The Swiss Marco Odermatt went off the track in the last giant of the season, Saturday in Saalbach, and failed to achieve the Grand Slam after winning the first nine World Cup races in the specialty.
Leading after the first round, the Swiss genius made a big mistake at the start of the second and abandoned the race, won by his compatriot Loïc Meillard.
The Andorran Joan Verdu takes second place at 71 hundredths and the Swiss Thomas Tumler completes the podium (+79 hundredths).
😱 Destinations 𝙖 𝙛𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙚́ 𝙥𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙡𝙖 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙚̀𝙧𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙞𝙨 𝙙𝙚𝙥𝙪𝙞 𝙨 𝙪𝙣𝙚 𝙚́𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙚́!
Huge surprise in Saalbach!
Marco Odermatt makes a mistake, Loïc Meillard wins! #ChaletClub #Saalbach #FISAlpine pic.twitter.com/wXBLaN6eP3
— Eurosport France (@Eurosport_FR) March 16, 2024
This is the first time since the end of 2019 that Odermatt, undefeated in his favorite discipline for more than a year, has not finished a World Cup giant and the first time since March 2021 that he is not on the podium.
He therefore ends a series of 12 consecutive victories in giant and must give up his dreams of a Grand Slam in the discipline, a feat that the Swedish legend Ingemar Stenmark was the last to have achieved in 1979.
The men's Alpine Skiing World Cup continues on Sunday with slalom, before the speed events next week