At 28, Marco Odermatt is in the middle of his glorious career as a ski racer. An authorized biography about him is being published today. The book "My World" provides exciting insights.
11.11.2025, 05:00
11.11.2025, 06:39
SDA
Written by journalists Christof Gertsch and Mikael Krogerus, the lavishly illustrated work, enriched with in-depth background research on Marco Odermatt, has been available in stores since Tuesday, November 11. It is not published in a conventional bound book, but as a cardboard cover with ten brochures - one for each of the selected topics.
Readers will learn a lot about Marco Odermatt as a person, including the recipes for his favorite dishes: what makes him tick, what his childhood in Hergiswil was like, how he manages to switch off at home (only when everything is done). Who his most formative companions are, what they say about the rascal who was blessed with extraordinary gifts even at a young age, who "always knew exactly how cheeky he could be without appearing impertinent" and who "implements and internalizes the inputs faster than anyone else" (Kurt Kothbauer, strength and conditioning coach until 2024). How Aleksander Kilde went from competitor to friend. How his parents sacrificed themselves for him and his younger sister Alina, who also raced.
The part of his family stands out - the childhood characterized by love, trust and time, the meticulousness of dad Walti, the willingness of mom Priska to make sacrifices, who put almost all her personal needs on hold to accompany the children to the races weekend after weekend, defying her fear of heights on the chairlifts. That Marco Odermatt's only great motivation is the joy of skiing.
Right at the beginning, Odermatt surprises the reader with a revelation: "This," he says with an A5 notebook in his hand, "is my secret: my race diary." He writes all kinds of things down in it for every race. "If my competitors saw this, they'd be as fast as me," says "Odi". Another unexpected confession: "When I look at it soberly, I know that Loïc (Meillard) is the better skier." He himself is simply "often the better racer".
In fact, Odermatt is one of the rare species who usually improve in the race compared to the training sessions and do not lose ground. One reason for this is his ability to keep a clear head, to switch off between races and to block out everything else during the competition: "When I'm at home, I don't think about skiing. Many other skiers can't do that," he says.
Odermatt also occasionally makes the reader smile, for example when he describes how he prepares his three favorite dishes - risotto, ready-made rösti and lamb racks from girlfriend Stella Parpan. He writes about the ready-made rösti (with fried egg): "Tear open the packet. Slide the rösti into a pan without adding any oil or fat and fluff up with a fork. Throw away the empty packet. Take the packet out of the bin and see how long the rösti takes. Turn halfway through (have fun...). Add three fried eggs, yeah!" Welcome to the world of Marco Odermatt.
