Odermatt has a cup problem

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After Marco Odermatt’s eleventh win of the season, there is a Swiss in Kranjska Gora who shakes his head demoralized. It is Jörg Roten from Wallis, who has been coaching Henrik Kristoffersen (28) for two years. “Henrik delivered a very strong performance in the second run and Marco made a few mistakes relatively early in the last run. That’s why I believed this race would work for us. But Marco is a phenomenon, absolutely unbelievable!”

With this incredible performance, the man from Nidwalden not only took the day victory from Kristoffersen on the “Podkoren”, the Norwegian also had to settle for second place in the overall giant slalom classification. After winning the overall World Cup, Odermatt also wins the giant slalom crystal for the second time in a row. “After the mistakes in the upper part of the course, I didn’t believe I could win this race either,” admits Odermatt, “but then I really risked everything, which again paid off. I was completely surprised when I got to the finish looked at the timetable when it lit up green behind my name.”

Odermatt’s luxury problem

After his recent victory, the world champion and Olympic champion has a luxury problem. The Odermatts in Buochs ​​are running out of room for all the trophies. “My childhood room was converted into a trophy room. Actually, after last season there was no room left, but during this winter we found a few holes where a few prizes fit. But now I definitely have to make another appointment.”

As the two-time Sportsman of the Year ponders this, national and international reporters keep asking the same question: What sets the blond boy from Lake Lucerne apart from the rest of the ski world? Certainly: the skiing technique and mental strength of the Nidwaldner are excellent.

But it is also the pursuit of normalcy that makes him so abnormally strong. That starts with nutrition. There are some ski athletes who despair if they do not find the products recommended by their nutritionist at the breakfast buffet in their team hotel. Marco has never had a nutritionist. “When I’m at the breakfast buffet in a hotel, I put exactly what I want on my plate.”

Of ordinary madness!

A few years ago, a state-of-the-art training center that works strictly according to the latest sports science findings wanted to sign Odermatt as a model athlete. The Olympic giant slalom champion also declined this offer because only diet chefs work in the said training center and the lunch menu depends on the calorie consumption of a training session. That’s why he flexes his muscles in Stans-Oberdorf in Leo Schallberger’s garage for agricultural machinery and commercial vehicles.

His childhood friend Gabriel Gwerder set up a modest but highly functional weight room on the top floor of Schallberger’s company, in which Odermatt implemented the training plans of his fitness trainer Kurt Kothbauer. Born in Upper Austria, he took care of strength and conditioning superstar Hermann Maier in the 1990s.

Next week at the season finale in Soldeu (Andorra), Odermatt could break two Herminator records. In the 1999/2000 season, Maier was the only Alpine rider to score 2000 World Cup points. Our “Odiator” has 1826 points for his last three races this winter. Maier, together with his compatriot Marcel Hirscher and Swedish giant and slalom god Ingemar Stennmark, holds the record for season victories – they won 13 World Cup races in one winter. If Odermatt was victorious in the Pyrenees in the downhill, super-G and giant, he would have had one more win of the season than that glorious trio.

Source : Blick