The Austrian Marcel Hirscher, now under the Dutch flag, qualified on Sunday for the second round of the opening giant slalom in Sölden with the 28th time, thus making a successful return to the World Cup more than five years after his last race.
On the Rettenbach glacier in western Austria and under blue skies, the first round was dominated by the Norwegian Alexander Steen Olsen in 1 min 04.31, narrowly ahead of the Croatian Filip Zubcic (+0.02) and another Norwegian, Henrik Kristoffersen (+0.08).
The Swiss Marco Odermatt, three-time winner of the Alpine Ski World Cup (2022, 2023 and 2024) and great dominator of the giant slalom last winter (9 victories in 10 races), went out in the first round after around forty seconds , extremely rare for « Odi ».
Relegated to more than two seconds behind Steen Olsen, Marcel Hirscher nevertheless managed in his white and orange combination to finish in the top thirty of the first round, with the 28th time, and qualified for the second round.
Away from the World Cup for a year, the Norwegian Lucas Braathen, now with his mother’s Brazilian nationality and competing with his surname Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, also made a successful return, with the 19th time in the first round at 1 sec 68/100th from Steen Olsen, his former teammate with Norway.
Eight-time winner of the Alpine Skiing World Cup and considered by many to be the greatest skier in history, Hirscher retired at the end of summer 2019. To everyone’s surprise, he announced his return in the spring 2024, under the colors of the Netherlands, his mother’s country.
“It was pretty good until halfway to the wall, and then I got further and further behind the line. But it was great to ski without pressure. It was cool that it worked well, I’m really happy”commented Hirscher after his race at the microphone of Austrian public television ORF.
His last race dates back to March 17, 219, during the World Cup finals in Soldeu in Andorra, a slalom finished in 14th place, when he had already secured the victory of an eighth large crystal globe.
