Schwarz Wins Palisades Tahoe GS
An enormous crowd showed up to the Stifel Palisades Tahoe Cup to watch the best men tech racers in the world race the first Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup at Palisades Tahoe since 2017.
Marco Schwarz of Austria won the race in a thrilling fashion, with 2022 overall World Cup winner and first run winner Marco Odermatt just missing a victory by .03 seconds and finishing second. Rasmus Windingstad of Norway was third.
An enormous storm dropped two feet of fresh powder on Palisades Tahoe Friday, and while it made for a fantastic powder day, it made racing questionable for Saturday. But the course workers labored throughout the night to get the famed Red Dog hill ready for a giant slalom. The California crowd arrived in droves to sunshine and warm temperatures, and the race went off without a hitch.
Having raced the course in 2017 for the women’s alpine event, Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin described it as “one of, if not the toughest” course venues on the women’s World Cup circuit.
2023 Palisades Tahoe World Cup from Palisades Tahoe on Vimeo.
Coming off a third-place finish in the giant slalom at the World Championships earlier this month, Schwarz bested the heavy favourite and World Champion Marco Odermatt (SUI).
Odermatt was the fastest after the first run but came out of the gates a little shaky on his second run before an unreal comeback to come in second, just off the Austrian’s pace. This is the first World Cup giant slalom victory for Schwarz and 17th career World Cup podium.
“It is amazing. It was a big fight today, especially the second run. I had a mistake in the second flat. I tried to attack and I am happy about my first victory,” said Schwarz.
Odermatt still has the world championship medal to comfort him and leads both the World Cup giant slalom and overall standings by a comfortable margin.
The Swiss superstar survived the tough conditions for the second-place finish. He has yet to miss a podium in a World Cup race he started this season.
Marco Odermatt (SUI) salvaged a shaky second run to make the podium once again (Agence Zoom).
“The second run was really bad. I had too many mistakes to win so I was surprised it was enough for the podium. I had bad thoughts. The course setting on the second run was a little stupid for me. At the top it was so, so slow. You had to push three times in the flat and that Is not how ski racing should be. But the best guy won today with Marco and that’s racing,” said Odermatt.
More surprises came in the last podium place. Rasmus Windingstad (NOR) was the fastest Norwegian from the loaded team.
“It is nice. 2019 was the last time I was on a giant slalom podium, also with Marco (Odermatt). I switched brands to his, figuring I would follow his foosteps. There have been some rough patches but, today feels really nice. Hopefully I can bring it forward,” said Windingstad.
Aside from the equipment, the Norwegian had another possible reason he found the podium.
“I don’t know I just had a good day and some pancakes in America and it worked,” laughed Windingstad.
It is just the third career World Cup podium for Windingstad and his first since 2020. His Norwegian teammates Henrik Kristoffersen (NOR) and Lucas Braathen (NOR) could not put together two clean runs and finished fourth and sixth respectively. Stefan Brennsteiner (AUT) also represented Austria well with a fifth-place finish.
Alpine combined world champion Alexis Pinturault (FRA) was second after the first run but, had one too many mistakes on his second run to finish a disappointing seventh.
Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (NOR) raced as he tries to stay in the overall title hunt. Despite a valiant effort the Norwegian came in 24th.
In addition to the races, there’s also a strong lineup of events set for the weekend, including international sensation Noah Kahan, American rock band 311 and Black Jacket Symphony feat. Marc Matel. New to the event calendar is the Visa Lounge, where U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s longstanding partner will host the first-ever multi-day interactive lounge at a men’s FIS Alpine World Cup, including panels, athlete autograph signings and more.
