(Reuters) -Switzerland’s four-time overall World Cup champion Marco Odermatt says he still has room for improvement in the speed disciplines as he prepares to start a new season that will culminate at next year’s Winter Olympics.
Odermatt, who won giant slalom gold at the 2022 Games in Beijing, is regarded as one of the greatest all-round skiers of his generation and will be a multiple medal contender in Milan Cortina in February.
His season begins next week in Solden, Austria with a giant slalom, his specialist event but one in which he concedes he has sacrificed a little in order to improve in downhill and super-G.
“As an all-rounder, I’ve probably reached my peak,” he told Skiracing.com. “Last winter, I became stronger in downhill—especially in long gliding turns like you see in Gröden, Kvitfjell or Crans-Montana.
“Because that feeling improved, I lost a bit in giant slalom. If you want to get better in one area, you sometimes have to give something up in another. That’s the narrow path of an all-rounder.
“There’s more room for growth in downhill and super-G.”
Odermatt has 26 World Cup wins in giant slalom compared to 15 in super-G and four in downhill, although he topped the World Cup standings in both speed events for the past two years.
After training in South America he says he is looking forward to getting into race mode again on the Solden glacier — the traditional venue for the opening World Cup races.
“Once you’re up on the glacier, the routines and rituals on race day create the focus you need,” he said.
Looking ahead to the season he has targeted winning the downhill in Kitzbuhel.
“It’s still one of the big dreams,” he said. “But I’ve already won there in super-G, I have the golden chamois trophy at home, and a gondola with my name on it goes around in Kitzbuhel — so half a check mark is done.
“This year, the Olympic Games are the big highlight.”
The World Cup season begins with the women’s giant slalom on October 25 with the men’s the day after.
(Reporting by Martyn HermanEditing by Christian Radnedge)
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