The top three (from left): Thomas Tumler, Raphael Haaser, Loïc Meillard
Image: Keystone
Thomas Tumler wins his second silver medal at these World Championships
Image: Keystone
Loïc Meillard wins bronze after winning the team combined title
Image: Keystone
Marco Odermatt has to settle for 4th place
Image: Keystone
Raphael Haaser surprisingly wins giant slalom gold
Image: Keystone
Timon Haugan finds himself in 7th place in the final ranking after setting the best time in the first run
Image: Keystone
The top three (from left): Thomas Tumler, Raphael Haaser, Loïc Meillard
Image: Keystone
Thomas Tumler wins his second silver medal at these World Championships
Image: Keystone
Loïc Meillard wins bronze after winning the team combined title
Image: Keystone
Marco Odermatt has to settle for 4th place
Image: Keystone
Raphael Haaser surprisingly wins giant slalom gold
Image: Keystone
Timon Haugan finds himself in 7th place in the final ranking after setting the best time in the first run
Image: Keystone
Loïc Meillard, Marco Odermatt and Thomas Tumler meet expectations in the first run of the World Championship giant slalom in Saalbach. The trio are in 2nd, 3rd and 6th place in the intermediate rankings.
14.02.2025, 10:37
14.02.2025, 12:06
SDA
Timon Haugan is somewhat surprisingly in the lead. The Norwegian was two hundredths faster than Meillard. Defending champion Odermatt is 24 hundredths behind. Haugan, who has been stronger in the slalom so far, has finished in the top three once in his second discipline in the World Cup; last March he came third in the second giant slalom in Aspen, Colorado.
Meillard, who became world champion in the team combined two days ago alongside Franjo von Allmen, once again underlined the fact that he feels extremely comfortable on the piste in Saalbach. He won the giant slalom here at last year's World Cup final, and six years ago he achieved his first two podium places in the World Cup here within 24 hours with second place in giant slalom and slalom.
Odermatt had opted not to compete in the combined team event in order to better prepare for his last outing at these World Championships and also to recover better. Two days of training on the Reiteralm, around 100 kilometers east of Saalbach in Styria, was the right decision. With a solid first run, the man from Nidwalden kept open the possibility of successfully defending the title he won two years ago.
Tumler, who lost 63 hundredths of a second on the best time, also had his first taste of success at these World Championships. He was part of the Swiss team that won the silver medal in the team competition the Tuesday before last. Last March at the final, the man from Graubünden also secured third place in the giant slalom.
The fourth Swiss participant, Luca Aerni, was eliminated after just a few gates. The fifth starting place, which the Swiss-Ski team would have had thanks to Odermatt as defending champion, remained unused. Justin Murisier did not start due to knee problems.
