Odermatt closes in on overall World Cup title

Kvitfjell, Norway:

Switzerland’s Marco Odermatt won his third successive Alpine skiing Super-G World Cup crystal globe, and moved closer to a fourth overall title in a row, in a shortened race won by Italy’s Dominik Paris on Sunday.

Odermatt was sure of retaining the title in the discipline before leaving the start hut in Kvitfjell, Norway, after Italian rival Mattia Casse was injured in training and withdrew.

The Swiss finished fourth and missed out on the podium by 0.01, the narrowest possible margin, to Slovenian Miha Hrobat who started 21st and ended a run of 22 men’s super-Gs with a Swiss skier in the top three.

Canadian James Crawford finished second, 0.38 behind Paris, after starting fifth.

The win was a second in three days in the Norwegian resort for Paris, 35, who has now reached a career milestone of 50 podiums with 24 wins.

The Italian won a downhill on Friday and Sunday was his first super-G victory since 2019, a welcome return to form less than a year before home Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina.

“Next year for sure I want to go on, because I have the Olympics,” he said.

With one super-G remaining at the World Cup finals in Sun Valley, Idaho, Odermatt has a 210-point lead over Austrian Vincent Kriechmayr.

He could formally clinch the overall crystal globe in a giant slalom in Hafjell, Norway next Saturday.

Odermatt leads Norwegian Henrik Kristoffersen, a technical specialist who has not been competing in speed events, by 570 points with 600 still to be won.

Shiffrin sets World Cup podiums record

Mikaela Shiffrin broke Ingemar Stenmark’s Alpine skiing World Cup podium record with her 156th top-three placing in a slalom on Swedish snow on Sunday as Austria’s Katharina Truppe celebrated her first victory.