Marco Odermatt in the footsteps of Zurbriggen

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March 5 has always been a holiday in the Odermatt family. Marco’s father Walti (55) celebrates his birthday on this date. Yesterday the junior gave his father a very special gift. Although he didn’t run perfectly at the Super-G in Aspen, the man from Nidwalden achieved two wins and a record in one fell swoop!

Odermatt is the first in World Cup history to win five Super-Gs in one winter. And with his 20th World Cup victory, he became the sixth Swiss to secure the small Super-G ball after Pirmin Zurbriggen, Franz Heinzer, Paul Accola, Didier Cuche and Mauro Caviezel.

Triumph in Kranjska Gora already complete?

“It’s really cool! My ride was right on the limit. But I didn’t believe in victory because Aleksander Kilde started brutally fast again in the top section,” Odermatt admits. In fact, his big opponent Aleksander Aamodt Kilde was almost five tenths faster in the first split. But because the Norwegian then made a few unusual mistakes, the Viking only managed to finish third. The German Andreas Sander was also 29 hundredths faster than Kilde.

This means that Odermatt should no longer be able to take victory in the overall World Cup. With six races to go, the 25-year-old is 386 points ahead of the super moose. That means in plain language: with a top result at the two giant slaloms in Kranjska Gora, the Olympic giant slalom champion was able to secure the big crystal ball next weekend. Especially since it turned out in Aspen that the chance is small that Kilde will travel to Slovenia and will only participate in the downhill, super-G and giant slalom in the final in Soldeu. So Kilde could win a maximum of 300 points.

Odermatt would be the first Swiss after Pirmin Zurbriggen to win the overall World Cup more than once. Wallis’ exceptional talent won the sport’s most valuable alpine trophy four times (1984, 1987, 1988 and 1990). In addition, the 2000 points that Hermann Maier scored in the 1999/2000 season is getting closer.

Papa Odermatt gets goosebumps

When Zurbriggen, now 60, watches Odermatt on TV, he often feels transported back to his own active days. “He controls most passages just as instinctively as I used to. But I think Marco can handle the enormous pressure and hype around him even more easily than I did back then.” In the all-time Super-G World Cup ranking, Odermatt is only one behind Zurbriggen with nine individual victories.

Walti Odermatt gets goosebumps when his son is compared to the great Pirmin. “Competing in a few FIS races myself when I was young, Zurbriggen was my biggest role model. And for me, Pirmin is still the best skier of all time.” But if Marco Odermatt stays healthy, it should only be a matter of time before he surpasses Pirmin Zurbriggen in all statistics.

Source : Blick