Skiing: Marco Odermatt wins his first World Cup descent in Wengen, Cyprien Sarrazin 2nd

Marco Odermatt remporte à Wengen sa première descente en Coupe du monde. MAXPPP – PETER SCHNEIDER

Swiss Marco Odermatt won his first downhill of the season in Wengen (Switzerland). Frenchman Cyprien Sarrazin finished second.

Swiss ski genius Marco Odermatt won his first World Cup descent on Thursday in Wengen, Switzerland, just ahead of Frenchman Cyprien Sarrazin. Odermatt, surprise downhill world champion last winter, had never before won in the premier discipline on the world circuit.

"Odi" had announced it at the start of the season: after his surprise title in downhill at the Courchevel Worlds in 2023, he wanted to achieve his first victory this winter in the premier discipline of skiing in the World Cup.< /p>

It's finally done for the double winner of the big globe, overwhelming with domination as a giant (18 victories) who remained on eight second places in the downhill.

The world champ steals the lead! 😱

Marco Odermatt dethrones Aleksander Aamodt Kilde on home snow! 🇨🇭#fisalpine pic.twitter.com/s10a3zUEZb

— Eurosport (@eurosport) January 11, 2024

At the end of December, Odermatt had achieved in Bormio in Italy what he himself had described as the best descent of his life and believed he had achieved his first success but victory had eluded him by nine hundredths, the fault of a Cyprien Sarrazin in a state of grace.

Cyprien Sarrazin 2nd in the Wengen descent

Thursday, Odermatt left no room for anyone on the Swiss descent in “sprint” format, dominating the Frenchman (+ 58 hundredths) and the Norwegian in front of his audience Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (+81 hundredths). He thus won his 30th World Cup victory, his sixth of the winter.

Sarrazin, hero in Bormio at the end of December when he brought France its first downhill victory in eight years, put an end to the tricolor curse in Wengen, where downhill podiums had eluded the Blues for almost 26 years old.

🇫🇷 Cyprien Sarrazin est toujours chaud ! Deux semaines après sa victoire à Bormio, le Français régale encore avec une superbe deuxième place provisoire derrière l'ogre Odermatt !

Suivez la descente de Wengen sur Eurosport #ChaletClub https://t.co/9oek0Ud4GY pic.twitter.com/gioDrW1H4b

— Eurosport France (@Eurosport_FR) January 11, 2024

Starting bib 31, Alexis Pinturault, father for a few days, took a good 9th place, the best result in the specialty for the Frenchman who now wants to distinguish himself in speed events.

In the general classification of the World Cup, Marco Odermatt further consolidates his incredible lead and heads straight towards a third consecutive big globe.

With 836 points, he already has more than 450 points ahead of Kilde, world No.2 for the last two winters. The skiers continue in Wengen on Friday with a super-G, before a new descent on Saturday and a slalom on Sunday.