Four globes. Marco Odermatt ends 2023/24 with the overall, downhill, super-G and giant slalom crystal globes. The last man to win four in one season was Hermann Maier, in 1999/2000 and 2000/01. It is Odermatt’s third straight overall title.
By the numbers
- 13 wins. That equals the men’s single-season record of Ingemar Stenmark (1978/79), Maier (2000/01), Marcel Hirscher (2017/18) and Odermatt himself (2022/23). Only Mikaela Shiffrin and Vreni Schneider have won more in a season.
- 9 giant slalom wins from 10 races. Ingemar Stenmark won all 10 in 1978/79.
- 12 consecutive GS wins, from February 2023 until the finals. The run ended in Saalbach on 16 March.
- 2 Wengen downhills in three days in January: his first two World Cup downhill wins.
- 37 career World Cup wins and 71 podiums from 149 starts.
The one that got away
In the Saalbach finals GS, Odermatt led Loïc Meillard by 0.67 after the first run. About 20 seconds into the second run he lost balance on his inside ski and missed the next gate. Meillard won, Joan Verdú was second at 0.71, Thomas Tumler third at 0.79. The night before, rain had soaked the course and organisers salted it.
His verdict, quoted by the Associated Press: “A little disappointed about this result, about this perfect season which isn’t perfect now.”
On salted, wet snow the margin between an edge that holds and one that slips is small. One lapse in a winter of 13 wins.
How the globes fell
- Overall: clinched at the Palisades Tahoe giant slalom with ten races still to go.
- Giant slalom: clinched in Aspen on 1 March.
- Super-G: clinched in Saalbach with fifth place in the final race.
- Downhill: his first downhill globe, held after the finals downhill was cancelled.
Pirmin Zurbriggen (1986/87) had been the only Swiss man to win at least four World Cup classifications in one season.
Sources
- alpineskiworldcup.com/amp/alpine-ski-world-cup-2023-2024-overall-w…
- fis-ski.com/alpine-skiing/news/2023-24/odermatt-chases-y…
- cbc.ca/sports/olympics/winter/alpine-skiing/world-c…
- guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/559198-most-race-wins-at-the-f…
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Alpine_Skiing_World_Cup_%E2%80%93_…
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023%E2%80%9324_FIS_Alpine_Ski_World_Cup