As of: December 21, 2024 1:11 p.m
The Swiss ski racer Marco Odermatt celebrates his 40th World Cup victory in Val Gardena. Behind him, a hundredth thriller is unfolding for the podium. The German Romed Baumann surprises.
The famous Saslong in Val Gardena is not the longest, not the fastest, not the steepest, not the most technical descent in the world. But it has a bit of everything – and that's precisely why it's so notorious. On the 3.4 kilometers down into Val Gardena, it's all about the most flexible ski racer in the world.
Finally, the ski racers go over the camel humps, into the Ciaslat meadow, which offers waves, bumps and extreme curves, and then quickly to the finish, where the fans give the riders an atmospheric welcome. On Saturday (December 21, 2024), the Swiss ski dominator Marco Odermatt mastered this mix of different influences best – almost logically, one must add at this point.
Odermatt triumphs again – 40th World Cup victory
Because Odermatt is the most talented ski racer of this time. Nobody can unleash such power with simple turns as he can on the giant slalom, super-G and downhill courses around the world. The only thing he doesn't do is take part in the slalom. The 27-year-old Swiss has recently won the overall World Cup three times in a row, has now celebrated his 40th World Cup victory in Val Gardena – and has already achieved three successes this season. So the ski elite is also asking themselves this winter: Who should stop him?
Also because his ever-increasing experience makes him increasingly stronger as a strategist: On Saturday, Odermatt picked out the Ciaslat meadow as a crucial spot. He hardly hit any of them, carved smoothly through the corners and gained almost a second on second place Franjo von Allmen in this section. A deficit became a lead for the ski king. At the finish he was 0.45 seconds ahead of his compatriot.
Hundredth thriller for podium places
This lead seems even more impressive because behind the only 23-year-old von Allmen, who is already being considered as the future Odermatt successor in Switzerland, there is a one-hundredth thriller for the podium.
The American Ryan Cochran-Siegle achieved this 0.01 seconds behind von Allmen – Nils Allegre from France, again a hundredth slower, but just not.
Shocking moment for top drivers: Baumann surprisingly races to fifth place
Germany's strongest downhill skier Romed Baumann then caused a few seconds of shock for Odermatt and the other podium finishers at the finish. Because the 38-year-old suddenly took the lead in the first split times and was on course for victory for a long time. Before he had to give way to Odermatt at the bottom – but still crossed the finish line in fifth place. He was just six hundredths of a second behind Allegre.
A similar experience happened shortly afterwards to Odermatt's compatriot Lars Rösti, who was once again faster than Baumann at the top, but ended up in ninth place at the bottom after a mistake.
Standing after 37 drivers
