2024-03-20
Marco Odermatt’s misfortune is Thomas Tumler’s good fortune
Marco Odermatt has secured the crystal globe, and the “perfect giant slalom season” was still on the cards in the World Cup final. This didn’t come to pass, and Thomas Tumler profited from it. There is also good news to report from the Europa Cup and ski cross.
It was all set up: the tenth giant slalom of the 2023/24 World Cup would bring Marco Odermatt’s tenth victory of the season as he has dominated the entire season. And everything was going as expected until just a few seconds before the end of the event in Saalbach-Hinterglemm.
But then something happened that has to be classed as unusual for the end of winter. Marco Odermatt made a mistake and found himself in a situation he was unable to escape from. This meant that the man from Nidwalden failed to finish the last giant slalom race of the World Cup, with Loic Meillard (SUI) taking victory and Stöckli teammate Thomas Tumler finishing third. This was 34-year-old Tumler’s second time on the World Cup podium after finishing third in Beaver Creek in December 2018.
“This is the best podium finish. After so many low points, it's really great to be standing here now. My family and my fiancée are in Saalbach, so that makes it even more special,” said Thomas Tumler directly after the race. He was not too pleased with his first run, as he explained later: “I was unable to attack in the way I had planned. It was a solid race without any major errors, but I wanted to perform a bit bitter. At the finish line I thought I would probably miss out on a podium place this season.”
But then came the second run. Tumler changed his skis – it was the same model as in the first run, just a different pair. “I realized that it had worked after the first gates. I was able to attack and was super happy that it worked out well.” Tumler was in third place before Marco Odermatt joined the race. Inside, he had already accepted fourth place, but then Odermatt made the key mistake described earlier.
“Marco was extremely unfortunate to be eliminated. I was really rooting for him to get ten wins from ten races this season. His bad fortune ended up being my good fortune. We’ll make sure that we’re on a World Cup podium together next winter,” says Tumler. The good relationship between the two Stöckli skiers was also demonstrated by the fact that they celebrated winning the small crystal globe together at the invitation of Odermatt’s main sponsor.
Guaranteed World Cup place for Nicole Good
In the Europa Cup, Nicole Good secured a guaranteed starting place for the 2024/25 World Cup season in the slalom during the final races in Norway. The 26-year-old from Sargans finished second in the slalom rankings. However, Marco Fischbacher narrowly missed out on a guaranteed place in the giant slalom as his third-place finish in the final race was not quite enough. With two races to go, Janine Schmitt remains in contention to win the overall European Cup rankings as she sits in second place. The final super-G and downhill races of the winter will take place on March 21 and 22.
Marielle Thompson on the verge of winning the overall World Cup
The ski crossers also have two more races to compete in. Canada’s Marielle Thompson won in Veysonnaz at the weekend, extending her lead in the overall World Cup rankings. There was also second Stöckli skier on the podium in Valais as India Sherret (CAN) finished third.