VAL d’ISERE, France (AP) — Olympic champion Marco Odermatt posted the fastest time in the opening run of a men’s World Cup giant slalom Saturday in a quest for his first points in the discipline this season.
Racing in dense snowfall and flat light, Odermatt started conservatively but had a more free-flowing final part of his run down the challenging Face de Bellevarde course to lead Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway by 0.15 seconds.
Odermatt’s Swiss teammate Loic Meillard was 0.32 behind in third. All other racers had to make up more than half a second on Odermatt in the final run later Saturday.
“I didn’t take the ultimate risk, I knew the course between the third and sixth gate was not that good from the snow,” Odermatt said.
The three-time overall champion won the first nine of 10 giant slaloms races last season, but then failed to finish the final event in March and the first two races of the new season.
“I never lost my confidence, I knew I’m still fast and I still can win races,” Odermatt said.
With a win, Odermatt would match the career tally of Ted Ligety, the American GS specialist who won 24 World Cup races in the discipline between 2006 and 2015.
Only two racers in World Cup history have won more giant slaloms — Marcel Hirscher with 31, and Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark with 46.
Hirscher, the record eight-time overall champion from Austria who returned to the circuit for the Netherlands after his initial retirement five years ago, ended his comeback season last week after tearing his left ACL during a training run.
Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, who earned Brazil’s first-ever World Cup podium in Alpine skiing and went top of the GS season standings last week, struggled on the steep middle section and finished 2.35 seconds off the lead.
Thomas Tumler, who won last week’s race in Beaver Creek, Colorado, placed sixth and was 0.74 behind his teammate Odermatt.
The winner of the season-opening GS in October, Alexander Steen Olsen, sat out the race because of a persistent knee issue. He traveled back to Norway for treatment but was expected to return for a GS in Alta Badia, Italy next week.
Olympic slalom champion Clement Noel slid off the course and into the safety netting. The Frenchman got up but remained on the hill and was attended by a team doctor.
Noel is a favorite for the slalom on the same hill Sunday after winning the first two races in that discipline this season.
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