Odermatt wins men's giant slalom at Beijing Winter Olympics

Gold medalist Marco Odermatt of Switzerland reacts after the awarding ceremony of alpine skiing men's giant slalom at National Alpine Skiing Centre in Yanqing District, Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 13, 2022. (Xinhua/Chen Yichen)

YANQING, Beijing, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Marco Odermatt of Switzerland won his first Olympic gold medal in the Alpine skiing men's giant slalom at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games here on Sunday.

Odermatt, a five-time Junior World Championships gold medallist, finished with two minutes and 9.35 seconds to bag the gold.

Zan Kranjec of Slovenia finished 0.19 seconds behind to take the silver. French Mathieu Faivre grabbed the bronze medal in 2:10.69.

Due to heavy snow, the start of the race's second leg was delayed for 75 minutes, which Odermatt found disturbing.

"It's unbelievable. It was a hard day, with the conditions, with such a long wait between the two runs," said Odermatt.

"It was more than five hours for me, it was such a long time to re-think everything and it was hard to stay focused. I tried to sleep some minutes in between," he added.

The Swiss skier said he had to take risks in his second run to make sure to win the gold.

"It was challenging, I really risked everything in the second run because I wanted not just the medal, I wanted the gold medal," he said.

"It's difficult because you can lose everything but today it paid off," he added. 

Gold medalist Marco Odermatt (C) of Switzerland, silver medalist Zan Kranjec (L) of Slovenia and bronze medalist Mathieu Faivre of France pose after alpine skiing men's giant slalom at National Alpine Skiing Centre in Yanqing District, Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 13, 2022. (Xinhua/Lian Zhen)

Gold medalist Marco Odermatt of Switzerland reacts during the awarding ceremony of alpine skiing men's giant slalom at National Alpine Skiing Centre in Yanqing District, Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 13, 2022. (Xinhua/Lian Zhen)

Gold medalist Marco Odermatt (C) of Switzerland, silver medalist Zan Kranjec (L) of Slovenia and bronze medalist Mathieu Faivre of France pose during the awarding ceremony of alpine skiing men's giant slalom at National Alpine Skiing Centre in Yanqing District, Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 13, 2022. (Xinhua/Lian Zhen)