The Japan Times - Swiss rivalry is fun -- until Games start, says Odermatt

The Swiss help each other to succeed -- up to a point.

Reigning Olympic giant slalom champion Odermatt won super-G gold in last season's world championships in Saalbach.

His teammates Franjo von Allmen, in the downhill, and slalom specialist Loic Meillard both won golds, with the pair also taking the team combined title in a Swiss podium clean sweep with an astonishingly dominant display in the Austrian resort.

A tearful Odermatt missed out to in-form Italian Giovanni Franzoni in the heralded Kitzbuehel downhill last month, but he is adamant he has put that disappointment behind him in a quest to outsmart Von Allmen in Saturday's Olympic downhill.

"Franjo is in amazing shape," Odermatt acknowledged Thursday in Bormio. "I think this season I won three downhills, he the other two, so he's also one of the big favourites for this downhill.

"We are big rivals for the downhills, so we're having a great time together.

"It's nice to have him as a teammate, but obviously also tough to have him as a rival!"

Odermatt, 28, said that while there was a degree of Swiss fraternity, there was a natural limit on course inspections, when racers try to mentally fix the best line down the course to garner the fastest time.

"We inspect some sections together, but we are not talking about everything," he said.

"Not on the inspection, not close before the start, because we also know we are rivals for the race itself.

"But everything else, we are really good friends, and we try to push each other, play with each other, and fight in the end with each other."

Von Allmen, 24, said each racer prepared "in his own way".

"But if you have questions during inspection to the line, we give each other information, pretty much without holding back," he maintained.

"Marco was a big inspiration for me. He shows what's possible."

- Pressure off -

Odermatt suggested that his victory in the giant slalom in Beijing four years ago had taken off some pressure.

"Coming into this Olympics already having this gold medal makes it a little bit easier, maybe a little bit more enjoyable," he said.

"That helps the mind, for sure."

Odermatt added: "But here, it's actually my first real chance for a downhill medal, and maybe the last, we never know.

"So for me, it's not just the gold medal, it's everything that counts."

Odermatt also insisted that he liked being the target whenever racers take to the start hut.

"It means that I'm one of the big favourites, that everything works well, that I'm in shape, that I'm healthy and able to win this race," he said.

"And this is actually a good situation."

Odermatt also expressed his hope that the stands would fill out for Saturday's race, having been empty for the two opening training runs.

"The Olympics only happen every four years and only a very few times in a career," he said, bemoaning the lack of "Olympic atmosphere" in Bormio.

After custom-made pistes at the last two Olympics in Beijing and Pyeongchang, Milan-Cortina organisers have used existing facilities.

The result is that Bormio is one of seven sites spread over 22,000km2 (8,494 sq miles), with the women's skiing taking place more than 300 km away in Cortina d'Ampezzo.

"That's the middle ground we have to find in the future: between absurd investments in the billions and a sensible approach in terms of sustainability," Odermatt said.

H.Takahashi--JT