The two have a lot in common: now Odermatt is chasing Stenmark’s century record

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February 16, 2019 contains one of Stenmark’s rare verbal hits. It is the day after the then 21-year-old Marco Odermatt finished tenth in his first World Cup giant slalom in Are. “I am impressed by this young Swiss. If Odermatt stays healthy, he will have a great career,” said Swedish Alpine king Ingemar Stenmark (67) during breakfast with Bernhard Russi and the Blick team.

Almost five years later, this Odermatt (26) is riding so fast that he is getting closer to the gigantic record of athlete of the century Stenmark. In Alta Badia (It), the man from Nidwalden recorded his third victory in the third giant slalom of the season. Across all seasons, it is the sixth complete success en suite for the reigning world champion and Olympic champion. Stenmark’s record is 14 consecutive Giants wins. While Odermatt triumphed on Sunday with almost two-tenths lead over Croatian Filip Zubcic (30), 24 hours later he took 1.05 seconds from second-placed Austrian Marco Schwarz (25).

The similarities with Stenmark

This means the 26-year-old has reached the podium in his last 22 giant slalom starts (including the Olympics and World Championships) without exception. Stenmark has implemented 37 “Stockerl” pitches in series in this category. “Marco and Ingemar have much more in common than the gigantic series of successes,” says five-time World Cup winner Marc Girardelli (60), who fought many exciting duels with the noble technician from Tärnaby in the 1980s.

“Physically, the Stenmark of that time was virtually identical to the Odermatt of today. And when I watch the video of 12-year-old Odi mastering a tricky skills course in near-perfect style, I think back to the time Stenmark jumped over a slack rope in the style of a circus performer during dry training. balanced,” adds Girardelli.

World champion draws comparisons

Odermatt also reminds former slalom world champion Frank Wörndl (64, De) again and again of the great ski Viking. “Lately there have always been opposing coaches who wanted to beat Odermatt with a particularly twisted course. The Austrians in particular tried the same in the battle against Stenmark. But such attempts at the time failed as miserably as the recent antics against Marco.

Wörndl gives an example: “In 1979, the opposing team leaders managed to move the World Cup giant slalom in Jasna from a fairly steep slope to a much flatter slope. They were confident that they could stop Stenmark this way. But the opposite happened, Ingemar won the race with a record lead of 4.06 seconds!”

Odermatt is more talkative

But Marc Girardelli then brings up a point where Odermatt and Stenmark are far apart: “Unlike Marco, Ingemar actually barely spoke!” An anecdote by the Austrian reporting legend Wolfgang Winnheim (77) shows how sparingly the three-time World Cup winner used words: “On the occasion of a World Cup race in the 1970s on the Tschentenalp in Adelboden, it so happened that I was standing with Ingemar on the hanger – I landed on the ski lift. Inside I triumphed because I sensed the big story.”

But Winnheim was bitterly disappointed: “I spent fifteen minutes in the elevator with Ingemar and during that time I asked all the questions that had been on my mind for a long time. Unfortunately I only got two answers from him: ‘It was a great race’ and ‘The track was very good’. That is it. But the Swedish journalists assured me afterwards that I had gotten a lot out of their superstar. When he talked to them, he always just said yes or no.”

Odermatt conversation with Stenmark

So far, Marco Odermatt has only spoken once with the old master from the far north. “A mutual acquaintance put us in touch via Facetime. Our conversation didn’t last too long.”

It will take even longer for the Buochser to reach Stenmark’s record of 86 in terms of individual World Cup victories. The reigning overall World Cup winner now has 27 to his name. With this, Odermatt has already overtaken the Austrian downhill emperor Franz Bracket (70, 25 downhill victories, 1 combination victory).

Source : Blick