An unbeatable Marco Odermatt won the second Giant Slalom held in Aspen. Loic Meillard finished in second place +0.34 seconds behind Odermatt. Timon Haugan rounded up the podium 0.58 seconds off the pace. It's the 37th World Cup victory and 23rd in Giant Slalom for the 2023-2024 Overall winner.
Odermatt is the second skier to have claimed at least 12 successive World Cup victories in a specific discipline, after Ingemar Stenmark in the Men's Giant Slalom (14, 1978-1979).
The 26-year-old skier has won each of the nine World Cup Giant Slalom races this season. Only Ingemar Stenmark (all 10 in 1978-1979) has had a longer winning streak from the beginning of a season in Men's World Cup Giant Slalom. He finished on the podium in each of his last 26 starts in World Cup Giant Slalom races (including 21 wins), since 11th place in Lenzerheide on March 20, 2021.
Since the start of last season, Odermatt finished on the podium in 42 of his 48 World Cup starts (including 26 wins).
"I really don't know what to say anymore, it's crazy. I know the mistake happened in the steep part so I knew, 'Come on, it's still possible,' but I got so low as well in the flat. I didn't really expect that it would be enough with this mistake but I also knew that it was perfect in the second half of the run. Incredible that it really works every time, I don't know why," Odermatt said.
Loic Meillard repeated his position on the podium. It's his fourth season podium. A Super-G podium in January in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, a Slalom podium in February, and now two Giant Slalom podiums in Aspen.
"People don't really understand what he's actually doing. At the moment, he's on a different planet. He can make mistakes, he can do everything he wants, but he still goes fast and that's what's crazy," Meillard said.
Timon Haugan, a Slalom specialist, achieved today his World Cup maiden podium in Giant Slalom. Until Aspen, his best result in Giant Slalom was a 10th position in Schladming in January.
"I still can't believe it. My goal this year was to make it in the Top 30 in Giant Slalom and it's gone way past my goals. Slalom has been good for some years and I've worked a lot in the Giant Slalom to get on the same level," Haugan said.