Me: “The second run is very straight; it should suit Haaser. That would be something for the Austrians if he won today.”
My friend: “If Haaser wins defeating Odi, the Austrians will break apart the tribune, and Roswitha (Stadlober, the Austrian Federation President) would dance samba.”
Well, Mrs. Stadlober did not dance samba, however, she did dance. But let us return many more hours back.
Austrian Organization at its Best
The giant slalom weather was not nice at all, but the organizers did a fantastic job. They kept the surface perfect even when the weather was warmer and much fresh snow fell during the night. The army and the volunteers worked all night, slipping the slope, and just before the race, they still worked their shovels on the piste, preparing as wide a racing area as they could possibly manage.
The giant slalom course was very long, and it showed in the legs of most athletes; they were visibly tired at the last pitch. The trick was to be as smooth and straight as possible and correctly place your mistakes. Because just before the last pitch, there was a flat area, which was crucial. With your legs burning, you could not afford a mistake at this spot because you would lose all your speed. A giant slalom worth the World Champion.
The Swiss vs Norwegians in the First Run
The first run was more conservative, while the second was straight, suiting the super-G skilled skiers. During the first run, Alexander Steen Olsen (NOR), with bib number 1, showed excellent skiing that resembled his last giant slalom performance in Schladming, where he won. Loic Meillard (SUI) used his confidence from the team competition and skied as usual, precise and consistent with a perfect racing line.
Marco Odermatt (SUI), on the other hand, could talk of disappointment, even though he said that in the first run, he was happy with his performance. This, however, was not the Odi we were used to seeing in the last giant slalom seasons: too heavy on the edges, too scrappy, and not so relaxed as he could be in super-G. He was third and missed 0,24 seconds on the leader, Timon Haugan (NOR). The Norwegian is in stellar form this year; his first-run performance demonstrated that.
The Straight and Crazy Second Run
The second run was set by the Swiss coach, obviously, with Marco Odermatt in mind. Marco trains predominantly on speed skis this season. He talks often in interviews about the trouble with switching mindset back to giant slalom. His coach knew that and set the course straight to suit the speed skiers.
The second run performance of many athletes was just beyond the limit. Starting with racer Giovanni Franzoni (ITA), who went sixth out of the start gate, the athletes threw everything at the course, and everybody knew that a conservative approach would not do. Anton Grammel (GER) did so well that racers had trouble dealing with his performance for a while. Henrik Kristoffersen (NOR) said in the interview between the runs that it does not pay in this second run to be clean and conservative and that he intended to perform some stupid, crazy run because nothing else would do.
Henrik did not dare to be stupid and crazy, but somebody else did. Thomas Tumler (SUI) was fast and genuinely crazy. Rarely do we see so many magical recoveries in one race. He recovered after every mistake, barely losing any speed, and in the finish, he would not believe that he was leading by such a margin because he knew how scrappy his run had been. The thing was, it had also been fast.
The Austrians Crown Just Another Unexpected Champion
Now the question was, what the leaders would say about that. First was the Austrian Raphael Haaser, who used all the speed skills he continues to demonstrate this season and made the Austrian crowd go crazy. And nobody could match that.
Neither Alexander Steen Olsen (NOR), who skied out, nor Marco Odermatt, whose run was just too scrappy, but unlike Tumler’s, his was scrappy in a bad way. The crowd showed somewhat unsportsmanlike spirit as they roared with every red split of Haaser’s would-be defeaters, so Odermatt knew how bad he was doing at every split. But who could blame them? Haaser’s run and results were beyond everybody’s expectations.
Then, Loic Meillard did not risk it all, as he is known for not risking often. His run was simply too conservative and perfect, but not crazy enough. And as Timon Haugan failed to use his advantage, the Austrian crowd literally went crazy.
Raphael Haaser took the gold, with two Swiss on the podium. Thomas Tumler, to his own amazement and joy, took silver, and Loic Meillard was bronze once more, expecting a better result tomorrow.
We don’t know yet what the slalom competitions bring, but we can say one thing. The Austrians made the most of what they had and brought tears of joy into the eyes of the fans and organizers. And they deserve that because this World Championships really was faultless on their part.
