At a media conference before the start of the season, Marco Odermatt talks about his biggest rivals, potential for improvement and explains why he doesn't think the wildcard for Marcel Hirscher is a good thing.
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- Overall World Cup winner Marco Odermatt will go into next winter as the big favorite. At a media conference before the start of the season, he reveals who he has in mind as his biggest rivals.
- The 26-year-old puts the fact that he won the overall World Cup so clearly last season into perspective: "It doesn't take much and you're suddenly a second slower."
- Odermatt finds the fact that returnee Marcel Hirscher has been given a wild card "not a good thing". The FIS is "ruining something big and exciting".
Marco Odermatt talks about the upcoming season at a media conference during Swiss-Ski Advertising Week. Preparation has gone well and he feels fit, reveals the overall World Cup winner. He has put on around one to two kilograms of muscle mass.
He also used the summer to relax as much as possible. However, Odermatt puts this into perspective: "There's not much time to recover. But at home it's automatically relaxing compared to living out of a suitcase and in hotels."
He had no particular focus during training. It was much more about getting back to the level he was at in spring. Basically, he is satisfied if he can get back to the level of last winter, which was extremely successful. However, Odermatt still sees potential for improvement: "I can still improve at the start of the curve. If the approach is right, the middle and the end will be right too. You then ski softer, nicer and with less braking effect."
It doesn't take much and you're a second slower
Odermatt has had a new fitness coach in Alejo Hervas since this summer. Odermatt says of working with the Spaniard: "It's something completely new, the brain has to work harder." With every exercise or movement, he has to think about exactly what Hervas means. The training also allows him to get into sectors that he had previously been less able to reach.
But who is going to stop Odermatt, who won the overall World Cup last season with a lead of 874 points, in the coming winter? "It will be an exciting battle with Loïc Meillard." For Odermatt, his Swiss team-mate is his biggest rival for the big globe. But Odermatt also has young athletes like returnee Lucas Braathen on his radar: "Braathen will at least pick up where he left off."
In general, Odermatt puts the big lead he built up last season into perspective. "That lead looked so big because a lot of people were injured. It was close in terms of speed anyway. It always depends on the flow." It doesn't take much to suddenly be a second faster or slower. Confidence is crucial.
Marco Odermatt has won practically everything there is to win in the ski circus. But he still has one big goal left: the downhill in Kitzbühel. "I've achieved every possible goal, won all the classics - except Kitzbühel," says Odermatt.
The wildcard for Marcel Hirscher
In the technical disciplines, Marcel Hirscher is a familiar face returning to skiing. "It's great for the sport, it attracts even more fans to the edge of the slopes. But nothing will change for me," says Odermatt.
Marcel Hirscher's return has also been the subject of much discussion due to a wildcard that will allow the Austrian, who is competing for the Netherlands, to start with bib number 31 (or shortly after). Odermatt has a clear opinion on this: "I don't think it's a good thing, but it doesn't bother me either, I haven't looked into it."
Odermatt explains why he is critical: "It's good for the sport, but it would also be good if he raced at 50, that would probably make it even more exciting. Then people would see that there are still 30-40 athletes coming. That's why I don't understand the FIS, because they're ruining something big and exciting. Namely the last 30 racers, which I think is a bit of a shame."
For Hirscher, it is of course a great advantage and the fact that he is allowed to race with this number in Sölden is "super". But Odermatt says: "A whole season with the 31 in every discipline, that's more security than I have. I don't think that's necessarily fair for the youngsters either."
