Marco Odermatt surprises the competition and spectators at the season opener in Sölden with a rare mistake. However, the split times show that Odermatt was once again well in the lead when he made his mistake.
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- Marco Odermatt surprisingly drops out of the season opener in Sölden.
- The Swiss skier slips away on the first run of the giant slalom when he is well in the lead, as the split times later show.
- Odermatt is not mourning the missed World Cup points, but is already looking ahead again.
Great amazement on Sunday morning in Sölden: Top favorite Marco Odermatt is eliminated in his showpiece discipline giant slalom with starting number 1 and thus misses out on his first World Cup points at the season opener.
A faux pas that rarely happens to the ski dominator. Odermatt is unable to hold the outside ski during a left turn, slips over the inside ski, falls and is eliminated.
"A bit unnecessary to risk so much on the first run," smiles Odi in the finish area after his retirement. "I was perhaps a little over-motivated, but I had realized that the conditions would allow it. But then it was a bit too much."
But the Swiss racer doesn't regret his elimination: "I'm not sad at all. It was really cool how I skied at the top," beams Odi. "I realized that it's very easy with the 1 - I was able to 'abelah'."
71 hundredths ahead
And the comparison of the split times, which cannot be seen on TV due to Odermatt's start number, proves the Swiss right. As it turns out in retrospect, Odermatt was incredibly fast until his mistake. In the first sector, he took nine hundredths off Alexander Steen Olsen, the winner of the first run, according to the FIS rankings, and then a massive 62 hundredths in the second section.
And at the moment of his mistake, Odi was even faster - according to SRF, he had a lead of 71 hundredths at the second intermediate time.
No wonder the 27-year-old is already looking ahead after his zero in Sölden: "I've already put it behind me. I'm taking it positively. The way I raced up there was perfect again. That's what it's all about," says Odermatt - and continues: "When you know that you're almost a second ahead by then, it doesn't do much to you."
