The French “Skidane” is also a daredevil off the slopes: Sarrazin destroys hotel bed after Streif victory

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While Marco Odermatt starts his second outing within 24 hours at 11.44 am with the number 7, the two protagonists of the 1976 Olympic downhill stand next to each other in the so-called coaching zone in the finish area – the Austrian downhill Emperor Franz Klemm and Blick- columnist Bernhard Russi.

When Odermatt crossed the finish line with a lead of 1.3 seconds over Austrian Daniel Hemetsberger, Russi pumped his fist in triumph and offered his 70-year-old friend Klemm a bet. «Odermatt will win this race by a second! How much do you bet?” The 1976 Olympic champion explains that this bet with the 1972 Olympic champion in Sapporo is meaningless. “Bernhard, that is not a risk prediction from you. In this case I think exactly the same as you!”

It takes almost two minutes before the harmonious prediction of the two old masters turns out to be completely wrong. The French speed sensation Cyprien Sarrazin pulverizes the superstar from the canton of Nidwalden with his mega assist by nine-tenths and celebrates his second Hahnenkamm victory within 24 hours!

“A really cool sick person”

One of the first to congratulate him was Luc Alphand, who in 1995 was the last Frenchman to achieve the double on the most infamous downhill in the world. The disappointment can be seen on Odermatt’s face. A few minutes later, the two-time overall World Cup winner also had many positive things to say about second place. “I have to be very happy with this placement, it was another great race.”

Then the man from Nidwalden sings a huge praise for Sarrazin: “Sure, I made a mistake in the top part, with a perfect ride I might have been six tenths faster. But that still wouldn’t have been enough to beat Cyprien. What he is currently showing is sensational. He’s a really cool guy who takes a lot of risks. Exactly what people want to see.”

The bed had to suffer from Sarrazin’s triumph

Odermatt makes it clear that he had a lot of fun off the slopes with the 29-year-old from the southeast of the “Grande Nation”: “I went out with Cyprien for the first time in Chile last summer, and we went to a party last week meeting in Wengen. And I can say that Cyprien is also very good at parties.”

Confirmation of this follows immediately: At the awards ceremony in Kitzbühel, Sarrazin confesses to the audience: “After the downhill victory, I went to the hotel room with the whole team to celebrate. Unfortunately, a bed was destroyed.”

Feuz did not expect Sarrazin’s development either

Before this season, Sarrazin rarely had cause for celebration. After unexpectedly beating Carlo Janka in the final of the parallel giant in Alta Badia in 2016 and coming second in the giant slalom at the same place three years later, the Kamikaze particularly stood out with an extremely high failure rate. And although the former giant slalom specialist achieved his first top 10 finish in the downhill 13 months ago in sixth place in Val Gardena, a top expert like Beat Feuz admits “that I had not really thought about Sarrazin before this winter.”

But after his fourth win of the season, the man who previously competed in mountain bike downhill races is just six points behind Odermatt in the overall downhill standings with four races remaining. Sarrazin is also second in the overall World Cup (496 points behind Odermatt). Many marketing experts are convinced that the Frenchman’s successes will have a positive impact on the international reputation of alpine skiing. Does Marco Odermatt also see it that way? “Certainly. But from my point of view, Sarrazin has now slowly but surely won enough.”

Source : Blick