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Haugan leads world giant slalom, Odermatt lurks in third / Photo: Fabrice COFFRINI - AFP
Haugan leads world giant slalom, Odermatt lurks in third
Norway's Timon Haugan will head into the second and decisive leg of the men's giant slalom at the World Ski Championships on Friday with a vital 0.24sec advantage over defending champion Marco Odermatt.
Haugan negotiated the Schneekristall course in 1min 21.10sec, 0.02sec ahead of Odermatt's Swiss teammate Loic Meillard.
"It is a hard course to keep up the momentum from start to the finish. I had to really battle to achieve that," said Haugan.
Odermatt, whose super-G victory in Saalbach kicked off a week of dominance from the Swiss men's team -- with subsequent wins in the downhill and team combined -- was third fastest down the slope.
The 27-year-old is looking to become the first Swiss skier to successfully defend a men's GS title, with now-retired American Ted Ligety the last skier to have won successive GS golds (2011, 2013, 2015).
While Odermatt is the reigning Olympic and world gold medallist, and three-time World Cup GS champion, he does not have a great record in the GS in Saalbach, having recorded DNFs in his two races, in 2018 and in last season's World Cup finals.
But in the 34 GS World Cup races Odermatt has competed in since the start of the 2021/22 season, he has won 24, including nine out of 10 World Cup GS races last season, and three this season.
Form in Saalbach is in fact on the side of reigning world silver medallist Meillard, the 28-year-old claiming his first World Cup podiums in both the GS and slalom in Saalbach in 2018 before winning the GS and coming second in the super-G in last season's World Cup finals.
After Haugan, Meillard and Odermatt, there were seven other racers within one second of the lead time.
Among them were ninth-placed Norwegian Henrik Kristoffersen, the 2019 world champion in the discipline, and teammate Alexander Steen Olsen, in fourth ahead of Austria's Raphael Haaser.
Another Swiss, in the shape of Thomas Tumler, was tied in sixth with Italy's Luca De Aliprandini, just ahead of Austrian Marco Schwarz and French hope Thibaud Favrot.
"I'm really happy," said 2021 silver medallist De Aliprandi. "I have worked hard on this kind of slope.
"Back the in day it was not really my strongest, but I have improved a lot and I'm really delighted with my first run. I'm going to recharge my batteries and then hopefully repeat that run."
Norway-born Lucas Pinheiro Braathen's hopes of securing a first-ever world medal for Brazil, after a fall-out with the Norwegian federation saw him switch allegiance to his mother's homeland, all but disappeared after a mistake saw him finish 19th, 1.94sec off ex-teammate Haugan's pace.
The second run is scheduled for 1215GMT, with the starting order dependant on results from the first run: the skier placed 30th will start, with Haugan the leader running last.
W.Richard--SMC
