Odermatt wins second giant slalom at Alta Badia

Marco Odermatt is in a class of his own at the World Cup. After two great runs, the man from Nidwalden won his second giant slalom race in Alta Badia (South Tyrol) ahead of Italian Luca De Aliprandini, who scored the first podium of his career. The Swiss sovereign was ahead by more than a second. Germany’s Alexander Schmid celebrated his first classification on the podium in the giant slalom in third place (+1.09sec).

For Udermatt, this was the first victory over Gran Risa. “Unbelievable,” the winner said in a TV interview after the race. “After yesterday I learned there was still one per cent more than that.” On Sunday he just missed a victory in second place. The second round required everything from him.

Millard is far behind

Justin Maurizier finished sixth (+1.52) after an overall convincing performance as the second best Swiss. In the second round he briefly missed the elimination. Still a troubled kid, Loïc Meillard stopped all chances of getting to a higher echelon with gross mistakes. Neuchâtel finally fell from eleventh place to twenty-first place (+2.99).

Daniel Seit is back on the points again. After a very cautious second round, he remained in 26th place (+3.39). However, Gino Caviezel was unable to succeed at all in the Gran Risa and was eliminated in the first round after a wrong ride. For Thomas Tommler, too, the race ended prematurely.

The French once again had to deal with a disappointing overall result. Mathieu Pfeffer (9th), Victor Moffat Gandet (17th) and Alexis Pintorault (18th) did not live up to expectations. To make matters worse, Thibaut Favrot lost his balance in the second round and was eliminated.