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LIVE from 10.30 am: Who will win the Adelboden RTL?

Manuel Feller (left) and Marco Schwarz missed out on the top places in Adelboden.(Bild: GEPA)

Red-white-red disappointment at the giant slalom in Adelboden on Sunday: Only Marco Schwarz finished in the top 10 in ninth place and thus avoided a bitter debacle. Victory went to the Swiss local hero Marco Odermatt.

Austria's men are still chasing their first victory of the World Championship winter. On Sunday there was once again no top result. Nevertheless, for Marco Schwarz it was "a step in the right direction" after his long injury break.

Manuel Feller(Bild: GEPA pictures)

Henrik Kristoffersen(Bild: GEPA)

Loic Meillard(Bild: GEPA pictures)

Marco Schwarz(Bild: AFP or licensors)

Atle Lie McGrath(Bild: GEPA pictures)

The Carinthian lost time in both runs, especially in the upper section, but achieved by far his best result of the season. Manuel Feller and Lukas Feurstein also improved in the second run set by ÖSV group coach Martin Kroisleitner. Feller moved up from 24th to 15th place, Feurstein finished 17th in his first race after his hand operation, Patrick Feurstein came 21st and Noel Zwischenbrugger finished 22nd.

Swiss demonstration of power
Odermatt, third after the first run, was two tenths of a second faster than Meillard and 0.69 seconds ahead of De Aliprandini. It was the fourth double victory for the Swiss men this season. With Thomas Tumler, who finished fourth, and Luca Aerni in seventh, two more Swiss skiers made it into the top ten. And in view of the fact that De Aliprandini is Michelle Gisin's fiancé and speaks almost perfect Swiss German, one could also speak of a quadruple victory with a wink.

Marco Odermatt(Bild: GEPA pictures)

"When you win at home, you're always happy. It was very, very difficult again, very close today, Loic was extremely strong," said Odermatt in the ORF interview after his 42nd World Cup success. He had been shaking briefly before entering the finish slope after making a mistake. "I was very, very lucky there." Adelboden is perhaps "the coolest race" on the World Cup tour for all athletes. Apart from the excellent atmosphere, the crowd is "extremely fair here". Apart from Odermatt, only the Swede Ingemar Stenmark (1979 to 1982) has managed to win the giant slalom in Adelboden four times in a row.

Schwarz reasonably satisfied
Schwarz spoke of a "step in the right direction" afterwards. "If you ski at the limit like Luca de Aliprandini, you can make up a lot of time. I might have taken a bit out in the last transition," explained the Carinthian. All in all, he can take some positives from the weekend.

 The final score:

"The second run was okay," said Feller and reported major changes to the set-up after a botched first run. "I didn't know how it would react at the start and therefore skied off a bit too cautiously, but then felt more comfortable from gate to gate and gained a bit more confidence." It was the Tyrolean's first top 30 result in the giant slalom this season.

Feurstein was reasonably pleased with his performance. "I'm not entirely satisfied with one or two passages, but I think it was a good run from me, definitely a step in the right direction. I can build on that," said the man from Vorarlberg, who posted the third-best time in the final. His left hand, which is in a cuff during the race, is no longer causing any major problems. "We got to grips with it relatively quickly."

Stefan Brennsteiner retired early.(Bild: GEPA pictures)

Brennsteiner out in the first run
Stefan Brennsteiner slipped over the inside ski on the fifth gate in the first run and was ruled out. "Unfortunately, that shouldn't happen," admitted the man from Salzburg. "The third and fourth gates were still halfway okay, after that I had a slight bump on my ski." Brennsteiner's disappointment was clear to see. "I only manage to ski four gates, that's bitter." Lucas Pinheiro Braathen was another prominent absentee a little later on, while the Norwegians Henrik Kristoffersen, Atle Lie McGrath and Alexander Steen Olsen all retired involuntarily in the second run.