A rare mistake by Marco Odermatt scuppered the Swiss skier’s quest for a perfect 10 out of 10 giant slaloms this season at the World Cup finals on Saturday.
The 26-year-old, who had led after the first run, failed to finish the second at Saalbach to gift the win to Loic Meillard.
Up to his uncharacteristic error Odermatt had been in line to sweep all 10 World Cup giant slaloms this season, a feat not achieved since Swedish legend Ingemar Stenmark in 1979.
Odermatt arrived at the World Cup finals in Austria having extended his giant slalom winning streak — stretching back to last season — to 12 in swashbuckling style in Aspen on March 2.
The freshly-minted overall World Cup champion had already clinched the giant slalom season title with his 11th straight victory in the discipline at Aspen the day before.
Aside from the overall and giant slalom globes he is also poised to capture two more season titles, topping the standings in the downhill and super-G.
Odermatt had led his compatriot Meillard by 0.40sec after the first run on Saturday, with Norwegian Alexander Steen Olsen placed third at 1.39s.
Meillard kept his composure to take the closing giant slalom of the season by 0.71sec from Andorran Joan Verdu, who posted the fifth fastest time in the first run.
Completing the podium in third was another Swiss, Thomas Tumler, at 0.79s.
For Odermatt, there were mixed emotions as he collected the discipline’s globe.
“I’m happy with the last nine races, but not today’s,” he said.
“It wasn’t that I was nervous, I just didn’t have the legs today.
“Sometimes a mistake happens, even for me.”
