In this commentary Tom Gellie provides a first‑person, race‑by‑race analysis of the second run of the 2021 Sölden World Cup giant slalom, comparing Swiss champion Marco Odermatt with American up‑and‑coming River Radamus. Gellie notes that Odermatt gains an early advantage with a more aggressive start and pole leverage, while Radamus displays superior balance and hip‑on‑snow technique that lets him take higher lines and maintain edge angles on steep sections. The two athletes trade leads as line choices shift: Radamus’s higher line and better edge control let him catch up on the top flat, but a critical mistake—losing his outside ski on a steep turn—cost him speed, allowing Odermatt to pull ahead. Later, Radamus absorbs a small roller by staying low, regaining some speed and narrowing the gap. Gellie concludes that each skier’s strengths—Odermatt’s start and direct line, Radamus’s balance and flat‑section speed—define the race outcome, and he reflects on the excitement of watching an underdog’s technical style despite not being a professional analyst.
Chapters
Ski season is here. Sölden, the first World Cup race, is done and dusted, and we saw Marco Odermatt win. Now, I watched the race and I found it really interesting because I love an underdog, and I was really barracking for River Rademus, the young guy from the US team. So I wanted to actually just do an analysis of his second run versus Marco Odermatt's second run, just to see like how the two compared and if it was just down to that one run, like how would have they gone against each other. And there's a few really interesting things that I want to share with you and look at. Now I'm just going to say take this with a grain of salt, I'm not really the greatest ski racer, I just love skiing, this is just my perspective on what I see and some certain sections of the race that are sort of interesting between the two ski races. Let's dive into it. So the first thing I sort of like noticed with the two of them in the start is Marco Odermatt has a better start than River. So even just looking at his body position, posture, and you know, the camera angle is slightly different, but you'll actually notice there is like a difference even with if the camera angle was different, there's quite a significant difference in how much more aggressive Marco Odomat is, and even where his poles are to give him leverage, and you see that as he takes off and comes down. So he's faster around and sooner into a tuck than River, and so he gets a bit of a head start here. So Marco Odomat is sort of, I guess, got the upper hand with the start. So you can see them come around this red gate here, Marko Odermatt, boom, a little bit ahead of River Rademos. And we come a little further down the course and we start seeing some interesting stuff in, I guess, technique between the two ski racers. So on this corner here, like, if you look up River Rademos on YouTube and follow him on Instagram, you'll see he really enjoys laying the skis over and putting his hip on the snow and like his balance in that position is just amazing. So you look at the two skiers here and River has a much more composed, better posture, better balance against the edge at these bigger edge angles, and so he comes out of this turn with I think far sort of better positioning, and you'll see that sort of changes the line choice. See when you get to this point where the two end up on this next gate, so River's able to sort of hold a little bit higher line, Marco Odomat has drifted a little bit lower. So then they come into this next section, sorry, Marco Odomat still in the lead because he had a better start, more direct line. This part, and we see again the difference in line, so Marco choosing to be a little lower and River Rademus a little higher. Look at that red gate and you can tell the difference between the two there. Now that helps change what River can do actually through this next little section, because he comes in with a little bit more time on his hands coming to the steep, which is the trickiest part of this course. And so by this gate, can you see they pretty much hit it like, in fact, River gets it like almost ahead of Marco Odomat. So his line choice and ability to sort of deal with these higher edge angles at that, at that top section flat steep, catches him up and actually puts him slightly ahead by like a bee's, you know, and then into the next section we start seeing River actually just a little bit ahead. Now through this section the two are quite even, take fairly similar lines, and it's a pretty good battle through here, but then we get a little bit of a change when we come to this. Marco Odomat is able to hold. Now check this out, he comes in this time higher than River. So here's the difference, he's had a more direct line for most of the course, but on this really steep section he chooses to be higher than River. So they come in and Marco Odomat has got a little bit more space compared to River, and you see when we get to this point, like, River is later to transition and go into the next turn. Because he doesn't have as much space, he's kind of drifting down the hill having to hold his turn for a little bit longer. Marco already straight into the next turn, and I think that helps him on this part here where everybody seemed to have trouble, this right footer in the middle of the, of the steep here. So you can see even Marco Odermatt on the left sort of, you know, in a pretty wild position. But if you compare what River Rademus is doing at this point he totally loses the outside ski and is sliding sideways on both skis. So here is where River actually really loses some speed. It's interesting because you watch, they come around this next gate, the panel gets sort of knocked down pretty much at the exact same moment, but because Marco Odermatt didn't sort of slide on his side and didn't lose as much speed, he comes into this section And watch, he is well ahead, that's where he is at the red gate, and then we've got River way back here. Just from that one turn where River, just the line above, sort of made it a little bit more challenging and he lost that right foot outside ski around the gate, one of the most challenging turns on the course. But again, the cool thing with ski racing, people have got different skills and it comes in and out, you know, where you use it. So look at the different line because River didn't carry quite as much speed, he takes a more direct line down here, notice where he finishes his turn. If we go back to Marco Odermatt, he is out to the side here off the course, so he's kind of got to pull it across more, whereas River can take it down the hill more as he comes onto the flats, and the flats, you know, really got to be carrying your speed really well. And then, so notice how much further ahead Marco is at this point. He's just hit that red panel, now River has hit the panel, so Marco has clearly got a head start and was coming down the hill with more speed. But check this out, this, this is a really interesting section here. So watch Marco on the left come through this turn and stay quite tall in his posture and his tuck. River comes around. Now watch, he kind of absorbs— there's like a mini roll here— absorbs it, stays low, and keeps speed. And then watch this, by this red panel he's already catching up. And then again, this panel here, look how close it is between the two. Marco's just hit it, now River hits it. So that one little section back here where River sort of absorbed the roller, stayed low and didn't go up in the air as much, like Marco's kind of lighter and has even perhaps a little bit more wind resistance against him here, that helped River regain some speed and catch up to him. So some really interesting sections in this race, and look, like there's the difference between the two on that second run of Sölden 2021. You know, I guess it just shows like every ski racer has their strengths and, you know, races won almost in, in different sections, and they all had like a slightly different strength. River was better on the bottom flat, Marco Odomat was better on the top flat section and the start. The, the high line, like when they chose to do that, helped one at one point but then the other one at another point. And, uh, yeah, so it was a really close race, and I think, you know, for, for River, it just shows he's getting much better. And again, I just am watching this guy come up and I love his technical style, like this turn at the top here. Like I said, because he's so used to putting his hip on the snow, this one right here, you just look at the difference coming around that gate and it's just, you know, from a visual perspective, I like that and I think the balance is just so on it. Yet I think Marco Odermatt's experience wins out here and just when he's choosing to take a more direct line or a higher line. Hope you guys enjoyed that and I didn't make too much of a mess of my first real race analysis. Again, it's just someone's perspective and I hope people enjoyed listening to that and comparing these two amazing ski racers down the hill.
