Swiss ski star Marco Odermatt dominates 1st run of World Cup giant slalom at home in Adelboden

ADELBODEN, Switzerland (AP) — The total domination by Swiss ski star Marco Odermatt in World Cup giant slaloms showed no sign of stopping Saturday. Odermatt was more than one second faster than every rival in the weather affected first run of Switzerland’s signature giant slalom that took him little more than just 56 seconds.

Seeking to extend a giant slalom win streak to seven races since March, Olympic and world champion Odermatt was 1.04 ahead of Stefan Brennsteiner of Austria. In third with 1.15 to make up in the second run was Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, Odermatt’s big rival in speed races. Without Odermatt, a tight race would have had 20 racers within a second of the lead.

Fog sitting across the top of the Chuenisbärgli hill forced organizers to shorten the course that typically takes close to 1 minute, 20 seconds. The gates were set in a more twisting pattern to curb speeds in the challenging conditions and visibility. When Kilde raced as No. 16 starter the former overall World Cup champion was almost invisible to television cameras until emerging in the second half of his run.

Odermatt, the two time defending overall champion, is set for a third straight win in the Adelboden giant slalom that has been a World Cup fixture since the first week of men’s racing in January 1967. Only ski greats Ingemar Stenmark and Hermann Maier have won the GS in three straight years on the Chuenisbärgli course that is a rolling cow pasture in summer.

The Swiss village resort was blanketed with fresh snow Saturday one year after its classic race was run on a ribbon of artificial surface surrounded by green fields. The race started under light falling snow with temperatures of minus 1 Celsius (30 F) at the finish area where most of a 24,000 sold out crowd gathered beneath the steep final slope.

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