Marco Odermatt: Olympic Glory in 2030?

One last party, then this extraordinary ski season will also be over for Marco Odermatt. Champion Odermatt will be received in Stans on Sunday and honored by the Nidwalden government for his outstanding achievements. After that, the 25-year-old can treat himself to two weeks of vacation. Strength training for the new season starts again in May. On the weekend of 28/29 The first race is on the program in Sölden in October.

What Odermatt has achieved in the past few months can hardly be put into words. He won the overall World Cup with a new record of 2042 points, surpassing the record set by the legendary Hermann Maier. At the World Ski Championships he was crowned double world champion. First he triumphed in the downhill, in front of his big rival Kilde from Norway, then he also succeeded in the giant slalom.

The white wine celebration, transmitted directly to the Stuben

Not only the way of the performances on the ski slope was impressive. Even after that, Odermatt won many hearts. He dared to dance on the après-ski stage to celebrate the day. He was also allowed a sip of beer or two – and he even enjoyed to the fullest the toast with white wine broadcast live on SRF to Swiss households in the evening.

After becoming an Olympic champion in 2022, Odermatt seems to have accomplished it at a young age. Of course, there are still big goals, even after this season of superlatives. He longs for the victories in the two classic downhill runs from Wengen and Kitzbühel. The question now is: will the great expectations eventually become too much even for him? How does he react if he should injure himself? The line between victory and hospital is sometimes narrow. Odermatt himself had to experience this in Kitzbühel when he managed to avoid a terrible fall at the last second.

Odermatt is aware that he doesn’t have endless energy reserves either. The short break after the Kitzbühel crash probably had its good points. In any case, shortly after the coronation at the World Cup final in Andorra, Odermatt said: “I feel much fresher than I did a year ago.”

Marco Odermatt replaces Roger Federer

Viewed for years to come, energy management is probably the most important component around Odermatt. Austria’s Marcel Hirscher, the undisputed record man with eight consecutive World Cup victories, suffered more and more from the side effects of life in the spotlight with each passing year.

Does this danger also exist in Odermatt? That can hardly be estimated. The fact is: Odermatt has replaced Roger Federer as the figurehead of Swiss sport at national level. And he already has to earn every free minute. “That’s the way it is!” he says in an interview with CH Media. He already doesn’t have much privacy left. “That’s why I want to at least have my girlfriend to myself,” he says. In the meantime, Odermatt sits in restaurants in such a way that he does not immediately attract attention in the entire room.

Everything indicates that Odermatt will one day go down in history as the biggest Swiss ski star. The claim is hardly daring, although the skiing tradition in the country is rich and the names are illustrious with Pirmin Zurbriggen, Vreni Schneider, Bernhard Russi and Co.

It may be something far ahead, but the idea is promising. Odermatt could crown his career in 2030 – at the Olympic Games in Switzerland. Whether it really comes to that, of course, is in the stars. But it could not least be due to Odermatt himself. Former Federal Councilor Adolf Ogi demanded in an interview with “CH Media”: “It needs a locomotive that shows all the advantages of the Olympic Games – and puts an end to fear-mongering. Someone like Marco Odermatt, for example.”

How does Odermatt think about this? He uses the meeting with “CH Media” to send out the first positive signals: “It is clear to me that I will make positive comments about the 2030 Olympics.”