What records can he break?: The most important questions about Odermatt’s ball hat trick

Marco Odermatt (26) highlighted the general World Cup theme with his victory in the giant slalom in Palisades Tahoe (USA). “It’s nice that it is now mathematically clear,” he said into the SRF microphone after the race, even though it was actually clear beforehand.” He prefers to emphasize how great the Swiss team result is with four athletes in the top 6.

In the winner’s interview on ORF, Odermatt goes into more detail. “It’s extremely cool, I’m over the moon that it worked the third time,” he says. And adds: “Even if it doesn’t feel like an overall World Cup victory.” It’s a shame that the many injuries have meant that the whole thing is ahead of schedule. “But you still have to do it, and now the goal is to see it through to the end.”

Odermatt’s third success in a row is Switzerland’s tenth overall World Cup victory. Before him, only four compatriots have won the big crystal ball: Pirmin Zurbriggen (61), Peter Lüscher (67), Paul Accola (57) and Carlo Janka (37). The man from Nidwalden is only the second Swiss to win the overall World Cup multiple times. Only Zurbriggen with his four victories is still ahead of him.

Winning the overall World Cup three times in a row – not many athletes can do that. Apart from Odermatt, only four skiers have succeeded so far. Gustav Thöni (72, It), Ingemar Stenmark (67, Sd), Phil Mahre (66, USA) and Marcel Hirscher (34, Austria). What happens more often: lifting the large ball twice in a row. This is what Jean-Claude Killy (80, Fr), Karl Schranz (85, Austria), Marc Girardelli (60, Lux), Pirmin Zurbriggen (61, Sz), Hermann Maier (51, Austria) and Stephan Eberharter (54, Austria) say ) have done.

Odermatt is the eighth athlete to win the overall World Cup at least three times. One person stands out above all: Marcel Hirscher. He has dominated the Ski World Cup for years, winning the big ball eight times in a row. To overtake him, Odermatt would always have to be the best until the 2028/29 season.

If you take the last race of the season as a deadline, Marco Odermatt will be 26 years and 168 days old when he wins his third overall World Cup victory. At first glance, this is young for a skier. If you compare it to the other seven athletes who have won the overall World Cup at least three times, you can see that Odermatt is almost the oldest among them. Only Hermann Maier was older at over 28 years old when he won his third major ball. The youngest three-time overall winners of the World Cup are Ingemar Stenmark and Gustav Thöni, who achieved this at the tender age of 22 years and a few days.

Traditionally, the crystal balls are presented at the World Cup final. After the last race in each discipline there is the corresponding ranking. The big balls will be handed out after the last race of the season. Odermatt can lift his on March 24 after the descent in Saalbach-Hinterglemm (Austria).

There is no prize money from the FIS for winning the big ball. Instead, it pays off big time, especially in marketing, and gives the sponsors an extra bonus for such successes.

Points record – Odermatt set a new record last winter with 2042 points. He is still at a distance of 340 points. There are still four giant slaloms, one downhill and one super-G left for him. Odermatt cannot beat the cross-gender points record of Tina Maze (40, Slo) from the 2012/13 season with 2414 points.

Biggest lead – But it smells like a new record: the largest lead in the overall World Cup. This figure is held by Hermann Maier, who was 743 points ahead of Stephan Eberharter in 2000/2001. Odermatt’s reserve on his first pursuer Manuel Feller (31) currently stands at 901 points.

Season Wins – Odermatt celebrated eleven victories this winter. Last season there were thirteen, which is equal to the record of Ingemar Stenmark (1978/79), Hermann Maier (2000/01) and Marcel Hirscher (2017/18). He is three wins short of becoming the only record winner.

Number of balls – The Swiss competes for the small crystal ball in three disciplines. If he takes them all, he would be the first driver since Hermann Maier in 2000/01 to win four balls in one go.

winning streak – Odermatt celebrated ten major victories in total. Only Ingemar Stenmark (14 giant slaloms) and the Austrian Annemarie Moser-Pröll (70, eleven downhills) have achieved ten or more victories in a row in one discipline. If Odermatt remains undefeated in his flagship discipline this winter, he will move level with Stenmark. He would then achieve a total of 25 World Cup victories in giant slalom and would not only be number 3 in the history of this discipline behind Stenmark (46 successes) and Hirscher (31 successes), but also the most successful Swiss. Currently it is Michael von Grünigen (54) with 23 victories.