Alpine Skiing
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Together with Clement Noel, he was the young man who impressed the most during the past season.
Saturday 17 August 2019 5 minutes reading time
Marco Odermatt is already a light that shines in the world of skiing, and we are talking about an athlete who will turn 22 only on 8 October, less than three weeks after the start of Solden.
If we think that his first podiums in the World Cup came just in the last two giants of the 2018/19 vintage, with Kranjska Gora's 3rd place followed the following week from the 2nd in the Soldeu finals race, there it would be surprising if the young Swiss was already there to play for success on the Rettenbach.
The surprising aspect of Buochs' boy, who lives in the heart of the Nidwalden canton, is the extraordinary versatility shown very quickly, already emerged as a junior with the extraordinary 3-in-a-row (5 gold medals in a single edition) obtained at the world championships in Davos 2018, when Odermatt left the field free only to the slalomists, in a world championship competition that saw also the whole talent of Clement Noel, simply dominant in the test among the rapid gates in front of Alex Vinatzer.
The slalom is the only specialty that the good Marco seems not to digest, as he confessed in an interview that appeared in the last few days on skiweltcup.tv: "Don't talk about it ... - the Swiss class '97 smiled - It has never been my specialty since I was a kid, so much so that in the last three years I have competed very little (the last season with continuity was 2015/16, before a couple of appearances between a FIS and the 2018 national championships, editor's note) ".
If we talk about future prospects, Odermatt does not want to look too far: "Except for a couple of minor injuries, I had a rapid ascent and certainly the World Championship in Davos, among other things at home and in front of the my family, it was certainly the highlight of my young career. I just want to be healthy, I don't think too much about long-term results. I always want to give my best and I can do it only if 100% of the condition ".
The 21-year-old Swiss had ended up on the podium last season, but running the same giant as the finals with a meniscal injury to his right knee, accused during the super-g two days before. The recovery was however rapid, without affecting the summer preparation towards the 2019/2020 vintage, that of the possible consecration.
Can Odermatt already fight for something very ... big? Difficult, considering that in the giant it is competitive at the top, while at speed it has shown that it still has to accumulate a lot of experience on tracks known practically for the first time, in the past winter months. Meanwhile, he enjoyed the last few weeks of relaxation, clearly alternating with athletic training, explaining that “spending time with friends and living in the open air, between my mountains and my lake, has always been the top. I live in a beautiful place and I can't ask for anything else ".
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