Alexander Schmid had to leave his seat in the spotlight of the Leaders Box after only two runners, but after the best result of the season he was completely satisfied with himself.
"Cool" is what the 28-year-old ski racer called his fifth place in the giant slalom world cup in Alta Badia, Italy. "It was super exciting and makes you want to sit there for more," confessed Schmid, who, after seventh place in the first race, moved up two places in the heat.
After two rounds, the man from Oberstdorf was 1.38 seconds behind Marco Odermatt, who was once again unbeatable. One day after third place, the Swiss won the third of four giant slalom races of the season on the Gran Risa. After the ninth podium finish in his tenth race of the season, Odermatt has further extended its lead in the overall Alpine World Cup. Behind the 25-year-old, the Norwegian Henrik Kristoffersen finished second ahead of the Slovenian Zan Kranjec.
Two more Germans successful
Meanwhile, Anton Grammel (Kressbronn) scored their first World Cup points of the season in 21st place and Fabian Gratz (Altenau) in 24th place. "That's my best result this year. I can definitely be satisfied with that," said the 24-year-old Grammel. Like Gratz, he had the handicap of having to master a worn track in the first run with a high start number. "I'm very satisfied with the first run. It worked really well with the track. The second run can still be improved," said the 25-year-old. Julian Rauchfuss (Mindelheim) and Stefan Luitz (Bolsterlang) missed the final round of the top 30. For the technicians there is still a slalom in Madonna di Campiglio on Thursday at the end of the year.
A month and a half before the World Cup in France, it was Schmid's fourth top 8 finish this season. In the morning he still felt tired, but then motivated himself. "I managed to concentrate a lot, was able to mobilize my strength and of course I'm overjoyed that it worked out like this," said the man from Oberstdorf, who had clinched his only podium finish in third place in Alta Badia.
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