The second American tour of the winter, placed just after the Worlds-2023 despite all budgetary and environmental considerations, did not please all skiers and followers, but Odermatt had no complaints.

He has contested three of the five races initially scheduled (one, the first downhill in Aspen, was canceled on Friday due to weather conditions and he never lines up in the slalom) with an impressive record of three podiums: 2nd in the giant of Palisades Tahoe, California, last weekend, 3rd in the Aspen downhill and finally a success in the super-G.

This American journey is a reflection of his season: Odermatt, 25, showed remarkable and implacable consistency throughout the winter with no less than 18 podiums in 22 starts!

Under the Aspen sun and on a super-G almost cut in the format of a sprint (1 min 06 sec 80/100th of effort), "Odi" did not tremble.

He signed his fifth victory of the season in super-G ahead of the German Andreas Sander, 2nd at 5/100th, and the Norwegian Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, 3rd at 34/100th, while the Canadian James Crawford, crowned world champion of the specialty last month in Courchevel (France) to everyone's surprise, finished in 11th place, 81/100th.

"A relief"

"My season in super-G is really fantastic, I enjoyed every race in this discipline. To have the (super-G) globe before the finals (in Soldeu, in Andorra), it's a relief, I will be able to appreciate the finals even more," said the Swiss, who now has 20 victories on the world circuit.

Swiss Marco Odermatt during the Super G in Aspen, Colorado on March 5, 2023 © Sean M. Haffey / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP

His trophy cabinet will indeed soon overflow: he has added the "small" super-G globe which joins the giant globe and the world N.1 crystal globe, as well as his Olympic title in giant , conquered last winter, and his two 2023 world titles (giant and downhill).

And it's not over: he is at the top of the giant's world ranking and he should quickly secure victory in the general classification of the World Cup, as in 2022, since he is now 386 points ahead of Kilde, the only one who can still deprive him of the world N.1 globe.

With six more races (two at Kranjska Gora next weekend and four at Soldeu) on the program and therefore a maximum of 600 points to pocket, it would indeed take an incredible turnaround for Kilde to imitate his companion, the American Mikaela Shiffrin, assured since Saturday of winning the Women's World Cup for the fifth time.

Aspen's super-G ended with a final stunt, that of Nico Gauer, representing Liechtenstein, who, starting with bib number 53 and in search of his first points in the World Cup, ranked 6th.

The best Frenchman, Nils Allegre, took 9th place, 76/100th from Odermatt and Alexis Pinturault, bronze medalist of the Worlds-2023 in the discipline, 11th.

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© 2023 AFP