Marco Odermatt wins the World Cup opener



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Marco Odermatt wins the World Cup opener
Marco Odermatt wins the World Cup opener (Provided by Financial World)

Swiss Marco Odermatt, last year's winner of the Great Crystal Globe, won the first giant slalom of the season, which the skiers drove to the World Cup in Soelden on Sunday. Odermatt celebrated with a time of 2:04.71. The second place went to the Slovenian Zan Kranjec with a time of 2:05.48, and the third was the Norwegian Henrik Kristoffersen (2:05.69).

"I was not sure if (my run) was enough, it was a really big fight," Odermatt reflected in his post-race comments. "The snow got worse and worse, the second run was really hard to ski, I guess everyone made some mistakes."

Results - Men's giant slalom, Sölden

  • Marco Odermatt (SUI) 2:04.72
  • Zan Kranjec (SLO) 2:05.48
  • Henrik Kristoffersen (NOR) 2:05.69
  • Lucas Braathen (NOR) 2:05.82
  • Rasmus Windingstad (NOR) 2:05.83
  • Tommy Ford (USA) 2:05.88
  • Loïc Meillard (SUI) 2:05.91
  • Alexander Schmid (GER) 2:06.09
“Only half of the job is done,” Odermatt said.

“I hope the second run goes just as well. I was way more relaxed coming here than in previous seasons”.

Cross-border World Cup downhill canceled due to a lack of snow

The International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) said the Oct.

29-30 races had to be canceled “due to the lack of snow and the safety situation on last section of the race track” and will not be replaced. “There is a possibility of a change in weather,” Vion said.

“We are therefore giving the organizers until Tuesday to make a final decision about the women’s races”. Due to the cancellation of the next scheduled match in Zermatt-Cervinia, the next men's World Cup event will be held in Lech/Zürs, Austria, from 12-13 November.

This will be followed by a downhill and two Super-G events in Lake Louise, Canada, in early December. “For the future, we absolutely need to review the dates because we need to have more guarantee,” FIS men’s race director Markus Waldner said.

“We have to observe the nature. We have this climate change, we had a very extremely warm summer, extremely warm autumn, also. These are signals and we need to respect this”. The move, which brings a highly challenging, high-altitude race forward by a month, has raised concerns among some racers.

“It’s not really a normal downhill, it’s a long one. And it’s also on 4,000 meters in the first downhill race of the year,” Norwegian speed specialist Aleksander Aamodt Kilde told the Associated Press in a recent video call.

“So, it’s not really an easy start, so that’s what I’m most concerned about,” Kilde added. “It’s really annoying to get injured in the first race”.

Swiss