Adelboden is the 5th Alpine Ski World Cup World Cup Giant Slalom of the 2024-2025 season after the races in Sölden, Beaver Creek, Val d'Isere, and Alta Badia.
Adelboden's World Cup Hill "Chuenisbärgli" is one of the classics of the Ski World Cup and the home of the world’s most challenging Giant Slalom run. In the Zielhang section, the extreme steepness (60%) of the track is a challenge even for the best in the world.
January 12th Giant Slalom / Men 10:30 CET 1st run 13:30 CET 2nd run
Norway secures a podium clean sweep at the Giant Slalom season opener in Soelden, with Alexander Steen Olsen claiming the top spot, Henrik Kristoffersen finishing second, and Atle Lie McGrath coming in third in the battle for victory.
The weekend at Birds of Prey ended with a big surprise. At the age of 35, after a total of 124 World Cup races, Thomas Tumler secured his first Alpine Ski World Cup victory by winning the Giant Slalom at Beaver Creek. Lucas Pinheiro Braathen was second +0.12 seconds behind the Swiss. Zan Kranjec completed the podium in third place.
Tumler was the second oldest Giant slalom winner in World Cup history after his Swiss compatriot Didier Cuche. Before today, he achieved the last of his three podium finishes in the Giant Slalom at the Alpine Ski World Cup Finals in Saalbach in March 2024, and the first in Beaver Creek in 2018.
After failing to finish the first two Giant Slaloms in Sölden and Beaver Creek, Marco Odermatt achieved his first Alpine Ski World Cup Giant Slalom victory of the 2024-2025 winter season in Val d'Isere. An Austrian duo completed the podium. Patrick Feurstein finished in second place, +0.08 seconds behind, and Stefan Brennsteiner took third, +0.12 seconds off the pace.
Marco Odermatt continued dominating the Giant Slalom on the demanding Gran Risa course. He finished 0.85 seconds ahead of Leo Anguenot and +0.88 seconds ahead of Alexander Steen Olsen. It was his 5th win in Alta Badia. With his 41st Alpine World Cup victory, Odermatt overtook Pirmin Zurbriggen to become the most successful Swiss male skier of all time. Only two other Swiss skiers have managed to win more than Odermatt: Lara Gut-Behrami with 45 and Vreni Schneider with 55.
Marco Odermatt, the big favorite and defending World Cup Champion, is leading the Giant Slalom standings despite he did not finish the second run in Sölden and Beaver Creek, missing out on valuable points.
Last season, Marco Odermatt was again the absolute dominator of the Giant Slalom discipline. He is the reigning Olympic Champion, World Champion, and World Cup winner in the Men's Giant Slalom for the third consecutive time. In 2024-2025 he is chasing a fourth successive Giant Slalom Crystal Globe and a fourth successive Overall season title.
Odermatt (2021-2022, 2022-2023, and 2023-2024) became the third Swiss male skier to win the Giant Slalom World Cup standings at least three times, after Michael von Grüningen (4) and Pirmin Zurbriggen (3).
Since the start of the 2021-2022 winter season, Odermatt has competed in 32 Giant Slalom World Cup races, winning 23 of them.
With 25 wins Odermatt is third in the all-time list for most Men's World Cup Giant Slalom victories. Ingemar Stenmark (46), and Marcel Hirscher (31), make up the Top-2.
The 26-year-old Swiss has won the Giant Slalom World Cup in Adelboden in 2022, 2023, and 2024. Ingemar Stenmark (four times between 1979 and 1982) and Hermann Maier (three between 1998 and 2001) are the only skiers to have won three or more consecutive Giant Slalom races in Adelboden's "Chuenisbärgli" hill. Stenmark won a total of five Giant Slalom World Cup races in Adelboden.
Henrik Kristoffersen is currently in third position in the Giant Slalom standings. The Norwegian has won 7 races in Giant Salom in the World Cup and finished on the podium 33 times. In 2021, Kristoffersen surpassed Kjetil André Aamodt (6) for the most World Cup Giant Slalom wins among Norwegian skiers.
