Marco Odermatt's goal for the season? Not the World Ski Championships. He wants to finally get the one victory he is still missing: in Kitzbühel, on the most dangerous downhill in the world. The conditions could hardly be better.
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- Wengen is followed by Kitzbühel: the super-G takes place on the Streif on Friday, followed by the legendary downhill on Saturday.
- Marco Odermatt is the absolute top favorite in both races. However, the man from Nidwalden has never been able to win on the Streif.
- "I have one big goal, and that's the downhill in Kitzbühel," said Odermatt before the season opener. There is a lot to be said for him now, and his biggest rival is, of all people, a team colleague.
At the age of 27, Marco Odermatt has already won pretty much everything you can win. He is an Olympic champion, world champion, three-time overall World Cup winner and has set the points record in a World Cup season. He has also won classics such as the races on the Lauberhorn and in Adelboden several times. Only one important victory is still missing from his palmarès: a triumph in the Hahnenkamm downhill.
He is determined to change that this year. Before the start of the season, Odermatt made it clear: "I have one big goal, and that's the downhill in Kitzbühel." Last year he finished second and third, and in 2021 (2nd place in the super-G) and 2022 (2nd place in the downhill), the man from Nidwalden also stood on the podium. The only thing that hasn't worked out so far is winning.
"I actually know what it takes in Kitzbühel. I've just never been able to show it from top to bottom. Otherwise I could have won there already," said Odermatt back in October. "If I can implement things the way I have them in my head and the material is right, it can work."
In any case, the World Cup dominator goes into Saturday's downhill as the absolute top favorite. Also because none of the Streif winners from the last seven events will be at the start this year: Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, Vincent Kriechmayr and last year's double winner Cyprien Sarrazin are missing through injury, Beat Feuz retired two years ago.
Tips for von Allmen? "I'll have to think about it slowly"
The biggest competition comes from within the team. Franjo von Allmen in particular is in absolute top form. Last week, the 23-year-old from Bern shone at the Lauberhorn with victory in the super-G and second place in the downhill. In the battle for the small crystal globe in the downhill, only von Allmen seems to be able to keep up with Odermatt to some extent.
Does Odermatt still give his younger team-mate any tips at all? "With Franjo, I'll have to think about it slowly now," smiles Odi on "20 Minuten". But von Allmen never needs big tips anyway. "He came and did his thing," says Odermatt.
Thanks to the Buoch native's great successes, von Allmen and other young speed skiers such as Alexis Monney, Arnaud Boisset, Marco Kohler and Lars Rösti can ski with complete freedom. "I'm the one who has the big pressure. That also gives the younger skiers the chance to follow behind me and not have too much pressure. They can just ski because it works," says Odermatt.
Nevertheless, anyone who wants to win has to pass Odermatt first. In the training sessions in Kitzbühel, he took it a little easier. On Tuesday he set the twelfth-fastest time, on Wednesday he finished in 22nd place. It's probably the calm before the storm. Odermatt will certainly be back on the attack from Friday. That's when the Hahnenkamm races start with the Super-G. Marco Odermatt has never won this on the Streif either.
