Giant of Adelboden: Glory day for Switzerland! Odermatt wins ahead of Meillard

Superb Swiss double in Adelboden! Marco Odermatt won the giant in the Bernese resort on Sunday for the fourth time in a row. The Nidwalden won ahead of Loïc Meillard and the Italian Luca de Aliprandini. Thomas Tumler finished just off the podium. Thomas Tumler finished just off the podium, while Luca Aerni was 7th.

The Swiss-Norwegian duel between Odermatt, Meillard, Henrik Kristoffersen and Atle Lie McGrath, leading quartet of the first round and the general classification of the World Cup, completely turned in favor of the Swiss on the Chuenisbärgli. The two Scandinavians were eliminated, and left the two leaders of the Swiss team to fight for victory.

Loïc Meillard, less comfortable in giant than in slalom this winter, had the opportunity to score his first victory of the season by closing the starting gate after his excellent initial run. He also had the opportunity to erase his elimination the day before in slalom and his misadventure a year ago in Adelboden, where one of his bindings had failed. Starting with 37 hundredths ahead of Odermatt, the Hérémence skier however made a small error and crossed the line 20 hundredths behind “Odi”.

“A great revenge”

“I have a little pang in my heart, because these two tenths were findable. But seeing where I’m coming from as a giant this season and my outing on Saturday, it’s more than positive,” Meillard reacted to the RTS microphone, satisfied to have finally been able to let go of the horses after his back problems.

“I’ve been having trouble daring to go all out with my back lately, and I finally managed to do it. It’s also a great revenge on last year, even if it would have been even better with two tenths less,” added the man who climbed the podium for the third time in Adelboden after his 3rd places in 2021 and 2023, each time in giant form.

Marco Odermatt signed a third consecutive victory in the discipline after his successes in Val d’Isère and Alta Badia in December. Despite his eliminations in Sölden and Beaver Creek, he took off at the top of the discipline rankings. When he saw his teammate cross the line, however, he seemed almost more disappointed than happy to celebrate the victory.

“It was a great fight against Loïc today. It’s always more difficult to fight against a compatriot, because you feel a bit bad if he finishes behind you. But to be both on the podium like two years ago, we couldn’t dream of better,” declared Odermatt at the FIS microphone, before singing along to the 25,000 spectators present in the finish area. .

Like Stenmark

With this fourth success in a row at Adelboden – the 42nd of his career in total – Odermatt equals Ingemark Stenmark, four times winner in the Bernese Oberland between 1979 and 1982. But he is still far from the nine successes of Marcel Hirscher obtained at Adelboden (4 giants, 5 slaloms).

Thomas Tumler (4th, +1”14) and Luca Aerni (7th, +1”86) completed the great performance of the Swiss in front of their home crowd. The Grison, winner at Beaver Creek, confirmed that he is at 35 in the shape of his life. As for the Valaisan, he again managed a good comeback after finishing the first route in 16th place.