Ski star Odermatt seals World Cup super-G title as teammate Rogentin leads Swiss sweep of podium
Ski star Odermatt seals World Cup super-G title as teammate Rogentin leads Swiss sweep of podium
SAALBACH-HINTERGLEMM, Austria (AP) — Standout skier Marco Odermatt earned another World Cup crystal globe Friday on a stellar day for the Swiss team in the Austrian sunshine.
Skiing at midday on sun-soaked snow, Odermatt clinched the season-long super-G title to by finishing fifth in the discipline’s final race, where three other Swiss skiers swept the podium places.
Odermatt started immediately after his closest challenger, Vincent Kriechmayr, who had to win to stay in the title race. Kriechmayr came in 0.76 seconds behind leader Stefan Rogentin and ended in a tie for sixth.
Rogentin ultimately led a 1-2-3 for Switzerland in his first career win. He was 0.03 faster than Loïc Meillard and 0.15 ahead of Arnaud Boisset in third.
“Roggy deserved his first victory,” Odermatt said. “I watch from the start and they skied amazing.”
Odermatt finished 0.64 back in fifth to add the super-G season trophy to the overall and giant slalom titles he already won. He now has three straight overall World Cup titles at age 26.
Odermatt’s achievements Friday matched those of fellow Swiss star Lara Gut-Behrami about 90 minutes earlier.
Gut-Behrami also skied safely to the women’s super-G season title, placing seventh in the race, to add to her overall and giant slalom title wins.
Both Gut-Behrami and Odermatt also lead their respective downhill standings going into the season-ending women’s race Saturday and the men’s on Sunday.
Odermatt now has amassed 1,947 World Cup points in the overall standings and stayed in contention to set a men’s record total Sunday.
Victory in the downhill would give Odermatt 100 points and lift him five points beyond his record 2,042 tally set last season.
A rare blip for the Swiss was Franjo Von Allmen snapping his right ski pole when pushing out of the start hut. Von Allmen had a wry smile as he tried to generate speed in the first few meters of his run and finished 16th.
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