SOLDEU, Andorra — Marco Odermatt underlined his dominance in men’s ski racing on Saturday by breaking the 23-year-old men’s record for most World Cup points in a single season.
The outstanding Swiss won his final race of the season, the giant slalom at the World Cup finals, by a whopping 2.11 seconds over second-placed Henrik Kristoffersen of Norway.
The win brought Odermatt’s record to 2,042 points, surpassing the previous mark of 2,000 set by Austrian Hermann Maier in the 1999/2000 season.
“Sorry, Hermann,” Odermatt quipped in a post-race interview with Austrian television, adding that the record meant “a lot” to him.
“In the last few days I’ve always said: No, no, not that important, just numbers,” said Odermatt. “But how I felt about the pressure again today, I knew it mattered more than I said. I’m very glad it worked.”
Last week Maier wrote on his website that he hopes that Odermatt will overtake him.
PHOTOS: Swiss skier Odermatt leads the GS and nears points record
“In my opinion, Marco hasn’t even reached his zenith and can still improve, especially on the downhill,” said Maier.
Theoretically, Odermatt could have scored more points in the slalom at the end of the season on Sunday, but missed them because he had never competed there at World Cup level.
The overall record between men and women is held by the outstanding Slovenian Tina Maze, who scored 2,414 points when she won the women’s overall title in 2013.
Olympic champion Odermatt set another record with his 13th win of the season. No male skier has ever won more races in a season, and only Maier, Ingemar Stenmark and Marcel Hirscher have managed the feat in the past.
The overall record is held by Mikaela Shiffrin, who won 17 times on her way to the overall women’s title in 2018/19.
Odermatt had already successfully defended his overall title and secured the world globes in the Super-G and GS disciplines.
“I was looking forward to a final without pressure, but today I felt that pressure again,” he said. “Today wasn’t easy, I was nervous again because of those damn 2,000 points. Now with another win, more than two seconds ahead, I don’t know what to say.”
On Saturday, the Swiss standout set the second-fastest time in his final run, extending his clear lead from heat one when he was 1.09s quicker than Alexis Pinturault. The Frenchman then dropped to eighth place.
Kristoffersen was only eighth after stage one before moving up to second. Marco Schwarz of Austria was third, 2.29 seconds back.
Source : www.washingtontimes.com