CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) - Switzerland’s Marco Odermatt got the better of his great Norwegian rival Aleksander Aamodt Kilde with a narrow triumph at the World Cup super-G at Cortina d’Ampezzo on Saturday.
The defending World Cup crystal globe holder Odermatt had missed the past two events with a knee injury but 10 days ahead of the World Championships in France showed fearsome form.
With the mercury at minus 7 and no wind it was a fast course and Odermatt timed 1min 25.57sec over the 2.2km run, with Norway’s Kilde just 0.35sec slower and local outsider Mattia Casse in third at 0.49sec.
“I really didn’t expect it like that. I wasn’t sure how much I could go to the limit today.... I just tried to ski clean and gain confidence gate-by-gate and it worked,” he said.
“I think it was a difficult course setting, and with bib 14 I could see some guys racing and that helped me really have a line in my head and to gain some confidence from watching the other guys.”
Odermatt’s seventh win of the season extended his lead over Kilde in both the super-G and overall standings to 48 and 213 points respectively.
The 25-year-old is also 507 points in front of Kilde’s compatriot Henrik Kristoffersen in the general rankings as he attempts to retain his World Cup crown.
“It doesn’t matter if he was out for a couple of days or not, as long as he can kind of get ready for those two minutes, one-and-a-half-minutes you have to go then everything is possible,” said Kilde.
“And with the skiing Marco is doing now I knew he was going to be there.”
Odermatt will have another chance to consolidate his position as leader with another super-G at Cortina on Sunday morning.