(La Villa, Italy) Switzerland’s Marco Odermatt completed the double in the men’s Alpine Skiing World Cup on Monday after taking top honors in the giant slalom at Alta Badia.
Odermatt had triumphed the day before on the same course. He thus recorded his sixth consecutive victory in giant slalom.
The reigning Olympic and world champion in the discipline took advantage of the fact that he was the first to start from the starting gate to produce an impeccable performance on the icy and uneven track of Gran Risa.
Odermatt defeated Austrian Marco Schwarz by 1.05 seconds, and Slovenian Zan Kranjec by 1.22. Another Slovenian skier, Filip Zubcic, who took second place after the first run just 0.87 seconds behind Odermatt, had to settle for fourth place overall.
Zubcic had finished second, behind Odermatt, the day before.
Frenchman Alexis Pinturault completed the top-5, at 2.37 seconds.
James Crawford was the best Canadian skier by virtue of his 22e position, 5.15 seconds behind the Swiss.
Austrian skier Stefan Brennsteiner lost control of his boards in the first run and fell heavily into the safety net at the side of the slope. He was left with a serious scare.
Joan Verdu, who recently became the first representative from the principality of Andorra to reach the podium in the Alpine Skiing World Cup, also ran into trouble and left the limits of the course halfway.