Well positioned, but with a large gap: Marco Odermatt in second place, almost a second behind the leader Lucas Pinheiro Braathen
Keystone
Lucas Pinheiro Braathen dominates the first run of the Olympic giant slalom in Bormio. After 30 racers, he is clearly ahead of Marco Odermatt and Loïc Meillard.
Pinheiro Braathen opened the race. His time was correspondingly difficult to estimate, gaining in importance with each racer. At the latest when Marco Odermatt, the Olympic champion from Beijing, lost 95 hundredths to the Norwegian competing for Brazil without any obvious mistakes, it was clear that the 25-year-old had had a great run.
Loïc Meillard in 3rd intermediate place is already 1.57 seconds behind. After winning silver in the team combined, he has a good chance of winning his first individual medal at the Olympic Games. The Swiss prospects for precious metal are also excellent thanks to Thomas Tumler. The runner-up at the World Championships in Saalbach lost around three tenths of a second more than Meillard and is right behind the French-Swiss racer. Alongside the Swiss trio, only France’s Léo Anguenot (+1.91 seconds) and Norway’s Henrik Kristoffersen (+1.93) lost less than two seconds on the leader.
Luca Aerni did not cope at all with the slope, which was steep in the upper section and all the flatter in the lower section. The skier from Bern lost almost three seconds and is classified in 20th place. The start for the second run is scheduled for 1.30 pm.
