Courchevel, France – Swiss skier Marco Odermatt won the men’s giant slalom Friday for his second gold medal at the world championships.

Odermatt overcame a (+0.58) first-run deficit to become the 2023 GS world champion. His teammate Loic Meillard overcame a (+1.13) time deficit to earn silver. The first-run leader Austrian, Marco Schwarz, found the Swiss set second course less to his liking and dropped to third.

Odermatt comments

“I actually didn’t expect to win,” Odermatt said. “Marco skied so well in the first run. He did some mistakes in the second, that helped me for gold.”

Many of the fans were waving Swiss flags in the stands and chanting “Odi, Odi” when Odermatt won.

“It’s amazing. So many great Swiss fans here, family, friends,” Odermatt said. “I came to the finish and I had to count a little bit. Yeah, two medals today for us.”

Odermatt has been dominating the giant slalom on the World Cup circuit, winning four of the five events he competed in this season. The Swiss skier is on his way to successfully defend the overall World Cup title he won last year.

After the first run, because of the time gaps, it became unlikely that anyone would be able to move onto the podium without a big mistake from the three leaders. Consequently, the first of those contenders to risk it all was Austria’s, Manuel Feller. Unfortunately, he skied beyond his limit and did not finish. However, the Swiss skier who skied immediately after Feller, Meillard, found his coach’s course to his liking. Consequently, using the fastest second run, he produced the magic to move up from fourth to second. However, the difficulties of the morning’s leader Schwarz and third-fastest skier Zan Kranjec also contributed to Meillard’s ascension.

Schwarz

Schwarz also won bronze in giant slalom at the worlds two years ago

“Overall I am satisfied. I had a couple of mistakes in my second run that you cannot make on this level,” said the Austrian, who led Odermatt by 0.58 seconds after the opening run. “The pressure was a bit more than usual. I tried to keep the focus and I managed to do that well. Odi has been dominating the GS for two years now, so you have to acknowledge that.”

Distinctly different test

The skies were still clear, but unlike the first run, there were sections of direct sunlight on the L’Eclipse GS. The variable light added a different dimension of challenge for the racers. Switzerland’s Helmuth Krug set a distinctly different test for the second run. Notably, the course was significantly faster than the morning edition. Additionally, the warm temperatures slightly softened the ice, and the skiers experienced a more confident response from their skis; the race conditions remained perfect in Courchevel.

The French crowd ignited for the hometown hero Alexis Pinturault. Pinturault struggled with the first course but enjoyed the final much more. He crossed with a significant lead and moved into the leader’s chair with only ten skiers still to ski. To the delight of the Courchevel crowd, he stayed on the leader’s throne for the next three racers. The French favorite moved up to 7th place using the second-fastest final run.

North Americans

Stifel US Alpine Team member River Radamus was the best of the North Americans. The second course was more to the liking of the Vail, Colorado native and he skied with an entirely different level of execution. Using the third-fastest second run, USA’s River Radamus moves up eight positions to finish 12th. While Radamus did not threaten the medals, he did earn valuable World Cup Start List points.

Radamus had this to say after the race, “It was good. I was disappointed in my first run. I didn’t feel like I pushed hard enough and then made a couple of costly mistakes. I just didn’t feel fully committed to the ski. Between runs I sat down and tried to align my focus and goals for a second run, realizing I had nothing to lose. There was no reason to play it safe, so I wanted to lay it all out there. That run wasn’t my best skiing ever, but I felt like I was in the places I wanted to be. I pushed as hard as I possibly could. So proud of the effort, psyched that I came out with a little bit of a faster second run and yeah, overall psyched with the world champs experience.

The first racer to attack the second run was USA’s Brian McLaughlin. McLaughlin was the first to reveal that the course was considerably faster than the morning’s offering. McLaughlin delivered the 11th-best second run and ended the race in 2oth place.

McLaughlin had this to say, “The first run was tough. Pretty dark, had a tough surface, and had no rhythm. The second run was a bit better, a slightly kinder set. I skied a bit cleaner and more aggressive second run, but more work to do.”

Unfortunately, the best two North Americans from the morning run did not finish. Canada’s Erik Read lost a ski during a turn and Tommy Ford could not navigate a turn and skied off course.

Top 30 results and Analysis of the fastest three and North Americans

Analysis of the fastest three and North Americans

The Associated Press and USST contributed to this report.