Marco Schwarz claimed his first alpine skiing World Cup win in two years on Sunday with victory in the giant slalom in Alta Badia.
Austrian Schwarz clocked a combined time of two minutes and 35.02 seconds over two runs down the Gran Risa piste in northern Italy, 0.18 seconds ahead of Brazil’s Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, who was denied a first-ever World Cup win at the last.
His last World Cup victory came at the Madonna Di Campiglio slalom almost two years ago to the day, although he did begin this season with a second-placed finish in the giant slalom in Soelden.
Schwarz has come back from a serious knee injury suffered in Bormio in December 2023, which ended that season for the 30-year-old, whose win comes with the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics around the corner.
“I’ve had some tough moments these last two years, I’m much more than happy… I was nervous, but I think that’s normal when you’re the last to go,” said Schwarz, who, as leader after the first run, skied last in the second.
“I have a lot of people that I’d like to thank after the difficult moments I’ve gone through. This win is also for them.”
Stefan Brennsteiner’s third place, 0.22sec off the pace, was enough for the Austrian to take a five-point lead in the giant slalom standings over Marco Odermatt, who was 0.82sec back in sixth.
Schwarz, who also led after the first run, is second in the overall World Cup standings but trails Odermatt by a whopping 454 points.
Henrik Kristoffersen lost further ground in the race for the giant slalom and overall World Cup title after finishing more than a second behind Schwarz in 11th.
The Norwegian, who trails Odermatt by 479 points in the overall standings, will have another chance to close the gap with Monday’s slalom, a discipline in which he is the reigning World Cup champion.