Eliminated on Saturday during the slalom, Loïc Meillard reacted this Sunday in Adelboden, and in what way! Best time in the first round, he however did not succeed in achieving his dream: he was in fact beaten by an incredible Marco Odermatt, third in the first round but irresistible on the second course, notably in the wall final.
In the final ranking, Odermatt precedes Meillard by 20 hundredths of a second and the Italian Luca De Aliprandini – who moved up nine places – by 69 hundredths. The Nidwalden consolidates his first place in the general classification of the World Cup and giant slalom.
Four in a row, like Stenmark!
“I am proud of this victory in front of this fantastic crowd,” said Odermatt in the winner’s hot seat. But somewhere, I’m almost embarrassed to win here, at home. That being said, we are two Swiss on the podium, it can’t be better.” Odermatt then sang the song “Das Berner Oberland ist schön” a capela, to the delight of the audience.
Winner of the Adelboden giant in 2022, 2023 and 2024, Odermatt therefore won the legendary Oberland event for the fourth consecutive time. Before him, there was only the Swedish legend Ingemar Stenmark to achieve such a quadruplet, from 1979 to 1982.
Switzerland achieved a fantastic overall result, since we find Grison’s Thomas Tumler in 4th place (+1”14) and Friborg’s Luca Aerni in 7th (+1”86, nine places gained in second sleeve). On the other hand, it’s a mess for the Norwegian team: Henrik Kristoffersen (2nd in the first round), Atle Lie McGrath (4th) and Alexander Steen-Olsen (8th) all made mistakes at the start. afternoon!
Livio Simonet (37th), Fadri Janutin, Lenz Hächler and Sandro Zurbrügg (eliminated) did not see the second round.
