Praise from the idol, but:

Cuche warns Odermatt: “There are also downsides”

Didier Cuche has warned Ski World Cup dominator Marco Odermatt about the downsides of success. You first have to learn to deal with the pressure. However, the Swiss skiing legend is not sparing with his praise for the overall World Cup winner. 

Odermatt has long since revealed that Cuche is his great role model. Meanwhile, the 2009 Super-G World Champion spoke to "Schweizer Illustrierte" about the 26-year-old and recalled a day of skiing with the then 11-year-old: "All the kids there had a great level. But I couldn't have improved anything else with him". 

Even back then, Cuche had an inkling of Odermatt's potential. When he won five gold medals at the Junior World Championships in Davos in 2018, the Swiss skiing legend was still amazed and knew: "He's going to be one of the greats in skiing". 

"Hero of a generation"
"There are almost no more superlatives for what Marco is showing," says Cuche, fascinated by his further development. Nevertheless, he also sends the 26-year-old a warning along the way, saying that success also has its downsides: "If Marco doesn't win, there's an immediate discussion in Switzerland. You first have to withstand that pressure." 

However, he believes that Odermatt will be able to handle this with his usual aplomb. Incidentally, the tables have now turned. While young Marco still looked up to his idol Didier Cuche with admiration, his offspring now do the same with Odermatt, as the 49-year-old reveals: "Marco is their big hero. The hero of a whole generation of children."