Brennsteiner third

LIVE: Will Schwarz bring his half-time lead to the finish?

Marco Schwarz won the giant slalom in Alta Badia.(Bild: GEPA)

Blacky is back! Marco Schwarz has celebrated his first victory since his comeback in the giant slalom in Alta Badia. The Carinthian triumphed on Sunday ahead of the Brazilian Lucas Pinheiro Braathen (+0.18), with Stefan Brennsteiner (+0.22) another ÖSV athlete on the podium in third place.

Carinthian Marco Schwarz has returned to winning ways in the Alpine Ski World Cup. On Sunday, he won a race for the first time since suffering a cruciate ligament rupture at the end of 2023, the classic race in Alta Badia - his seventh World Cup victory and second in the giant slalom after the one in Palisades Tahoe in the USA at the end of February 2023. 

The result:

  Schwarz had made the most of his starting number one in the first run, leading by 0.64 seconds ahead of River Radamus. The American ultimately finished in seventh place (+0.87). Brennsteiner retained his third place and took over the lead in the discipline World Cup from Marco Odermatt. After intensive days of speed in Val d'Isere, the Swiss only managed eleventh place in the first run and only improved to sixth in the deciding run (+0.82). He had finished on the podium in the seven previous giant slaloms in Alta Badia and had won the most recent four.

First Schwarz victory in two years
"It's really something special," said a beaming Schwarz. He had celebrated his last World Cup victory on December 22, 2023 - almost exactly two years earlier in the slalom in Madonna di Campiglio. Six days later, he suffered a serious injury in Bormio. "A lot has happened. A lot has happened since my last World Cup victory, it was an insanely difficult time. I have to thank everyone who has helped. Every single minute of work has paid off," said the 30-year-old in an interview with ORF.

Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, Marco Schwarz and Stefan Brennsteiner (from left to right)(Bild: AFP/STEFANO RELLANDINI)

He has never taken a half-time lead to the finish. "You can't completely ignore it, but I concentrated on my own things." After finishing second and fourth in the first two giant slaloms of the season, he faltered somewhat in Beaver Creek and Val d'Isere. "I didn't ski cleanly there. That's where I pulled the lever." Brennsteiner congratulated: "Really, really cool - we're finally on the podium together." And on taking over the discipline lead: "Odi is no machine either. My form is very, very good at the moment."

While Germany's Fabian Gratz finished in fifth place (+0.48) behind Norway's Atle Lie McGrath (+0.46) with the best run time from 29th place, Patrick Feurstein improved from 22nd to eighth place (+0.90) as the third-best Austrian overall with the second-best run time. Cousin Lukas Feurstein finished 29th after a serious mistake in the second run (+8.30). World champion Raphael Haaser (41st), Noel Zwischenbrugger (51st) and Fabio Gstrein (60th) had missed the qualification for run two, Joshua Sturm was eliminated in the first run.