The men's giant slalom in the 2024 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup consisted of ten events, including the final. The original schedule included 12 events, but two were canceled during the season. Switzerland's

Marco Odermatt Marco Odermatt (born 8 October 1997) is a Swiss World Cup alpine ski racer who races in giant slalom, super-G and downhill. He is considered the most complete alpine ski racer of his generation. In addition to the World Cup, Odermatt has comp ...

, the two-time defending champion. not only won his third straight championship but completely dominated, winning 9 of the 10 races in the discipline.

Season summary

The first giant slalom of the season, scheduled as usual on the

Rettenbach glacier The Rettenbach glacier (german: ''Rettenbachferner'' or. ''Rettenbachgletscher'') is a glacier in Europe, located near Sölden in the Ötztal Alps of Tyrol, Austria. During the winter, the glacier is accessible by cable car and from spring time ...

in Sölden, Austria in October, had to be cancelled due to high winds, although 47 skiers had already completed their first run. The cancelled race was subsequently rescheduled for Aspen on 1 March 2024. The first race of the season was actually held in

Val d'Isère Val may refer to: Military equipment * Aichi D3A, a Japanese World War II dive bomber codenamed "Val" by the Allies * AS Val, a Soviet assault rifle Music *''Val'', album by Val Doonican * VAL (band), Belarusian pop duo People * Val (g ...

in early December, and

continued his dominance from the prior two seasons; as of this race, he has now won 13 of the last 19 World Cup giant slaloms, including four in a row. At

Alta Badia Alta Badia is a ski resort in the Dolomites of northern Italy, in the upper part of the Val Badia () in South Tyrol. It is part of the Dolomiti Superski ski area. It is included in the territories of the municipalities of Corvara, Badia, and ...

, Odermatt extended his dominance to six giant slaloms in a row, winning both races in an unusual Sunday-Monday pairing. Odermatt then continued his dominance by winning the giant slaloms in Adelboden, Schlamding, and Bansko, making him 6-for-6 in giant slaloms for the season and giving his a winning streak of nine straight World Cup giant slaloms. When Odermatt next won the first two giant slaloms in the U.S. (Palisades Tahoe and Aspen), he clinched the discipline title for the season, and he then won the final Aspen giant slalom to stretch his winning streak in the discipline to 12 straight, including all 9 in the current season, leaving him 2 short of

Ingemar Stenmark Jan Ingemar Stenmark (; born 18 March 1956) is a Swedish former FIS Alpine Ski World Cup, World Cup Alpine skiing, alpine ski racer. He is regarded as a legendary skier and one of the most prominent Swedish athletes ever, having won several Oly ...

's all-time record of 14 straight in one discipline. The penultimate giant slalom in Kranjska Gora was cancelled due to lack of snow, setting the stage for a four-way battle for the other two spots on the podium at finals, with only 23 points separating second from fifth.

Finals

The World Cup finals in men's giant slalom took place on Saturday, 16 March 2024, in

Saalbach-Hinterglemm Saalbach-Hinterglemm is a municipality in the district of Zell am See (district), Zell am See (Pinzgau region), in the Austrian States of Austria, state of Salzburg (state), Salzburg. It is well known for its skiing and other winter sports. A four ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. Only the top 25 skiers in the World Cup giant slalom discipline and the winner of the Junior World Championship in the discipline, plus any skiers who had scored at least 500 points in the World Cup overall classification for the season, were eligible to compete in the final, and only the top 15 finishers earned World Cup points in the discipline. Coming into the finals, Odermatt (undefeated for the season) seemed about to match Stenmark's record of winning all 10 giant slaloms in a season, set in the 1979 season (45 years ago). However, while leading the race during his second run, Odermatt missed a gate, ending his pursuit of Stenmark's record and handing the victory to his Swiss teammate

Loïc Meillard Loïc Meillard (; born 29 October 1996) is a Swiss World Cup alpine ski racer and specializes in the technical events of slalom and giant slalom. Born in Neuchâtel, Meillard made his World Cup debut in January 2015; his younger sister Mélan ...

, who thus finished second in the discipline for the season, with

Filip Zubčić Filip Zubčić (; born 27 January 1993) is a Croatian World Cup alpine ski racer who specializes in giant slalom. He has competed in three Winter Olympics and eight World Championships. Zubčić finished third in season standings in giant slalo ...

of Croatia third.

Standings

Legend

* * * *DNQ = Did not qualify for run 2 *DNF1 = Did not finish run 1 *DSQ1 = Disqualified run 1 *DNF2 = Did not finish run 2 *DSQ2 = Disqualified run 2 *DNS2 = Did not start run 2 * * * *

References

External links