Marco Odermatt extended his winning streak in the Alpine World Cup giant slalom to 12 by leaping from third place on Saturday in his first run in Aspen.
The new overall World Cup champion, the Swiss athlete, clinched the season title with his 11th straight victory in the giant slalom on Friday in Aspen.
However, when he finished third in Saturday's first leg, 0.32 seconds behind leader Alexander Steen Olsen of Norway, his winning streak that lasted until last season appeared to be in jeopardy.
After a costly mistake early in the second leg, Odermatt fought back with a brilliant performance in the lower section to win in a total time of 2:03.20.
His compatriot Loïc Meillard, who was second on the first run, was second, 0.34 seconds behind him, and Norway's Timon Haugan was third, 0.58 seconds behind.
Meanwhile, Steen Olsen endured a disastrous second run to finish 17th.
“We knew we had to attack after the first run,” Odermatt said. “I attacked and took all the risks and almost went out at the top of the course.
“It's difficult to understand and analyze what I did in this run,” Odermatt added. Odermatt has a perfect 9-0 record in giant slalom this season, winning the last three races in the event last season.
Odermatt equals the all-discipline season win record with 13, which is tied with Ingemar Stenmark (1979), Austria's Hermann Mayer (2001) and Marcel Hirscher (2018).
He topped the rankings in both downhill and super-G and is poised to win two more season titles.
If he can win the remaining two giant slalom races, he could become the first to achieve all wins since Swedish legend Stenmark in 1978-79.
Aspen World Cup competition concludes with the slalom competition on Sunday.
bb/js
