This has never happened before: Odermatt makes history on the Lauberhorn

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Shortly before New Year’s Eve, Cyprien Sarrazin ruined Marco Odermatt’s big New Year’s Eve party in Bormio, as he prevented the Nidwalden resident’s first World Cup victory on the “Stelvio” by a measly nine hundredth. On the shortened Lauberhorn descent it once again seems that the Frenchman could become a Swiss game-breaker – at the first split, Sarrazin and Odermatt have exactly the same speed. But from the “Brüggli” the genius of the two-time overall World Cup winner from Lake Lucerne wins out against Sarrazin’s breakneck driving style.

At the finish, Odermatt is six-tenths ahead of the 29-year-old from Gap in southeastern France. This means that the last mistake in the sensational biography of the three-time Swiss athlete of the year has been erased. After 18 successes in the giant slalom and 11 victories in the Super-G, Odermatt now also has a World Cup victory in the most important discipline to his name. After Didier Cuche in the 2009/10 season, Odermatt is the first athlete to win World Cup victories in giant slalom, super-G and downhill in the same season. “After missing the victory in the downhill several times by just a few hundredths, this is a special moment for me,” Odermatt beams.

First success with a rental ski from Stöckli

But this victory is something very special for another reason: Odermatt is the first Swiss to win the World Cup downhill in Wengen with a Swiss Stöckli ski. Marco was with Rossignol until February 2010. “At first it worked fine. But from the age of thirteen I noticed that Marco, despite his technically very good rides, was not setting enough good times,” recalls father Walti Odermatt.

The fact that Marco was able to discover the right material for himself shortly afterwards is thanks to his friend Kean Mathis and youth coach Rumo Lussi. Papi Walti: “Kean had been skiing in Stöckli for a long time and during a Wednesday training Rumo Lusso adjusted the bindings of the skis so that Marco could test drive these devices. He immediately set the best training time. And when Marco came home in the evening, he made it clear to me that he wanted to participate in the next race at Stöckli.”

Kohler crashes as a party killer

Three days later, Kean Mathis lent little “Odi” the skis again for a U-14 giant slalom at Sörenberg. The result: Marco won this race! Shortly afterwards, Stöckli’s young scout Richi Grab appeared in the office of then race director Walter Reusser.

Reusser, now CEO of Sport at Swiss Ski, will never forget the conversation with Grab: “Richi made it clear to me that we should definitely sign this Odermatt, because in his opinion there was only one ski racer in Switzerland born in 97, who is even better then Odi – Marco Kohler!” This Marco Kohler now also clouds Odermatt’s joy about his first World Cup victory in the premier league discipline. The Meiringer, who is now one of Odermatt’s best friends, falls after a fantastic fracture and completely damages his knee.

Source : Blick