Gold medalist Switzerland’s Marco Odermatt poses on the podium during the men’s giant slalom victory ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games at the Yanqing National Alpine Skiing Centre in Yanqing on February 13, 2022. (Photo by Dimitar DILKOFF / AFP)
YANQING, China – Switzerland’s Marco Odermatt won gold in the men’s giant slalom at the Beijing Olympics on Sunday, holding his nerve to fend off a superb effort from Zan Kranjec of Slovenia.
Odermatt finished with a combined time of 2:09:35, putting him 0.19 seconds ahead of runner-up Kranjec with France’s Mathieu Faivre taking bronze.
The first run had taken place in driving snow with poor visibility but the decision to delay the second run by 75 minutes paid off, with better conditions producing a thrilling battle.
“It’s unbelievable. It was a hard day, with the conditions, with such a long wait between the two runs,” said Odermatt, 24.
“It was more than five hours for me, it was such a long time to rethink everything and it was hard to stay focused. I tried to sleep some minutes in-between.
“I actually never dreamt about it but now it still feels like a dream,” he added.
As the overall World Cup leader, Odermatt went into the race as the clear favorite having had four wins and a runner-up spot in his five races in giant slalom this season.
But Kranjec, who finished fourth in Pyeongchang four years ago, produced a magnificent second run – the fastest of the field – to put himself top of the podium and then stood and watched as several challengers slipped out of contention.
Austria’s Manuel Feller took a risky, aggressive line and skied out, and Italian Luca de Aliprandini struck a gate and tumbled out.
Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway almost missed a gate, sliding wide and although he recovered to finish he lost valuable time that left him down in eighth place.
Austria’s Stefan Brennsteiner had finished just 0.4 seconds behind Odermatt in the first run but he too paid the price for almost missing a gate in the second, sliding well wide on the course and out of contention.
‘Risked everything’
2022 Beijing Olympics – Alpine Skiing – Men’s Giant Slalom Run 2 – National Alpine Skiing Centre, Yanqing district, Beijing, China – February 13, 2022. Marco Odermatt of Switzerland in action. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann
Odermatt had to keep his cool on the second run and he did just that with his smooth, classic technique delivering a time of 1:06:42, which was 0.59 slower than Kranjec’s second effort but just enough to secure him his first Olympic medal.
Kranjec’s run meant that the Swiss could not afford to be too conservative but his aggression was controlled enough to avoid the errors that had plagued so many of the challengers.
“I really risked everything in the second run because I wanted not just the medal, I wanted the gold medal,” he said. “It’s difficult because you can lose everything but today it paid off.
“I won the medal today but it’s so much between (you) and a medal, there are so many shadows behind the medal, on the other side.”
Odermatt’s triumph continues an impressive Beijing Games for the Swiss Alpine team following Beat Feuz’s gold in the men’s downhill and Lara Gut-Behrami’s victory in the women’s super-G.
The Swiss also have three bronze medals in women’s races and are top of the Alpine medals table.
There was an excellent fourth-place finish for 24-year-old American River Radamus but disappointment for French pair Thibaut Favrot and Alexis Pinturault, who had to settle for fifth and sixth.
Kranjec’s disappointment at seeing Odermatt pip him to gold was tempered by his delight at getting on the podium.
“I don’t fully understand it yet. In Korea I was fourth so you never know if you will get another chance to fight for a medal,” he said.
“After the first run I said maybe it’s over, I don’t have any more chance. But my second run was really good. It’s unbelievable.”