Marco Odermatt claimed his fourth consecutive win in the Adelboden giant slalom to extend his overall FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup lead on Sunday (12 January 2025).
In front of vociferous Swiss support, Odermatt beat teammate Loic Meillard with the latter unable to convert his first-run advantage into victory. Italy’s Luca De Aliprandini put together an electrifying second run to score just the second World Cup podium finish of his career.
Before leading the crowd in a song, Odermatt told FIS, “Today was very tough. A big fight against Loic. It’s easier to stay down here and fight against a guy from another country… you somehow even feel a little bit bad, but Loic did an amazing race as well. Two on the podium like two years ago so couldn’t be better.”
With the top section rutting up and light fading, it was tough going for the later athletes. De Aliprandini, the world silver medallist from Cortina 202, attacked the top half with abandon before dialling it back on the bottom section. Lying 12th after the first descent, the 34-year-old watched as a succession of skiers failed to beat his aggregate time.
It was not until Odermatt, third after the first run, went down again that the veteran lost his lead. The Swiss star was superb on the top section but had to make an exceptional recovery on the tricky later turns to take over at the top by almost seven-tenths of a second.
And when Henrik Kristoffersen slid out early on in his second descent, De Aliprandini was guaranteed his first top-three finish since his third in the Alta Badia giant slalom just over three years ago.
That left just Meillard, who was skiing well and up on the clock at the final checkpoint. But the 28-year-old lost speed on a steep downhill right-footer and was unable to recover as he ended up two-tenths off the pace.
After his second place in Saturday’s slalom, there was disappointment for Brazil’s Lucas Pinheiro Braathen who missed a gate on the first run.
Atle Lie McGrath had his second DNF of the weekend. Fourth after the first run, the Norwegian got out of shape early on and then straddled a gate before sliding forwards into the safety netting.
Next up for Odermatt and his rivals is one of the classic stops on the calendar – Wengen – with the Super G on the Lauberhorn taking place on Friday.
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