At the start of the new World Cup season, Swiss skier Marco Odermatt immediately followed up on his outstanding performances from last winter.

While Germany's giant slalom hopeful Alexander Schmid immediately cracked the national World Cup norm with eighth place, the 25-year-old overall World Cup and Olympic champion raced to his twelfth World Cup victory with a lead of 0.76 seconds. Zan Kranjec from Slovenia came second, followed by Henrik Kristoffersen from Norway.

"It's in a class of its own", Schmid praised his Swiss opponent, who was able to repeat last year's victory in Sölden. "I'm satisfied with my performance, that makes me want more," the Allgäu native continued. In the second run, Schmid had improved by two places despite poor visibility.

The other starters from the German Ski Association all missed the final run. Stefan Luitz was eliminated from his comeback after a nearly one-year break from competition after a ski error, but he was happy to be back on skis. "It was very, very nice to have that feeling again, the adrenaline rush," said Luitz.

Slalom specialist Linus Straßer had just as little chance in his first giant slalom since 2019 as Fabian Gratz, Julian Rauchfuss and Anton Grammel. The women's race the day before had been canceled due to bad weather conditions.