“Unworthy of the World Championship, worse than an FIS race!”: Major polemic about the Garmisch Super-G

After the slope had been prepared again with salt and water, the jury turned the traffic light to green. However, Valaisian Justin Murisier (14th place) would have preferred that Waldner had continued with his original plan: “This match was not worthy of the World Cup. That was worse than an FIS race (small races under the European Cup, ed.)!”

Marco Odermatt also finds clear words and, since Kvitfjell finished fourth for the first time in March 2022 (and on the podium twelve times in a row), he finished off the podium at a Super-G World Championship. “I’m not saying it was worse than an FIS race. But it was no better than an event in the FIS area.”

“The course determination was far too easy”

Odermatt takes a deep breath and then gets specific: “First of all, I would like to compliment the track team for having managed to prepare a track that will last so long under the most difficult conditions. But: The course determination was too simple; this run only included a maximum of five correct turns. In addition, the snow was extremely slow and soft. When I pushed at the start, my poles collapsed about a foot. When I scored the second goal, I felt like I was ready for spring après-ski.”

The two-time overall World Cup winner therefore seriously questions Garmisch as an organizer of speed races. “I can understand the people of the OK that they want to hold World Cup competitions on this historic course. But the goal here is only 700 meters. The chance that temperatures are low enough at this time of year is therefore relatively small. And as far as I’m concerned, we shouldn’t be driving the Super-G on a salt slope at the end of January.”

The man from Nidwalden advocates that the FIS should make Garmisch a pure slalom destination: “Unlike us, the slalom skiers are used to salty slopes. And because the Garmisch region has the perfect slalom track with the Gudiberg, I think it should be given a permanent place on the World Cup calendar.

A 71-point cushion in the ballfight

Odermatt can also draw two positive lessons from this Super-G: “I am happy that my teammate Loïc Meillard is on the podium next to Nils Allegre and Gugliemo Bosca, it is absolutely deserved. Being ahead of Vincent Kriechmayr and Cyprien Sarrazin, I was even able to slightly increase my lead in the overall Super-G classification.”

For the last three races in this discipline, the 26-year-old is 71 points ahead of Kriechmayr and 161 points ahead of Kitzbüheler double winner Sarrazin in the battle for the small ball.