A victory would take Kristoffersen to 12th place on his own in the all-time Men's Giant Slalom World Cup winners list. This would put him ahead of Pirmin Zurbriggen, Marc Girardelli, Phil Mahre, Massimiliano Blardone, Piero Gros, and Jean-Claude Killy, all of whom have seven wins.
Almost three years have passed since Kristoffersen's last World Cup Giant Slalom victory (back-to-back victories in Kranjska Gora in March 2022).
The Norwegian skier placed second in Adelboden in 2018 and 2019, and he also earned third-place finishes in 2015 and 2020.
No Norwegian has won a Giant Slalom in Adelboden since Aksel Lund Svindal won in 2011.
Alexander Steen Olsen's victory in Sölden marks his second Alpine Ski World Cup win, following his triumph at the Palisades Tahoe Slalom in February 2023. This victory also represents his second podium finish in the Giant Slalom.
He missed the Val d'Isère races because of a knee injury. Since his return, he finished ninth in Beaver Creek and third in the most recent World Cup Giant Slalom held in Alta Badia.
Zan Kranjec finished on the podium 15 times in the Alpine Ski World Cup, all in the Giant Slalom. Third in Beaver Creek, Kranjec has been consistent all season, never finishing outside the Top-8.
Kranjec finished in second place at the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing. Kranjec became the second man representing Slovenia to win an Olympic medal in alpine skiing, after Jure Kosir (bronze in the slalom in 1994). Kranjec recorded two World Cup victories, in the Giant Slalom in Saalbach Hinterglemm (2018) and Adelboden (2020). Kranjec (2) hopes to equal Jure Kosir (3) on most World Cup victories among men representing Slovenia.
Atle Lie McGrath, aged 24, achieved his 4th Giant Slalom podium in the Alpine Ski World Cup in Sölden. He finished fourth in Beaver Creek, 21st in Val d'Isere, and 6th in Alta Badia.
Lucas Pinheiro Braathen made history by finishing second in Beaver Creek. He gave Brazil its first podium finish in a World Cup race. He has finished on the podium 13 times in the World Cup, but the previous 12 were for Norway.
He finished fourth at his debut race for his new country, Brazil, in the opening Giant Slalom of the season in Sölden.
Pinheiro Braathen has participated in five World Cup Giant Slalom races in Adelboden but did not finish three of them, achieving his best result of seventh place in 2021.
Last season, after finishing runner-up to Marco Odermatt in both World Cup Giant Slalom races in Aspen, Loic Meillard broke the winning streak of his teammate, who could not finish the second run in Saalbach. Meillard handed Odermatt his first Giant Slalom defeat after finishing runner-up to Marco Schwarz, by only 0.03 seconds in Palisades Tahoe on February 25, 2023. Joan Verdu of Andorra finished in second place 0.71 seconds behind Meillard. Thomas Tumler rounded up the unexpected podium 0.79 seconds off the pace.
It was Meillard's second win in the Giant Slalom. His previous discipline victory was in Schladming on January 25, 2023. It was also his fourth consecutive podium and second win in the World Cup last season. The 27-year-old skier from Valais finished in second place in the Giant Slalom standings.
Meillard finished in third place in the Giant Slalom at Adelboden in 2023.
Last season, Filip Zubcic finished two times on a World Cup podium. He was second in Alta Badia, and third in Adelboden. Adelboden's was his 12th career podium in the World Cup. The 31-year-old Croatian skier finished second in the "Chuenisbärgli" hill three times: once in 2020 and twice in 2021.
He has won three World Cup Giant Slalom events: in Niigata Yuzawa Naeba (February 22, 2020), Santa Caterina (December 5, 2020), and Bansko (February 27, 2021).
Joan Verdu achieved in Saalbach in the last race of the season his second podium in the World Cup. Previously the 29-year-old skier from Andorra finished in third place in Val d'Isère in December. Verdu recorded his country's first World Cup podium in the French ski resort.
Alexis Pinturault has not yet regained his top form since returning from a serious injury in December. However, there may be no better place for him to rediscover his momentum than on the "Chuenisbärgli" hill in Adelboden. The Frenchman has won three times in Adelboden—once in 2017 and twice in 2021. He has also finished on the podium in 2015, 2018, and 2022.
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