Marco Odermatt won his first Olympic medal — and it was gold — in the men’s giant slalom at the Beijing 2022 Winter Games on 13 February. He beat Slovenia’s Žan Kranjec by just 0.19 seconds on the “Ice River” course in Yanqing.
A lead built in falling snow
Odermatt set the fastest first run in driving snow and poor light. About 15 seconds in, he was pushed low and off his line, but he caught it and kept his speed. He finished the run in front, only 0.04 seconds ahead of Austria’s Stefan Brennsteiner.
Then heavy snow forced a 75-minute delay before the second run. When racing began again, Kranjec skied the fastest second leg of the day and took the lead. Several rivals crashed out chasing him, with Austria’s Manuel Feller and Italy’s Luca de Aliprandini both skiing off.
Brennsteiner, Odermatt’s closest challenger, fell near the end and lost more than 15 seconds. Henrik Kristoffersen nearly slid off too and dropped to eighth. Odermatt held his nerve and crossed the line first.
From World Cup form to Olympic gold
The win capped a strong season. He had already won four of the five World Cup giant slaloms and led the overall standings. Yet Beijing had been hard: seventh in the downhill and a did-not-finish in the super-G.
“It’s unbelievable. It was a hard day, with the conditions, with such a long wait between the two runs,” Odermatt told reporters afterwards. “I actually never dreamt about it, but now, it still feels like a dream.”
He had waited more than five hours between runs and even tried to nap. Then he stepped back onto the snow and held the smallest of margins. It was the first big medal of a career that would keep growing.
