Odermatt Wins Career-first World Cup Downhill In Wengen

Marco Odermatt won the first downhill race of his glittering World Cup career by streaking to victory on the home snow of Wengen on Thursday

Wengen, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 11th Jan, 2024) Marco Odermatt won the first downhill race of his glittering World Cup career by streaking to victory on the home snow of Wengen on Thursday.

Odermatt, who won downhill and giant slalom golds in last year's World Ski Championships in Courchevel, had previously made 11 World Cup podiums in the ultimate speed discipline.

But there was no mistake in Wengen as the 26-year-old produced a near-faultless run in sunny conditions to win in 1min 43.32sec.

France's Cyprien Sarrazin was second, at 0.58sec, with Norway's Aleksander Aamodt Kilde rounding out the podium (+0.81).

"To cross the finish line after Kilde, with eight tenths ahead, it was a good run, the feeling was perfect," Odermatt said.

"I took a lot of risk and it worked out, so I knew it was going to be difficult to beat."

Odermatt's victory was the 30th in his career, 18 having come in the giant slalom and 11 in the super-G.

His win made him the first male skier to win a giant slalom, a super-G and a downhill World Cup event in a single season since his compatriot Didier Cuche in 2009/10.

It also continues the Swiss racer's impressive start to the season, having already notched up three other giant slalom victories.

Those have combined to leave Odermatt atop the overall standings on 836 points, a massive 372pts ahead of Austrian Marco Schwarz, since ruled out for the season with a knee injury. Kilde is in third place, 456pts behind his Swiss rival.

Odermatt has won two consecutive overall World Cup titles as well as Olympic giant slalom gold in Beijing in 2022.

He has the chance of improving his chances of a third straight World Cup title when racing resumes with a super-G on Friday and a second, longer downhill on Saturday.

"My confidence couldn't be better, material is working perfect, and I'm ready for the two difficult races," Odermatt said.

Kilde, last season's downhill champion, will look to shake a minor illness ahead of the weekend's racing.

"I woke up this morning and I didn't feel like a million Dollars," the Norwegian said.

"It was a fun race, good weather, I like Wengen. But it was hard for me to really work with the jumps.

"You've got to bring it the next day, so hopefully I feel a little better tomorrow. But I'm always happy with the podium, especially with Sarrazin and Odermatt.

"It feels like there are more people fighting for victory than last year."

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