Stefan Brennsteiner benefits from Marco Odermatt’s retirement and wins the giant slalom in Copper Mountain.
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After ten races, Austria leads the nations’ rankings by a considerable margin. Is the Swiss dominance of recent years over?
Across the board, the Austrians and the Swiss are vastly superior to the competition on the ski circuit. This is evident when looking at the nations’ rankings. France won this in 1971/72, since then Switzerland and Austria have shared all the victories, with our neighbors dominating for many years.
In the 2019/20 season, Switzerland won the Nations Cup for the first time after 30 years of Austrian dominance. The following year, Switzerland defended first place before Austria struck again. In the past three seasons, Switzerland has won ahead of Austria. This winter, however, the pendulum could swing back again.
Swiss women in 3rd place – men only 4th
The women are in third place behind the USA and Austria, while Austria leads the men’s rankings ahead of Norway and France. The Swiss men are currently only in 4th place. If you take the genders together, Austria leads ahead of Switzerland.
- Rank – 100 points
- Rank – 80
- Rank – 60
- Rank – 50
- Rank – 45
- Rank – 40
- Rank – 36
- Rank – 32
- Rank – 29
- Rank – 26
- Rank – 24
- Rank – 22
- Rank – 20
- Rank – 18
- Rank – 16
- Rank – 15
- Rank – 14
- Rank – 13
- Rank – 12
- Rank – 11
- Rank – 10
- Rank – 9
- Rank – 8
- Rank – 7
- Rank – 6
- Rank – 5
- Rank – 4
- Rank – 3
- Rank – 2
- Rank – 1
5 reasons: Why Swiss dominance is crumbling
1. the absence of Lara Gut-Behrami
Last winter, Lara Gut-Behrami scored 1272 points, more than twice as many as the two best Austrians combined. Switzerland’s most hard-working points supplier has also taken one of the two Swiss podium places this season. However, Gut-Behrami has torn her cruciate ligament and will not be competing in any more races this season.
2 Loïc Meillard is not getting up to speed
Before the season, Loïc Meillard made no secret of the fact that he wanted to have a say in the battle for the overall World Cup. But the start to the Olympic winter is anything but going according to plan. Once he was eliminated, once he missed out on points in 34th place and he has not yet finished better than 14th. What a contrast to last season. If Meillard doesn’t get his act together soon, the whole of Switzerland will feel it.
Loïc Meillard is not yet running smoothly this season.
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3 Marco Schwarz is back
In December 2023, Schwarz was leading the overall World Cup ahead of Odermatt, but then he tore his cruciate ligament and meniscus and also damaged his cartilage. This season he is now proving that he is once again a force to be reckoned with when it comes to the top places. He is currently ranked 2nd in the overall standings behind Odermatt. He should bring the Austrians many more points.
At the season opener in Sölden, Marco Schwarz races to 2nd place behind Marco Odermatt in the giant slalom.
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4th Julia Scheib as a giant trump card
The Austrian Julia Scheib wins the first giant slalom of the season. In the second, she finishes in 2nd place, which means she already has 180 points to her name. If she continues to perform like this, then that will be a big trump card for our neighbors. Because last season, the giant slalom was a big problem for the Austrians.
Julia Scheib is celebrated after her victory in Sölden.
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5. still no men’s downhill this season
Last winter, the dominance of the Swiss in the downhill was overwhelming. In the final standings, Odermatt won ahead of Franjo von Allmen and Alexis Monney. Justin Murisier and Stefan Rogentin finished 7th and 8th, with Vincent Kriechmayr the best Austrian in 11th place. This season, the first downhill is still to come. If the Swiss perform as dominantly as they did last winter, they will score plenty of points.
In Crans-Montana, the Swiss celebrated their first triple victory in a downhill race since 1996, a feat they repeated in Kvitfjell.
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The interim results in the overall World Cup