfway point of the season during the Wengen events. On the other hand, we have the right to dream, thanks to the good form displayed by Marco Odermatt and Loïc Meillard, as we approach the Lauberhorn and Kitzbühel.

Austria, Switzerland’s great rival, does not have this pleasure. Only Vincent Kriechmayr, 10th overall in the World Cup, is still holding the house a little. You then have to go down to 29th place in the ranking to see another ÖSV rider appear: Patrick Feurstein. Things are going badly for Austrian skiing.