Every year after Kitzbuehel, Schladming stages the traditional Alpine Ski World Cup Night Slalom. Since 2023 Schladming added to the program a Night Giant Slalom.
It is the sixth of nine Giant Slalom races scheduled on the 2024-2025 Alpine Ski World Cup calendar and the last Men's Giant Slalom before the Saalbach Alpine World Ski Championships.
Schladming (AUT)
January 28th Giant Slalom / Men (Night Event) 17:45 CET 1st run 20:45 CET 2nd run
Marco Odermatt, the big favorite and defending World Cup Champion, is leading the Giant Slalom standings ahead of Henrik Kristoffersen. After Adelboden, Odermatt (300 points) has increased his lead over Kristoffersen (199) to over 100 points, with Alexander Steen Olsen in third place with 189 points after five out of the nine total races.
He is pursuing a fourth consecutive Giant Slalom victory of the season following his wins in Val d’Isere, Alta Badia, and Adelboden.
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 33 Giant Slalom World Cup races, winning 24.
Henrik Kristoffersen is currently in second 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 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).
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, third in Alta Badia, and DNF in the most recent World Cup Giant Slalom held in Adelboden.
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 except Adelboden where he finished 14th.
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.
Luca de Aliprandini secured third place in the Giant Slalom in Adelboden, marking his second podium finish in the Alpine Ski World Cup, over three years after his last podium, a second place in Alta Badia in December 2021. He is in 5th position in the Giant Slalom standings.
Thomas Tumler secured his first Alpine Ski World Cup victory by winning the Giant Slalom at Beaver Creek. In Adelboden, he finished in 4th position.
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 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).
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, 6th in Alta Badia, and DNF2 in Adelboden.
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 second place in the Giant Slalom in Adelboden behind Odermatt.
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.
Joan Verdu achieved in Saalbach in the last race of the 2023-2024 winter 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.
This season he finished 7th in Val d'Isère and 8th in Adelboden.
2024-2025 Giant Slalom Races Review
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.
In Adelboden, Marco Odermatt won his third Alpine Ski World Cup Giant Slalom race in a row, his 4th consecutive victory on the Chuenisbärgli" hill.
Loic Meillard finished in second place 0.20 seconds behind his teammate. Luca de Aliprandini took third place, finishing 0.69 seconds behind.
Since the start of the 2021-2022 winter season, Odermatt has competed in 33 Giant Slalom World Cup races, winning 24.
With 26 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.
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